Getting our kids’ sleep on track!
In honor of the student sleep health week (an event organized by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) to create an awareness of the importance of sleep in students of all ages), I hosted a webinar titled “getting our kids’ sleep on track.
With the COVID pandemic and so many other societal demands, our children are not getting the adequate sleep they need. While insufficient sleep has been a long-standing issue, this added stressor has made things worse even before the pandemic. 20 to 40 % of young children have sleep problems, 58% of middle schoolers and 73% of high school students aren’t getting the recommended hours of sleep they need. Insufficient sleep takes its toll on our kids’ mood, learning, emotional and physical performance.
William C. Dement said, “ if you really want to understand the underlying mechanism of adult sleep, the best place to start is observing the template of childhood sleep.”
There are several functions of sleep in children and in adults and as such sleep is a biological requirement. Other functions of sleep are;
Clearance of waste products that build up in our brains
Repair and restoration of tissues and organ functions
Learning, memory, and cognition.
To summarize, restful sleep makes us healthy, happy, and successful.
To learn more about this truly important topic, including ways to improve sleep in our little and big ones, sign up for my newsletter below to receive access to the webinar.
Yours restfully,
Dr. Funke
