There’s no doubt that sleep is crucial for a child’s mental and physical health. Unfortunately, statistics show that 25% to 50% of children and 40% of adolescents experience sleep issues. The first step towards improving your child’s sleep is understanding their sleep needs. Hence, let’s begin and dig deeper into the importance of sleep and how to provide your children with the rest they need.

Why is Sleep so Important for Children?

In brief, sleep is crucial for the development of your child’s brain and impacts happiness, mood, alertness, attention, resiliency, cognitive performance, learning, memory, and vocabulary acquisition.

In early infancy, for example, getting enough quality sleep is key for growth. In toddlers, on the other hand, napping is much more than needed for executive attention, memory consolidation, and motor skill development.

What Happens if Children Lack Sleep?

Being a parent, you certainly understand that lack of sleep leads to a grumpy or hyperactive child, similar to ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) symptoms. What’s more, your child may have trouble paying attention and thus have poor performance in school.

Research shows that 25% of children under the age of 5 don’t get enough sleep which is quite worrying as lack of sleep in early childhood is connected to allergic rhinitis, immune system issues, anxiety, and depression, as well as future obesity, diabetes, and high blood pressure, all leading to cardiovascular risks.

When it comes to adolescents, poor sleep may result in long-term academic performance and mental health issues. Experts even consider lack of sleep in adolescents a public health issue. These adolescents are also at a higher risk for substance abuse, mental health issues, and accidents.

How to Improve Your Child’s Sleep?

It is true that sleep needs change with age, but research shows that following a strict bedtime routine can improve your child’s sleep regardless of their age. In other words, your kid should do the same activities, in the same order every day before they go to bed. You just have to choose two to three activities suitable for their age.

Some examples of bedtime routine activities for kids include:

• Turning off any screens and gadgets
• Taking a shower or a bath and brushing your teeth
• Putting on pajamas
• Singing a lullaby or reading a book

Furthermore, you should also insist on keeping good sleep hygiene and practicing good daytime habits as well.

Some examples of good sleep hygiene practices for kids include:

• Stick to a regular bedtime
• Make the bedroom, or at least the bed, a screen-free zone
• Provide them with a healthy diet
• Block out light using dark curtains
• Keep their bedroom quiet
• Avoid large meals or sugary treats before bedtime

In addition to following a consistent bedtime routine and practicing good sleep hygiene habits, you also have to ensure your child does regular exercise. However, don’t exhaust your child hoping they would sleep better at night. On the contrary, when children are overtired it is actually harder for them to fall asleep. Therefore, learn to notice and recognize the signs that your kid is getting tired to prevent exhaustion.

Last but not least, don’t forget the mornings as they are important too. Make sure you don’t let your kids sleep in on weekends. Doing so will disturb their sleep schedule and make it harder to stick to their typical sleep pattern during the week.