How Much Sleep Should your Child be Getting Every Day?

Sleep is very important for all of us.As a Growth Specialist I stress a lot to parents about healthy sleep to ensure healthy growth in childhood. A very common question i Get asked is "Doctor, How many hours my child should sleep"? Lets answer this question today




Sleep is an essential part of our daily schedule . Not just children but all adults should give due importance to sleep in their lifestyles. research has been telling us for many years that sleep is the time where the body rests and repairs itself. 


When we sleep our heart rate slows down , the muscles relax and body temperature falls, all are means to repair and rest tissues. For children sleep has an added importance as Growth Hormone secretion is maximum during deep sleep. Hence the highest growth rate is during night-time deep sleep.

Our Brains never sleep. Sleep is the time when the brain cleans itself .In this process, new connections are made during the brain cells that help us remember what we learnt during the day. Hence a child who sleeps well remembers well what he learnt during the day and with a fresh brain next day will learn better in school.

 Do We Know How much to sleep?

in the past the recommendations of sleep duration were NOT based on solid research. but finally last month The American Society of Sleep Medicine has come out with Scientific Research based recommendations . these have been published in The Journal of Sleep medicine in the  June 2016 issue

How Much should your child sleep every night?

To promote optimal health, the recommendations advise the following amount of sleep (per 24 hours) on a regular basis:

• Infants 4 to 12 months: 12 to 16 hours of sleep (including naps);
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• Children 1 to 2 years of age: 11 to 14 hours (including naps);
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• Children 3 to 5 years of age: 10 to 13 hours (including naps);
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• Children 6 to 12 years of age: 9 to 12 hours; and
• Teenagers 13 to 18 years of age: 8 to 10 hours.

In developing the recommendations, the expert panel reviewed 864 published scientific articles on the relationship between sleep duration and health in children, evaluated the evidence by using a formal grading system, and arrived at the final recommendations after multiple rounds of voting.These are by far the best scientific recommendations available to this date.

ADVANTAGES OF A NICE SLEEP 

Sleeping the recommended number of hours on a regular basis is associated with 

1. overall better physical health 
2. improved attention,
3. improved behaviour
4. better learning,
5. better memory,
6. better emotional regulation,

On the other hand sleeping fewer hours than recommended is associated with 

1. lack of attention
2. Bad behaviour
3. learning problems.

Children who sleep less are also at a higher risk for accidents, injuries, hypertension, obesity, diabetes, and depression.Teenagers with disturbed sleep are more likely to engage in risky behaviour and be prone to suicidal tendencies.

However, sleeping more than the recommended time is also associated with risk of reduced school performance, irritability, obesity  and hypertension .

So we are clear on this. Children should sleep as per the recommended times and stay healthy , happy and grow well..

A lot of parents have trouble making their kids fall asleep. I ll address sleep habits and sleep hygiene in my upcoming articles.

   



see u soon..

Dr Uppal Saurabh 

PS: Any queries you have or any topics you would like me to cover can be posted on my facebook page ENDOKIDZ ( link in the top right corner of this page)