There are times when kids do not want to sleep until late at night and it does get difficult for parents to put them to sleep. It is imperative to understand that getting good amount of sleep every night is as important as the quality of sleep especially for kids. Sleep deprivation or insufficiency sleep can affect there cognitive skills and cause concentration and memory problems. A new study, published in the journal BMC Public Health, has found an easy solution to make sure that your kids get adequate rest. According to researchers, fixing a strict bedtime routine for children ensures that they get sufficient sleep which is crucial for good physical and mental health.This new study shows that parents who actively enforce bedtime rules for their children may help them get adequate sleep. Like mentioned earlier, lack of sleep can have several health implications ranging from poor attention that can lead to bad grades to poor social interaction, irritability and even depression in cases of extreme sleep deprivation.How much sleep we think is enough for us is quite debatable but how much we should actually get isn't. The National Sleep Foundation's (NSF), a nonprofit dedicated to promoting healthy sleep released a study in 2015 that gave recommendations on how much sleep do people of different age groups actually need. According to the kids between the age of 3 and 5 years should get at least 10 to 13 hours of sleep every night while kids between the age of 6 and 13 years should sleep for at least 9 to 11 hours and teenagers between the age of 14 and 17 years need 8 to 10 hours of rest. For young adults over 18 years of age, anything between 7 to 9 hours is good as per the NSF.
(Also read: 9 Reasons Why You Need to Relax and Get Good Sleep)
For the study, the team used self-reported data from over 1,600 parents with at least one child under the age of 18 years. Around 94% of parents reported that they encouraged their child to go to bed at a specific time, and just over 84% reported enforcing bedtime rules. Parents who reported enforcing bedtime rules were 59% more likely help their child meet the sleep guidelines on a weekday, researchers noted. Through their study, researchers have also found that the number of children meeting the actual sleep guidelines has increased between the age of 5 and 9 years, but has declined between the age of 10 and 17 years. More over children aged 15 years showed the greatest difference between weekday and weekend sleep with 38.3% fewer children meeting sleep guidelines over weekends compared to the weekdays.
(Also read: 9 Reasons Why You Need to Relax and Get Good Sleep)
For the study, the team used self-reported data from over 1,600 parents with at least one child under the age of 18 years. Around 94% of parents reported that they encouraged their child to go to bed at a specific time, and just over 84% reported enforcing bedtime rules. Parents who reported enforcing bedtime rules were 59% more likely help their child meet the sleep guidelines on a weekday, researchers noted. Through their study, researchers have also found that the number of children meeting the actual sleep guidelines has increased between the age of 5 and 9 years, but has declined between the age of 10 and 17 years. More over children aged 15 years showed the greatest difference between weekday and weekend sleep with 38.3% fewer children meeting sleep guidelines over weekends compared to the weekdays.
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