Trinity pediatrician gives tips on how to get enough sleep for children before starting school
How do you make the transition? By setting alarms, getting up early and making sure the kids aren’t too tired. Dr. Stephanie Tarnacki, a pediatrician at Trinity Health, stopped by to talk about sleep.
FOX 2 –
Let’s talk about sleep. I’m not talking about the adults. I’m talking about the kids who are going back to school.
How do you make the transition? By setting alarms, getting up early and making sure the kids aren’t too tired. Dr. Stephanie Tarnacki, a pediatrician at Trinity Health, stopped by to talk about sleep.
FOX 2: “Let’s talk about what happens when kids don’t get enough sleep and still go to school?”
“We know that insufficient sleep or poor sleep quality is associated with attention deficits, many behavioral problems and poor emotional regulation — so mood swings, anxiety and worry,” Tarnacki said. “And these are obviously all things that can really affect everyday school performance.”
FOX 2: “Give us three things that we can do at any age, because at different ages, some of the little ones need more sleep than the older kids. But give us three things that we can start doing today to help kids get enough sleep for school.”
“I think overall it’s about really paying attention to your routine and making sure your day leaves enough time for sleep,” she said. “So don’t overload your schedule with activities and things like that.”
“Secondly, you have to try to keep your sleep rhythm regular, with consistent bedtimes and wake-up times, and really stick to a fairly typical schedule, a routine schedule.
“The other thing is to control the environment as much as possible. So make sure you have a cool, dark, quiet bedroom and minimize distractions like screens, technology, phones, things like that.”
And these rules are not only good for the little ones, but for all of us.
Stephanie Tarnacki, Trinity Health
