Q&A: Help Your Child Get Enough Sleep

A bad night's sleep can affect performance and behavior at school. A sleep expert discusses how parents can help.

Sleep is vital for our physical and emotional well-being. It impacts a person’s productivity, learning, mood, and memory. For school-aged children, lack of sleep can lead to poor academic performance and bad behavior in the classroom.

As Dennis Rosen, MD, associate medical director at the Center for Pediatric Sleep Disorders at Boston Children’s Hospital, points out, “it’s pretty accepted that kids in the aggregate aren’t getting enough sleep, especially teenagers who have lots of things they’re trying to get done and just don’t allow themselves to sleep.”

Making sure your children are getting enough sleep can be tricky but especially important at the start of a new school year. Dr. Rosen, author of "Successful Sleep Strategies for Kids," discusses how much sleep is enough and what parents can do to help kids get the rest they need.

Is there a formula for how much sleep children and adolescents need?

The amount of sleep you need is very individual. [But] I’d say elementary school kids probably need somewhere between nine and 10 hours of sleep per night, and teenagers generally need between eight and nine hours of sleep a night.

Why is getting enough sleep so critical for young people?

Sleep is a function of the brain. It’s not something you do just because you’re bored. It encompasses a whole host of processes surrounding memory, learning and unlearning, and restorative processes in the brain. So getting enough sleep at those particular ages is important because your brain is continuing to develop.

What effects can insufficient or poor quality sleep have on kids in school?

Not getting enough sleep can make it more difficult for kids to pay attention and stay focused. It can impair their behavior, making them less settled and more fidgety. It can actually disrupt their ability to concentrate and can affect their memory. It can also have a profound effect on their emotional state. If you don’t get enough sleep, you may feel more anxious and have more mood disturbances. And then there are physiological aspects of insufficient sleep, such as increased susceptibility to infection which can make kids miss school and not perform as well.

Is there such a thing as too much sleep?

If you see a child sleeping more than you may expect, you have to start wondering what else is going on. Is there a reason for this child being excessively sleepy? Is the child’s sleep such poor quality that despite being in bed for an appropriate amount of time, he’s not getting a good amount of sleep? If that’s the case, parents should probably step in.

What kinds of things keep kids from sleeping well?

Some things that can disturb sleep fall into the realm of…poor sleep hygiene. For example, people who have television sets in their bedroom. People who have cats or dogs that jump in their bed or jump all over them. Kids who have music playing in the bedroom. Rooms that aren’t dark or quiet. All these things can really affect your sleep. There are sleep disorders that can really disrupt the quality of your sleep – for example, obstructive sleep apnea. If you’re having trouble breathing…and you’re constantly being awakened, even though you’ve been in bed for nine hours, you’re not getting good sleep.

What signs of sleep apnea in children should parents be aware of?

If parents notice their child is snoring, gasping, or choking at night, if the child breathes with an open mouth and neck extended, sweats a lot…these might all be signs that a child is having problems breathing while sleeping.

Why should electronics be kept out of the bedroom?

Exposure to light…is known to keep us awake. Electronics distract you and prevent you from letting your mind relax and going off to sleep. If you’re busy texting, chatting, playing games, or watching videos, it’s going to be more difficult for you to shut your eyes and go to sleep.

Do naps help?

It depends on personal factors. But typically, children past the age of five don’t normally nap. What happens when you nap is that you wind up becoming less sleepy in the evening, and so it becomes more difficult to fall asleep. If you have a natural tendency to stay up late, naps can make you stay up even later; and you’re going to shift your internal clock.

What tips do you have for parents to get kids on a good sleep schedule?

First, find out how much sleep your child needs based on his age. Then, think about what time the child needs to wake up for school and work backwards. So if your child needs somewhere around nine hours of sleep and he needs to be up at 6 am to go to school, then he should be in bed and asleep by 9 pm. What you can start doing is waking him up at 6 am in the morning because it’s a lot easier to wake people up than command them to go to sleep. Have him avoid naps during the day and really focus on removing distractions in the evening. Pay attention to sleep hygiene, and keep electronics and gadgets out of the bedroom. It’s truly helpful to get them into a regular routine to get used to falling asleep at a specific time.

Last Updated: 07/15/2014