One-third of children do not get enough sleep. How much sleep do children need in a day?

Just as electronic devices need to be charged, sleep is also a time for people to store energy during the day. In particular, the length and quality of sleep for children are key factors affecting their growth and mental health, and should be given special attention. However, in real life, many parents often ignore the importance of their children's sleep health due to factors such as their own work and their children's schoolwork.

Getting enough sleep is important for children

In order to ensure better work and study the next day, high-quality sleep the night before is essential. If we cannot get enough rest and the body is in a state of long-term overdraft, problems may arise over time.

Studies have shown that lack of adequate sleep can affect the physical and mental health development of children. Children’s weight can easily become abnormal, and they may become obese or too thin. They will also bear greater mental stress in life. Finally, it can affect their learning and performance in school, and even lead to some extreme or aggressive behaviors [1].

So, what kind of sleep can be called a good sleep?

People experience different sleep stages when they sleep - rapid eye movement (REM) sleep and non-rapid eye movement (NON REM) sleep. And each sleep stage plays a different role: non-rapid eye movement sleep can restore physical strength; REM sleep can consolidate memory and restore energy.

The sleep cycle, which consists of REM sleep and non-REM sleep, is divided into different stages, slowly transitioning from light sleep to deep sleep.

Sleep cycle diagram | SLEEP WELL

When we go through a complete sleep cycle, the body produces melatonin, cortisol, growth hormone and other hormones that are beneficial to human health. Melatonin helps improve sleep quality and prolong deep sleep time; cortisol can help regulate mental stress; and growth hormone can stimulate bone and muscle growth. The synthesis and release of these hormones follow the circadian rhythm, so rhythmic and regular sleep can also help children grow healthily at the physiological level.

When there is insufficient sleep, it is difficult for the body to regulate and release the necessary hormones, and it is also difficult for different sleep periods to function. Over time, children are prone to fatigue, increased stress, muscle weakness, inability to concentrate, decreased memory and other problems.

So, children must get enough sleep.

Scientific sleep duration reference

The database of the National Survey of Children’s Health in the United States conducted a two-year survey from 2016 to 2018 on infants aged 4 months to adolescents aged 17 years. The results showed that more than one-third of children experienced persistent sleep deprivation. [2] China has also conducted a similar survey on sleep duration for children and adolescents aged 6-17 years, and found that the proportion of people in this age range who do not get enough sleep is as high as 70% [3].

Therefore, it is very necessary for parents to understand the importance of adequate sleep and how to help their children get good sleep quality.

Children of different ages have different sleep requirements. You can refer to the scientific sleep schedule for children published by the American Sleep Association [4]. Generally speaking, younger babies need longer sleep. Of course, there will be a small number of children who will more or less wander outside the range, and the specific situation will vary from person to person.

4-12 months: 12-16 hours, including naps

1-2 years: 11-14 hours, including naps

3-5 years old: 10-13 hours, including naps

6-12 years: 9-12 hours

13-18 years old: 8-10 hours

Parents can use this reference table to measure whether their children are getting enough sleep and help their children adjust a regular and healthy sleep schedule.

Helping children get a good night's sleep

Since children’s sleep is so important to their physical and mental health development, as parents, how can we ensure that our children get enough sleep every day?

Regular daily routine

Guiding children to have a regular bedtime routine and a relatively fixed wake-up time every day can help children (especially young children) understand what they will do before going to bed through the process and cultivate their sense of time. Just like in kindergarten, there is a fixed process arrangement every day, knowing when to go to bed and when to get up, and children's daily activities will be smoother.

In psychology, there is a term called “sensory adaptation”, which refers to the process by which our senses slowly adapt to the constant stimulation of a new environment after we enter it. Different senses adapt at different speeds. For example, complete dark adaptation takes 45 minutes, while light adaptation only takes a few minutes, and auditory adaptation takes about 15 minutes[5].

Therefore, we can adjust the environment to a sleeping atmosphere in advance. Avoid activities that excite children before bedtime, such as outdoor activities, playing games, or watching mobile phones, TV, computers, etc. You can dim the lights in advance and choose some quiet activities instead, such as independent reading or parent-child reading. The more relaxed the child is, the easier it is for him to go to bed on time and fall asleep quickly.

Also, don’t forget to say good night to your baby every day and tell him/her “Mom and Dad love you” so that the busy day ends with love.

Good sleeping environment

Likewise, it is important to create a comfortable sleeping environment for your child.

The child's sleeping place should be kept as quiet and dark as possible, with an appropriate indoor temperature. An overly cold, overly hot or humid environment will affect the child's body sensation and brain, and then affect sleep. Professor Zhang Hude of the Department of Health Preservation at Beijing University of Chinese Medicine believes that a room temperature of around 20°C is the most comfortable, and it is also the best sleeping temperature. Room temperatures above 24°C and below 18°C ​​will increase the number of tossing and turning, affecting deep sleep[6].

In addition, a joint study released by Harvard Medical School and its affiliated Brigham and Women's Hospital showed that the light emitted by electronic device screens can have a negative impact on people's sleep. In the experiment, children who used electronic devices to read took longer to fall asleep and had lower sleep quality. In a dark environment at night, the human body secretes melatonin. As mentioned earlier, this is a hormone that improves sleep quality. Scientists believe that using electronic devices before bedtime will inhibit the secretion of melatonin and have a negative impact on children's sleep [7].

Please keep away all electronic devices at bedtime and create a focused sleeping space for your child.

The right food before bed

Starting from the afternoon, especially in the evening, we should avoid choosing foods and drinks that can make people excited, such as milk tea, coffee, and sports functional drinks. The American Journal of Gastroenterology recommends that there should be a 3-hour interval between dinner and bedtime, so that our stomach has enough time to digest food and transport it to the small intestine [8]. It can also avoid heartburn and insomnia caused by indigestion when falling asleep.

Therefore, it is best not to eat 1-2 hours before going to bed. If the child feels hungry, you can use a light snack or a glass of milk instead to reduce the burden on the child's stomach.

Good sleep is essential for children's growth | Pixabay

Author: Wang Bingyu

Editor: Jin Xiaoming Suyu

Typesetting: Jin Xiaoming

References

[1]Johns Hopkins Medicine. The importance of sleep for kids. Published March 12, 2018.

[2]Wheaton AG, Claussen AH. (2021). Short sleep duration among infants, children, and adolescents aged 4 months–17 years — the United States, 2016-2018. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 70:1315-1321.

[3] Song, C., Gong, W., Ding, C., Y Zhang, F Yuan, & Liu, A. . (2017). Sleep duration among Chinese children and adolescents aged 6-17 years old. Chinese Journal of School Health.

[4]Paruthi S, Brooks LJ, D'Ambrosio C, et al. (2016). The recommended amount of sleep for pediatric populations: a consensus statement of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine. J Clin Sleep Med. 12(6):785-786.

[5] Gu Mingyuan. Dictionary of Education: Shanghai Education Press, 1998

[6] People’s Daily Online - Life Times. Published on March 13, 2015

[7]Anne-Marie, Chang, Daniel, Aeschbach, Jeanne, & F., et al. (2014). Evening use of light-emitting e-readers negatively affects sleep, circadian timing, and next-morning alertness. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

[8]Fujiwara, Y., Machida, A., Watanabe, Y., Shiba, M., Tominaga, K., Watanabe, T., ... & Arakawa, T. (2005). Association between dinner-to-bed time and gastro-oesophagal reflux disease.