Parents: 5 Simple Steps to Restful Sleep for Better Learning

With shorter days and longer nights, December is an ideal month to help encourage kids and teens (and parents, too) to get plenty of restful sleep. After all, adequate sleep not only refreshes the body, but also allows the brain to process the day’s events, strengthen memories and possibly gain new insights into learned activities. How do you promote memory-enhancing sleep? It starts with five simple steps.

5 Steps to Memory-Enhancing Sleep

1. Get enough hours of sleep each night. The amount of sleep your child needs depends on their age. Typically, preschool children need to sleep between 10 and 12 hours, while older children and teens need at least nine hours to feel fully refreshed and well rested.

2. Keep bedtime the same time. Going to bed at the same time each night will shape a sleep-promoting schedule.

3. Keep the bedroom cool, dark and quiet. Make sure your child’s bedroom has the basics for a comfortable night’s sleep: cool temperature, dark room and minimal noise.

4. Limit fluids after dinner. This will help reduce the need to wake up for those midnight trips to the bathroom. Should nature call, consider using a night-light to help guide the way.

5. Avoid caffeine-containing drinks. It’s best for kids to avoid caffeine-containing foods and beverages because the stimulating effects of caffeine can last for several hours after that last sip is consumed. Its effect is so powerful, caffeine is the main ingredient in a wide variety of over-the-counter drugs designed to fight fatigue. So, when it comes to helping your little one drift off into sound slumber, the less caffeine consumed, especially after 3 p.m., the better.

Focus on these five sleep-promoting steps, and your child or teen (and maybe even you) will be one step closer to getting that important memory-enhancing sleep. ZZZZ!

Here’s to a happy and healthy December!

Lorna & Kathleen (The EatingFor Team)

P.S. Like this tip? For more, check out Eating for A’s: A month-by-month nutrition and lifestyle guide to help raise smarter kids. Kindergarten to 6th grade. (Second Edition)