*Flashback Friday*

*This post originally appeared on The PediaBlog on December 16, 2019.

 

Kids Need To Snooze Longer

 

 

Whatever the reasons — heavy loads of homework assignments, early school start times, increased use of electronic devices, difficult home-life situations, poverty, and mental health issues are just a few examples — it is clear that too many American schoolchildren are not getting enough sleep. And it’s having an adverse effect on their health and well-being.

A new study (awaiting publication) has determined that more than half of students (52%) are not getting the recommended amount of sleep each night. Christopher Curley reports that pediatric researchers discovered a number of consequences of sleep deprivation:

“Sleep deprived kids have more behavioral problems, more academic problems, more health problems, more risk-taking behaviors, and more anxiety and mood related problems,” Lynelle Schneeberg, PsyD, an assistant professor at Yale School of Medicine and director of the behavioral sleep program at Connecticut Children’s Medical Center, told Healthline.

In addition, she said, “Sleep deprived kids have more sleep terrors, nightmares, sleepwalking, and bedwetting.”

In addition, too little sleep can increase a child’s risk for health problems, such as obesity, high blood pressure, heart disease, stroke, irregular heartbeat, and diabetes, says Jessica Brown, DO, MPH, a board certified expert in pediatric sleep medicine at Our Lady of the Lake Children’s Health in Louisiana.

 

Longer sleep duration appears to result in better academic performance…

What researchers found was that compared to their sleep deprived peers, the 48 percent of kids who did sleep enough had a 44 percent higher likelihood of demonstrating curiosity in learning new information and skills.

They were also 33 percent more likely to complete all their homework and 28 percent more likely to care about doing well in school, the researchers said.

 

… and brain development:

“Young people, especially teens, are still developing their frontal lobe and decision making skills, but when sleep deprivation is exacerbated, your frontal lobe is most impaired,” Kansagra said.

“This can cause mental function to be reduced similar to that of a drunk person, where decision making processes are delayed and impaired, attention is shortened, and memory functioning is decreased,” he said.

 

Perhaps even more concerning is the mounting evidence that teenagers deprived of adequate sleep run a greater risk of self-harm:

But perhaps most concerning is the link between too little sleep and teen self-harm and suicide risk, according to Susan Malone, PhD, MSN, a senior research scientist at NYU Rory Meyers College of Nursing in New York.

She highlights a 2018 research letter in the journal JAMA PediatricsTrusted Source warning of the risks of less than 8 hours of sleep on teens’ self-harm risk.

“The strongest link was between mood and self-harm, such that high school students sleeping less than 6 hours were more than three times as likely to report considering suicide, making a suicide attempt plan, or attempting suicide than high school students sleeping 8 hours or more,” Malone told Healthline. “Moreover, high school students sleeping less than 6 hours were more than four times as likely to report an attempted suicide.”

 

As a general rule, if possible, the bedroom should be reserved for sleeping and not as a venue for entertainment or a place to do homework. Curley offers other suggestions to help children sleep longer at night:

•  Caregivers should talk about the importance and benefits of sufficient sleep early and often with young children. Have conversations about the value of sleep during the day, not at nighttime or while trying to get a tired child to bed.

•  Never use going to bed early as a punishment or staying up late as a reward. Don’t use the bedroom for timeouts.

•  Optimize the sleep environment for your child and teen. A dark, quiet, and comfortable bedroom with a comfortable mattress and pillows are just as important for children as they are for adults.

•  Going to bed should always be cast in a positive light. Instead of telling children that they “have to go to bed,” say instead, “You get to go to bed.”

•  Kids should have a media curfew, and parents should try and keep screens out of a child’s bedroom.

 

 

(Google Images)

 

 

source http://www.thepediablog.com/2022/12/16/flashback-friday-237/