YORK, Pa. — With spring sports in full swing, kids' schedules can get hectic.
Sleep is sometimes tossed to the wayside in favor of after school activities, homework and sports practices.
Dr. Vinitha Moopen with WellSpan Health discussed the importance of children getting good sleep and how to achieve it.
Although kids need less sleep as they get older, Dr. Moopen finds that they are often missing the mark entirely.
"I would say on an average in my office, people are getting maybe four to five hours of sleep a night," she said.
Newborns require 14 to 18 or more hours, school-age kids need nine to 12, and teenagers can get by with upwards of eight hours of sleep each night.
The key to achieving the proper amount of sleep, Dr. Moopen drills, is consistency.
"For the younger kids, you need to have a routine," she said. "So you're taking a shower, reading a story. The same routine all the time, through the weekend as well."
Although it can be tempting, the physician recommends against letting kids sleep in on the weekends. While it may seem as though the extra hours can help them make up for missed sleep during the week, the disruption to their routine can have far-reaching consequences.
Another cornerstone to quality sleep is keeping electronics out of the bedroom. Dr. Moopen says there should be no TVs, tablets, phones or other devices in the room, and children shouldn't look at screens for at least the last hour until bedtime.
For older kids and teenagers, it is also important to avoid large meals or caffeine intake an hour before they go to bed.
Studies show that a lack of sleep can be linked to the development of type 2 diabetes, obesity, emotional problems like anxiety and depression and inattention or hyperactivity.
"When kids come for ADHD evaluations, the first thing I do ask is how their sleep is and how many hours they're getting at night," Dr. Moopen said. "Because if we fix that, a lot of times these problems do get better."
If your child needs to be seen by a doctor, click here to make an appointment with WellSpan.