How to Improve Kid’s Sleep

As parents, we want to stay educated and up-to-date on what best helps our kids learn, grow, and thrive. This page is centered around the topic of sleep. Why sleep? Here are a few reasons:

1. Sleep is core to improvement and maintenance in a number of areas including attention, depression, anxiety, and learning.

2. For kids to prepare their brains for learn absorption, they need 8-10 hours of sleep.

3. Behavior changes can be addressed quickly through improving sleep.

Tools to help learn about kid’s sleep

Below you’ll find several tools, resources, and articles that can help you as a parent to educate yourself about the topic of sleep.

For younger kids

Here’s a book I wrote aimed at helping parents of toddlers make sleep a bit easier.

 

This is a wonderful video for younger kids to discuss why sleep is important.

A fast-paced discussion about why sleep is important

This is a quick summary of sleep from Dnews. Scientists have just discovered a new, very important reason for you to get a good night’s sleep. For the first time, they’ve actually been able to see the brain physically cleaning itself while you’re catching Zzz’s! Anthony explains how this cerebral garbage disposal system works.

For TED Talk Fans

This is a video from Russell Foster’s TED talk. This is a great macro view of the topic of sleep, kids, and how our body temperature changes as we age. Probably one of the best scientific discussions about sleep!

Here is a blog post on TED’s website that summarizes the talk.

A few more articles:

Brains Sweep Themselves Clean Of Toxins During Sleep

One part I really like about this article is when it says, “The process is important because what’s getting washed away during sleep are waste proteins that are toxic to brain cells, Nedergaard says. This could explain why we don’t think clearly after a sleepless night and why a prolonged lack of sleep can actually kill an animal or a person”

 

Healthful Habits Can Help Induce Sleep Without The Pills

The line that I like best in this article, captures so much of what kids need: “People should have regular sleep and wake times on weekdays and weekends, Watson says. ‘Having a rhythmicity to sleep and wake patterns is crucial to having healthy sleep.'”

 

Of Neurons And Memories: Inside The ‘Secret World Of Sleep’

We spend so much of our lives asleep, for this reason, I love this quote: “We’d like to understand what sleep is really for. So, we spend one-third of our lives asleep as humans. That’s a huge proportion. That’s more time than we spend doing anything else. So it’s got to be important for something. So part of the purpose of the research that I’m doing is trying to understand that.”

 

Sleep and developmental plasticity not just for kids

This sleep research article discusses sleep and how it changes the plasticity of the brain.

 

Video from Mayo Clinic with Basics of Sleep

Dr. Suresh Kotagal, a Mayo Clinic pediatric sleep expert discusses various aspects of sleep in children including why a good nights sleep is important, and how to get your child back into a school year routine.

 

Screen Time and Sleep

National Louis University’s Craig Cunningham, Ph.D., associate professor in the National College of Education, analyzes the impact of screen time with new technologies such as the iPad on children’s development.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Joseph R. Sanok, MA, LLP, LPC, NCC is a licensed counselor, therapist, father, and husband in Traverse City, MI. He owns Mental Wellness Counseling and loves to sleep!

To link to Joe’s Google+

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Photo by snailsareslimy, thanks!