Top 3 Sleep Tips for Children & Teens | Insomnia |
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So one of the best tips to help children and teenagers fall asleep at night is to avoid electronic use starting an hour before their bedtime. Now this includes avoidance of electronics, such as TV, the computer, and the phone. Light from these devices can suppress melatonin levels, and melatonin is a hormone which will help with sleep onset. If you're using the computer, or you're watching TV, you become engaged with what you're doing, and that will cause you to become stimulated which makes it harder to fall asleep and stay asleep. Now you also want to have your child and teenager evaluated for any primary sleep disorders, such as obstructive sleep apnea where you're not breathing well while you're asleep, so your brain senses that and keeps waking you up. This, in turn, causes sleep deprivation and sleep fragmentation. You can also have restless leg syndrome where you have an uncomfortable feeling in your legs, and you need to constantly move around to help you sleep better at night. There are also circadian disorders, such as delayed sleep syndrome in which your circadian rhythm is offset, and you have a tendency to want to sleep later and wake up later. Now unfortunately, you can't wake up late because you have school. You also want to have your child evaluated for any possible medical disorders. In addition to primary sleep disorders, that can be contributing to sleep problems at night. |