Erika Bocknek, associate professor of Educational Psychology in the College of Education, wrote an article for The Conversation on “Better sleep for kids starts with better sleep for parents – especially after holiday disruptions to routine”
The Conversation, MSN, ABC News (Richmond, VA), 12/26
Better sleep for kids starts with better sleep for parents – especially after holiday disruptions to routine
By Erika Bocknek
Erika Bocknek, associate professor of educational psychology at Wayne State University, wrote an article for The Conversation about sleep routines. Everyone knows that sleep is critical for growing children and their mental and physical health. Regular, high-quality sleep habits help children consolidate memory and learn better. A lack of sleep contributes to childhood depression, anxiety and even risk of suicide, along with physical health problems, including risk of injury. The challenge is making sure kids log those valuable zzz’s. She writes that there are three main components of high-quality sleep for children. First, they need enough total hours – sleep duration. Sleep quality is important, too – sleeping soundly during the night with few disruptions or awakenings. And, finally, there’s sleep timing – essentially, a consistent schedule, with bedtime and risetime about the same across the whole week.