What does sleep do for us? Get enough (as few Americans do) and your odds of living a longer and more healthy life go up. Poor sleep is a risk factor for depression and substance abuse. The lack of sleep has been linked with weight gain and elevated risks of cancer and heart disease. In children, the need for sleep is even more profound. More and better sleep is associated with higher test scores and happiness, while the lack of it can lead to everything from a mistaken diagnosis of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder to hormonal disruptions.
But summer can be a tough time to get the full night’s sleep (from 12 to 14 hours for toddlers down only to 10 to 11 hours for school-aged children, with teenagers still needing 8.5 to 9 hours). Between increased daylight and fluctuating schedules, many families find themselves struggling to help children get the sleep they really need.
Adults are somewhat fascinated by sleep. We know we need it, we love to have it, and we know we aren’t getting enough. Jane E. Brody’s last two columns have been on sleep: how much we don’t get, and how we can make it better. We grown-ups are at least willing to consider our sleep, and we know we feel better when we get more (although that doesn’t stop many of us from staying up way too late reading our email or finishing a book).
Children are usually supremely uninterested in their sleep hygiene. Most resist going to bed, particularly when the sun is still shining, and many persist in their early-morning waking patterns no matter how late they’re up the night before, or want to sleep in (but only on the mornings when other activities necessitate an early wake-up call). Late nights and an early day-camp bus, for example, do not mix.
Such is the situation at our house. My husband is a sleep martinet, well up on the research regarding sleep and children’s health and also deeply protective of our evenings. I am more indulgent of late summer nights kicking balls, “fishing” in the tiny pond or watching the Stanley Cup finals. Without my support, bedtimes have slipped ever later. Mornings, though, while they can move a bit back in the summer, haven’t seen a corresponding two-hour wake-up push back.
Read More: KJ Dell’Antonia, parenting.blogs.nytimes.com
