Help Your Kids Adjust Sleep Patterns Before Back-to-School

The annual focus on back-to-school is again in high gear. As you look for the best sales on supplies and clothing, here’s a reminder not to overlook a critical need for your kids to start the new school year off on the right foot by helping them adjust their sleep cycles to fit their school schedule before the first day.

Summer is a season when kids, and particularly teenagers, often experience more freedom in their daily schedules. Typically, they stay up later at night and sleep later during the day in summer than during the school year. By now, they have gotten out of their typical school routines.

If kids wait until school starts to adjust their sleep cycles, it’s likely they won’t begin with the focus and energy they need in the classroom. “Re-establishing a regular school-time sleep schedule can take several weeks. So, it’s important to start resetting that internal clock early,” said Kris Sekar, medical director of the sleep lab a The Children’s Hospital at Oklahoma State University Medical Center. “A series of small adjustments in the sleep and wake-up times is best and should start right away.”

Current research suggests that most teens don’t get the adequate eight to nine hours of sleep per night that experts suggest, and one study found that a third fall asleep in school twice daily. This lack of sleep is also linked to poor school performance.

It’s likely that your kids will want to get every last drop out of their remaining summer freedom, and so parents should expect some resistance in trying to reset their sleeping patterns. But because adequate sleep plays a big factor in academic achievement, parents should wrestle this “back-to-school” bear sooner rather than later.