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 “At least 25 percent of 12-year-olds get less than the recommended
nine hours of sleep per night and there is increasing evidence that
this impacts learning and memory,” said Dr. Stuart F. Chan of
Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, a coauthor of the new American
Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) guidelines.
The new recommendations, online now on the AASM website and
scheduled for publication in the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine,
“use a more rigorous evaluation of the scientific literature than
was used previously,” Chan told Reuters Health by email. “The range
of recommended hours of sleep for each age grouping is wider than
before,” but the guideline still stresses that children and
teenagers “need substantial amounts of sleep.”
For optimal health, children and teens should get the following
hours of sleep (per 24 hours) on a regular basis:
- Infants four months to one year of age: 12-16 hours, including
naps;
- Children one to two years old: 11-14 hours, including naps;
- Children three to five years old: 10-13 hours, including naps;
- Children six to 12 years old: 9-12 hours;
- Teenagers 13-18 years old: 8-10 hours.
Sleep disorders that keep youngsters from meeting these
recommendations take a toll on their health, Chan notes. For
example, he said, “sleep apnea is associated with poor school
performance, mood and behavior problems, misdiagnosis of ADHD
(attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) and, if severe,
potentially heart problems.”
Insomnia, which affects up to one in four adolescents and one in
three preschoolers, is associated with “poor school performance,
increased mood and health problems and risk of self-harm and
suicidal ideation,” said Chan. It’s also associated with increased
risk of developing a new medical problem and starting the use of a
new psychiatric medication.
The biggest challenge is making sure the child has enough time in
bed, Chan said. “Frequently, a child or teen will not go to bed
early enough or they are awakened too early. The reasons for this
are varied, but revolve around family dynamics, social issues and,
in the case of teens, school start times.”
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Here are some suggestions to promote better sleep:
- Don’t allow TV, cell phones, tablets or other electronic devices
in the bedroom; in addition to distracting children and teens, they
often emit light that delays sleep onset, according to Chan.
- Schedule homework, social and extracurricular activities at times
that still permit adequate sleep.
- Limit intense activity in the hours before bedtime.
- Keep sleep schedules the same on weekdays, weekends and during
school vacations. “Adopting an irregular schedule during summer
vacation means it will be harder to readapt when school starts
again,” Chan says.
Chan advises parents to talk with their family doctor or a
pediatrician if sleep problems persist.
Dr. Dan Combs, an assistant professor of sleep medicine at the
University of Arizona College of Medicine, Tucson, told Reuters
Health by email, “Given the increasingly busy schedules of children,
particularly teenagers, parents can use the guidelines to determine
if their child even has enough opportunity (time in bed) to get the
recommended amount of sleep to optimize their health.”
“Likewise, if children are getting the right amount of sleep, but
are still sleepy during the day, or if they are sleeping more than
recommended, this should raise a red flag that there may be an
underlying sleep disorder that is affecting the child's health.”
SOURCE: http://bit.ly/235hHO0 American Academy of Sleep Medicine,
June 13, 2016.
(This version of the story was refiled to add two bulleted lists)
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