Sleep Facts

Getting enough sleep is an important part of a healthy, happy lifestyle. Yet parents often face many challenges with their children and sleep. Fortunately, there are ways to change unhealthy patterns and help your child get the quality sleep he or she needs.

For proper brain and body development, children need sleep. By getting the right information and making some changes in routines, most sleep problems can be eliminated.

Why sleep is so important- Pediatricians agree that not getting enough sleep can cause children serious problems such as:

  • Reduced coordination and reaction time; tired children are much more likely to get injured.
  • Difficulty paying attention and reduced memory retention, which results in less learning in school.
  • Increased irritability, rising frustration, and difficulty controlling emotions.


Getting enough sleep- Children's need for sleep changes as they grow.

7-11 years = 10 or more hours

11-22 years = 9 hours and 15 minutes


Here are a few special sleep hygiene tips for teen-agers:

  • Stay away from caffeine and nicotine which are both stimulants after noon. Also avoid alcohol which can disrupt sleep.
  • Avoid heavy studying or computer games before bed, they can be arousing.
  • Avoid arguing with your adolescent just before bedtime.
  • Avoid trying to sleep with a computer or TV flickering in the room.
  • Avoid bright light in the evening, but open blinds or turn on lights as soon as the morning alarm goes off to aid awakening.
  • Let them sleep in on the weekend, but no more than 2 or 3 hours later than their usual awakening time or it will disrupt their body clock.

Note: Sleep experts consider adolescents to be between the ages of 11 and 22.


Why is this important?

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) have identified adolescents and young adults (ages 12 to 25 years) as a population at high risk for problem sleepiness based on "evidence that the prevalence of problem sleepiness is high and increasing with particularly serious consequences." (NIH, 1997) This designation evolved from a Working Group on Problem Sleepiness convened in 1997 by NIH's National Center on Sleep Disorders Research and the Office of Prevention, Education, and Control. The group concluded that steps must be taken to reduce the risks associated with problem sleepiness.

What are these risks? The most troubling consequences of sleepiness are injuries and deaths related to lapses in attention and delayed response times at critical moments, such as while driving. Drowsiness or fatigue has been identified as a principle cause in at least 100,000 police-reported traffic crashes each year, killing more than 1,500 Americans and injuring another 71,000, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA, 1994). Young drivers age 25 or under are involved in more than one-half of fall-asleep crashes.