How Not Getting Enough Sleep Can Impact Your Child’s Health

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Sleep is one of the basic needs of everything that lives and breathes. While sleeping, your body restores broken and damaged cells, as well as giving you cognitive rest. When children miss out on essential restorative sleep, you are more likely to face an irritable and overtired child in the morning. 

Not only can broken sleep affect your child’s mental health and wellbeing but have lifelong consequences as they grow. Let’s take a closer look at how not getting enough sleep can impact your child’s health:

Emotional development and mental health

Most parents have experienced sleep deprivation. It’s all part of the parenting package! But for your child, their brain is still developing at a rapid rate. From the moment they are born, your child is picking up emotional and social cues, learning how to communicate and understand the world around them. In short, children have a lot to take in! 

Inevitably, when children experience a lack of sleep over time, they are more likely to get stressed, forget things more easily, struggle with learning, and lack motivation. What’s more, as your child gets older, it can contribute to anxiety and depression. 

According to Claire McCarthy, MD from Harvard Medical School, children should be averaging:

• 12 to 16 hours (including naps) for infants
• 11 to 14 hours (including naps) for toddlers
• 10 to 13 hours (including naps) for preschoolers
• 9 to 12 hours for grade school-aged children
• 8 to 10 hours for teens

Although children aren’t a “one size fits all” kind of deal, your child should be able to go to sleep within 15-30 minutes and wake up quickly in the morning if they are getting enough shut-eye. 

Perks of quality sleep

Restorative, quality sleep is key to your child’s development. A well-rested brain is better at problem-solving, learning new skills and holding on to information. What’s more, your child is more likely to enjoy their day if they are wide awake than struggling with a tired brain!

Consistent good nights sleep often lends itself to some of your child’s positive attributes, such as:

• Being able to concentrate for more extended periods of time
• Embracing creativity
• Have strong problem-solving abilities
• Can make and maintain friendships
• Full of energy during the day
• Able to learn and remember new things well
• Make positive and confident choices

A lack of sleep can negatively impact your child’s behavioural, emotional and cognitive skills. 

If your child is notoriously bad at waking up in the morning or falls back to sleep after waking, then it’s a sure indicator that they have had a difficult night’s sleep. Likewise, if they are lying down a lot rather than playing, are exhausted at school or choosing to stay inside rather than play with their friends, alarm bells should be ringing! 

When you experience a prolonged time of broken sleep or “sleep debt”, your child may face mental exhaustion. This may lead to further issues such as fatigue, anxiety and depression. 

Embrace routine

Routines are at the heart of everything your child does. From waking up in the morning, getting dressed to brushing their teeth and off to school to coming home and getting ready for bed, their day is full of routines. Without them, we’d never be on time for anything, and society would crumble. 

Routines shape your child’s day. So fully embrace it. 

With bedtime, in particular, there are some simple tips to kickstart your child’s bedtime routine:

• Winding down time – switch off the screens and do a relaxing activity like colouring, listening to music or reading
• Pillow talk – set aside time for your kid to talk through their day. Let them offload their fears, worries, triumphs and golden moments to you. Not only will they feel supported by you, but it will give you better insight into their thoughts and feelings
• Bathtime – whatever age your child is, a good soak in the bath will help their body and mind prepare for sleep. The warm water triggers a reaction in your body’s temperature that goes from warm to cool in minutes – perfect for your child’s sleep-wake cycle to help them get sleepy!
• Toothbrushing – good oral hygiene not only helps your child’s teeth and bone structure develop correctly, but it helps with speech too. Encourage two minutes of brushing twice a day to avoid unnecessary trips to the dentist due to tooth decay
• Storytime – unwind and get snuggly with a bedtime story. Not only does it encourage your child’s imagination, but it helps them to understand different cultures and the world around them. It also helps their vocabulary and communication skills to develop

Now that you’ve got the routine down make sure you stick to a bedtime. That way, you can avoid any unnecessary arguments, and your child will get used to falling asleep on their own for longer. 

Bedtime = need for constant comfort

Some children struggle to be away from their parents, especially during bedtime. Rooted in attachment anxiety or due to methods that got them to sleep as a babe – such as rocking or feeding to sleep – your child refuses to sleep without you. Not only is this detrimental to your child’s sleep development, but to your health and wellbeing too. 

A reassuring smile or rub on the back have an almost instant calming effect on children. For a long time, medical professionals have used weighted blankets to help calm children with ADHD, autism and other sensory issues. More recently, weighted blankets have become a sought after item for people young and old, that struggle to sleep. 

Designed with deep touch pressure stimulation, a weighted blanket feels like a warm hug as you sleep. Lowering anxiety and encouraging a better night’s sleep, it’s no wonder they have become a sleep-aiding blanket for kids. 

Quality sleep can make all the difference in your growing and developing child. Sleep is a real gamechanger, from giving your child the motivation and spark to get through their day to overcoming challenges.