How to help your child get enough healthy, brain-boosting sleep

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任何养育过孩子的人都知道，管理孩子的睡眠是养育孩子最具挑战性的方面之一. 但并不是每个人都明白睡眠有多重要.

Adequate sleep is a bedrock of a child's physical and mental health, said Dr. Jill Kaar, 她是奥罗拉科罗拉多大学安舒茨医学院的儿科副教授.

"Everything starts with sleep," said Kaar, a maternal and child health epidemiologist. 确保孩子有足够的睡眠和提供均衡的膳食或鼓励锻炼一样重要，甚至可能更重要, she said. “所有这些都是相关的，所有这些都源于睡眠."

晚上睡眠不好的儿童和青少年除了容易疲劳外，还有其他问题的风险, said Dr. 胡里奥Fernandez-Mendoza, 精神病学和行为健康教授, 公共健康科学，神经和行为科学在宾夕法尼亚州立大学医学院, Pennsylvania. Insufficient or out-of-sync sleep has been connected to learning problems, 注意力问题和认知问题.

当年轻人睡眠不足的时候, we're exposing them to something that can have long-term health consequences, 包括心脏代谢健康,费尔南德斯-门多萨说, a clinical psychologist who directs Penn State's behavioral sleep medicine program.

Not getting enough sleep has been associated with weight gain and obesity, increased blood pressure and insulin resistance among youth, he said, 睡眠也与免疫系统的工作方式有关. The 美国心脏协会 considers sleep to be one of 八大要素 对成人和儿童的心脏和大脑健康有益.

But, 虽然睡眠的重要性是公认的, the needs of each family – and each child within that family – can be different.

正如美国儿科学会所阐述的那样 睡眠的建议，需求随着年龄的增长而变化. The AAP says infants need 12 to 16 hours a day; toddlers 11 to 14 hours; preschoolers 10 to 13 hours; grade-schoolers nine to 12 hours; and teens eight to 10 hours. 这些建议包括让年幼的孩子午睡.

That guidance shows how sleep patterns shift as a child grows, Fernandez-Mendoza说. A young child may not fall asleep right after dinner like a baby would; a teenager may naturally become more of a night owl. But even within the same family, the experience can vary widely from sibling to sibling.

Kaar said sleep advice also has to be adjusted for each family's circumstances. 每个孩子都睡在自己安静的房间里的郊区家庭的需求与生活在嘈杂的房间里的家庭的需求不同, 灯火通明的公寓，四个孩子共用一个房间.

So, one-size-fits-all sleep advice doesn't exist, she said.

That said, here are ways to help your child get the best possible sleep:

优先考虑睡眠

卡尔说，人们很容易把睡眠推到次要位置. Sports, homework, even family dinners when both parents work late can get in the way.

但是由于上面列出的所有原因, families need to find ways to make sure sleep is not sacrificed. 卡尔说，在周末睡懒觉来弥补工作日错过的沙巴足球体育平台并不是解决问题的办法. 如果你的睡眠沙巴足球体育平台每晚都不一样，“你的身体也不喜欢那样，”她说. “它需要有规律的睡眠沙巴足球体育平台表."

费尔南德斯-门多萨强调，这些建议是针对实际睡眠沙巴足球体育平台的，不包括入睡沙巴足球体育平台. So, 父母需要“谨慎而周到”地安排足够的沙巴足球体育平台让孩子安静下来，让青少年在睡觉前脱离白天的活动.

教他们如何

When it comes to helping children and teens prepare to go to sleep, "I think the most important thing is to teach kids that they're sleepy,费尔南德斯-门多萨说.

孩子需要学习在哪里以及如何睡觉, he said, and how signs such as drooping eyelids indicate it's time to settle into bed. Fernandez-Mendoza likens it to toilet training – a child will have a physical need, 但他们必须被教导在正确的地方.

"The moment your kid is falling asleep, if at all possible, take them to bed," he said.

这些基本的步骤可以带来很大的不同. A 研究综述 2022年发表在《沙巴体育平台点击进入》(JAMA Pediatrics)上的一篇文章显示，仅仅是鼓励孩子提前就寝，就能使孩子的睡眠沙巴足球体育平台延长47分钟.

同时, Fernandez-Mendoza说, a parent shouldn't force an older child to adhere to a bedtime they might have outgrown. It would be unrealistic, for example, to make a teenager go to bed at 8:30 p.m. “这不会发生在大多数青少年身上," he said, noting that later school start times could help teens get the sleep they need.

养成健康的生活习惯

“行为性失眠症”是一个术语，用来描述睡眠困难的儿童，因为他们没有学会在没有照顾者在场的情况下入睡或恢复睡眠，或者因为他们没有一致的睡眠沙巴足球体育平台表和就寝沙巴足球体育平台, Fernandez-Mendoza说. Perhaps they were allowed to fall asleep watching television on the couch, or they learned to fall asleep only when someone else was in bed with them.

When such problems affect the child's or caregiver's daytime functioning or quality of life, 它们通常可以很容易地通过行为疗法得到治疗, he said.

健康的睡眠规律是什么样的? Again, 每个孩子都是不同的, Kaar said, 但是对于小孩子来说, 它可能是“我完成了我的家庭作业, 然后我喜欢洗澡, 然后我喜欢看书.'" Older kids should be taught to use their bed only for sleeping, 避免咖啡因，并为他们的屏幕设定睡觉沙巴足球体育平台.

关于那些屏幕……

美国儿科学会建议不要让孩子们的房间里有屏幕，并在睡觉前一小时关掉它们. 屏幕发出的光线会干扰人体的睡眠节奏和褪黑激素的产生, 一种帮助调节睡眠的激素.

费尔南德斯-门多萨倾向于以一种更有教育意义而不是专制的方式来执行这一规定. 从长远来看，帮助孩子们找到合适的沙巴足球体育平台玩电子游戏和打电话聊天，并帮助他们理解为什么睡前把这些屏幕放在一边对他们有好处，这比妖魔化这些设备本身或孩子们喜欢用它们做的活动更有帮助.

褪黑素补充剂呢??

褪黑素补充剂越来越受欢迎, but the AAP recommends talking to a pediatrician before considering them.

"Medications should be a second-line resource for most youth, 有睡眠问题的儿童和青少年, Fernandez-Mendoza说. 行为疗法应该是第一线疗法，“因为对很大一部分人来说，行为疗法真的能解决问题。."

转而服用褪黑素的家庭应该意识到，美国食品和药物管理局(Food and Drug Administration)对补充剂的监管没有药物那么严格, he said. The amount of melatonin in different products can vary widely, and studies have shown that actual amounts might not match what's on the label.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 260,000 ingestions of melatonin in children were reported to U.S. 2012年到2021年的中毒控制中心. In most cases, young children accidentally got into bottles of melatonin.

费尔南德斯-门多萨强调，帮助孩子学会如何入睡通常比任何一种药物或补充剂都更有帮助，这些药物或补充剂只是在晚上让他们无法入睡，有时甚至不会成功. However, he added, "melatonin when given at the right dosage and at the right time, 根据睡眠专家的建议, can be effective in youth in whom behavioral sleep therapies do not work well enough."

转向应用程序

卡尔与人合写了一篇 2022年JMIR儿科与育儿研究 on children's sleep apps that found few were rooted in science. 但如果它们对你的孩子有帮助，她就不会觉得有什么害处. 她自己和孩子们一起使用它们:她有一个6岁的孩子，有时会听一个故事应用程序, 还有一个8岁的孩子在白噪音发生器的帮助下.

但她说，家庭不需要花哨的东西. "With sleep, at the end of the day, you need a quiet environment."

Similarly, Kaar said, you don't need to spend a lot to create a suitable space for sleep. 在窗户上贴一个黑色垃圾袋，让房间变暗. 在你的手机上找一个免费的白噪音应用程序，或者在房间里打开风扇来减少房间外面的噪音. And if anybody promotes a product that sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

“不要向噱头屈服，”她说.

何时寻求帮助

如果睡眠问题开始影响孩子的沙巴足球体育平台、社交生活或家庭生活，请咨询孩子的医生, 如果一个孩子熬夜到很晚，以至于早上不能被叫醒，或者白天很困，很疲劳, Fernandez-Mendoza说. “这是我们出现问题的第一个迹象."

卡尔说，如果睡眠对你的家人来说是一个挑战，要知道你并不孤单. "People think that every other family might be doing it right," she said, but families of all types of backgrounds end up needing help. “孩子们很挣扎，”她说. “每个人都努力. It's hard."