Back to school bedtimes: A must for mental health
EL PASO, Texas(KVIA) -- If your child's sleep routine was derailed during summer vacation, you'renot alone. Doctors say sleep is just as important as exercise and nutrition when it comes to a child's ability to learn, grow and thrive.
Poor sleep leads to more than just tiredness and poor performance. Sleep disruptions have been found to alter brain chemistry. You can reset that routine, even before school starts back.
"Moving the bedtime up 15 minutes every night for 1 to 2 weeks until they're going to bed at the time that They'll be going to bed during the school year is one way to get them back on a normal sleep schedule," says pediatrician Dr. Caroline Weingart.
She encourages parents to practice good sleep hygiene, make sure all phones and other devices are put away, and start prepping for bed before bedtime. She also says to focus on what time they wake up, and have them start getting out of bed at the time they'll need to for school. It's okay to sleep in on weekends, as long as they wake up within an hour of when they'll be getting out of bed during the week.
"So if they normally get up at 6:30 during the school, during the school week, get them up by about 7:30 on the weekend if possible, just to make it a little bit easier come Sunday night when it's time for them to go to bed."
