Thursday, March 17, 2011

Getting proper amounts of sleep is critical for children, teens

When daylight-saving time moved our clocks forward an hour last weekend, many of us rejoiced at the extra hour of evening daylight. Some children, however, can be thrown for a bit of a loop by time changes, and their sleep habits can suffer. Even temporary disruption of sleep patterns can be troublesome.

"Getting enough sleep every night helps children perform at their very best during the day. Children who get enough sleep wake up easier, feel good through the day, can focus to make higher grades at school, and get along better with their friends and family," said Dr. Shalini Paruthi, a pediatric sleep medicine specialist at Cardinal Glennon Children's Medical Center and assistant professor of pediatrics at St. Louis University School of Medicine. "Most school-aged children need about 10 hours of sleep every night, and high school students need about nine hours of sleep nightly."

Read the rest of the article here.

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