School’s Out! Help Your Kids Maintain Healthy Sleep Schedules This Summer

It’s that time again, folks – time for b5media’s Health & Wellness Channel Theme Day!

This month’s theme is “School’s Out!,” and after tossing my initial plan of offering parents tips on how to relax and keep some sanity now that their kiddies are home full-time again, I opted instead to share some tips that would benefit the health of the children.

OK, so helping you keep your sanity could possibly also help the health of your child, haha, but after thinking back to my own summers as a child (and a teenager), I remembered how I used to stay up very late at night, and sometimes even until the wee hours of the morning.

Um…sometimes until the next day was in full swing.

Sure, I enjoyed it. As a child, there’s a certain thrill that comes along with staying up past your normal bedtime – especially if your parents are already snoozin’ and you can raid the ‘fridge, chat all night on the phone, or, in this day and age, surf the ‘Net all night.

But it’s not healthy – physically or mentally.

So, read on to find out why your child may struggle with a sleep schedule during the summer months, how you can encourage a healthy sleep routine, and where you can find more information about children and sleep, including tips on how to maintain a healthy sleep schedule.

It’s easier for your child to maintain a regular sleep schedule during the school year. During most of those months, it gets dark earlier. During all of those months, your child has to get up earlier. Given those factors (and that school, studies, and after school activities tend to leave kids longing for bedtime!), maintaining a regular sleep schedule for children during the school year isn’t too difficult.

However, during the summer months, the rules change. It stays light outside for much longer. Your child doesn’t have a bus to catch early in the morning. And, unless your child goes to summer school or some kind of camp or summer program, he or she probably doesn’t feel as mentally and physically exhausted at the end of the day.

Therefore, it’s especially important to actively help your child maintain a healthy sleep schedule during the summer months.

The National Sleep Foundation provides two thorough sections – Children and Sleep and Teens and Sleep – that are designed help you better recognize your child’s need for sleep, better understand sleep problems with children, and even sleep’s relation to your child’s mental health, as well as Sleep for Kids, a Web site geared toward helping children understand the importance of sleep, and Fast Sleep Facts, which provides some tips on how to get better sleep.

Good luck!

To read more Health & Wellness Channel Theme Day posts, head over to School’s Out. (Or is it in?!): June Channel Theme Day. Don’t forget to thank Cancer Commentary’s Gloria Gamat for hosting this month!

Image: b5media

If you have a mental illness and are still living the life you love, head on over the the This Is Why I ROCK! and enter!