Children sleep late because of parents, change now!

Children often sleep late due to improper care by their parents. Sleeping late has a negative impact on the health and overall development of children. As parents, you should change this habit now before it is too late.

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The harmful effects of children sleeping late

A good night's sleep helps the body recover and relax. Sleep is especially important for children.

Lack of sleep causes children to grow slowly in height.

In addition to genetic factors, sleep also affects children's height development. The reason is that when sleeping, children's bodies will produce a growth hormone, helping children increase their height. According to experts, this hormone is secreted from about 11pm to 1am when children are in deep sleep. Sleeping late will cause less hormone secretion, affecting height development.

Affects learning ability

According to a study by scientists at the University of Maryland School of Medicine (USA), primary school-age children who sleep less than 9 hours per night have significant differences in some brain regions responsible for memory, intelligence and health compared to their peers who sleep 9-12 hours per night. The results were published in The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health in 2022. Thus, going to bed late in the long term will affect children's brain development and learning ability.

Reduced resistance

Deep sleep is not only the time when the body recovers but also produces cytokines - a type of protein that fights pathogens. Therefore, a good night's sleep will help children's bodies stay healthy. On the contrary, sleeping late and not sleeping deeply will reduce the number of cytokines, leading to reduced resistance, making children more susceptible to illness and colds.

Prone to obesity

Dr. Elsie Taveras - Head of Pediatrics, Massachusetts General Hospital for Children in Boston (USA) said that children who are sleep deprived are about 2.5 times more likely to be obese than children who sleep a lot. In addition, children who are sleep deprived are also 2.5 times more likely to have total body fat, higher belly fat, and larger waist and hip measurements. This study was conducted on 1,000 children.

Behavioral disorders

Sleeping late makes the body tired, children not only have cognitive decline but also have a poorer social foundation than children who get enough sleep. Children are prone to behavioral disorders, hyperactivity and irritability, anger, irritability, hitting people, impatience, and giving up easily... Children will also have a bad mood, a tired body, lethargy and lack of vitality the next morning.

Children sleep late because of parents

Children are mainly cared for by their parents, so they will be influenced by your habits. If parents regularly go to bed late, children will also stay up late with you. Once a child goes to bed late, it will be very difficult to change the habit.

Sleeping too much during the day

Some parents let their children sleep too much during the day, and put them to sleep whenever they see them rubbing their eyes. If parents or babysitters let their children sleep too much during the day, they will no longer be sleepy at night, leading to late bedtimes.

Children with malnutrition

For young children, a lack of certain nutrients such as iron, calcium, vitamin D, magnesium... can make it difficult for them to sleep, have shallow sleep, be easily startled, cry, sweat...

Uncomfortable environment

Children may have difficulty sleeping if the weather is too hot or cold, their clothes are too tight, their parents talk loudly or their neighbors make noise…

Children sleep late due to addiction to phones and iPads

In addition to the above reasons, for older children, over 3 years old, there are many factors that cause children to sleep late. Parents letting their children play with phones or iPads can cause children to be immersed in social networking sites, video clips, games... children forget the need to go to bed on time.

Watch movies, read stories late at night

Some teenagers may be so engrossed in watching movies and reading comics/romance stories that they forget about bedtime. They will be drawn into one episode after another, often watching/reading until past midnight and still not wanting to go to sleep.

Stress

Children can also be stressed, making it difficult to fall asleep or stay asleep.

If you notice your child sleeping late for reasons other than the ones listed above, you should consider whether it is because your child is stressed. Being bullied by classmates, scolded by teachers, pressure from exams, and studying can all make children stressed and tired, leading to difficulty sleeping.

How to get children to sleep early and sleep well?

Train children to go to bed on time

Depending on the age, the time children go to bed will be different. Newborns need to go to bed before 8pm, preschoolers go to bed before 9pm, primary school children go to bed before 9:30pm, secondary school children go to bed before 10pm. When it is time to go to bed, if the child does not go to bed by himself, parents should remind him. However, many children do not want to go to bed or have difficulty sleeping if their parents are not asleep, so let the child sleep separately so that you are awake and do not affect the child. If the child is still sleeping with you, turn off the lights and lie down next to the child, wait for the child to fall asleep before getting up to do other tasks (if necessary).

Don't let children play too much before going to bed.

Before going to bed, being active or watching your phone will make you sleepy. Therefore, you should not let your children play too much before going to bed.

Don't let your baby sleep too much during the day.

Reduce the time your baby naps during the day to focus on night sleep.

Full nutritional supplement

Lack of nutrients makes it difficult for children to sleep and sleep poorly. Therefore, parents should supplement vitamins, iron, calcium, etc. in their children's daily meals. Supplementing adequate nutrients helps children's bodies function better, sleep better, and at the same time helps increase resistance, height and weight.

Create a comfortable environment

To help children fall asleep easily and sleep well, parents need to dress their children in cool, loose clothing. If the room uses air conditioning, set the temperature to around 26 - 28 degrees Celsius. Turn off devices that emit blue light such as phones, laptops, and televisions before children go to bed, and avoid making noise.

If your child has trouble sleeping, you can massage him/her, tell him/her a story, play some soft music or give him/her some warm water/warm milk before going to bed...

One important thing for children is that sleeping a lot or a little is not as important as having a deep and good sleep. Therefore, the quality of sleep is something that parents must pay special attention to.

Parents need to train their children to go to bed on time. Illustration: Unsplash

The National Sleep Foundation (NSF) recommends that children get enough sleep each day according to the following data:
Newborns (0 - 3 months old) need to sleep 14 - 17 hours/day
Newborns (4 - 11 months old): sleep 12 - 15 hours/day
Toddlers (1 - 2 years old): sleep 11 - 14 hours/day
Preschoolers (3 - 5 years old): sleep 10 - 13 hours/day
School-age children (6 - 13 years old): sleep 9 - 11 hours/day
Teenagers (14 - 17 years old): sleep 8 - 10 hours/day.

PHUONG ANH

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