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Kids Health

How to Help Your Child Find Better Sleep

November 2, 2018 By Laurie Larson Leave a Comment

It’s likely that every parent has experienced the hardship of having a child who has trouble sleeping at night at one point or another. Some children even suffer from pediatric insomnia, a sleep disorder less likely than adulthood insomnia but more crucial to identify and correct for proper development.

No one wants to watch their child suffer, especially when it takes away from your own sleep. For the sake of your family’s sleep health, learn how to help your child find better sleep consistently.

How can I know my child needs help?

When you’re a first-time parent, it’s difficult to discern which behaviors are normal for children and which are not. It’s probable that your intuition will lead you to determine when your child has an actual issue standing in the way of proper sleep, but in case it isn’t obvious, here are a few signs you can look out for:

  • Low energy levels during the day
  • Trouble falling asleep
  • Trouble staying asleep
  • Late-night visits climbing into your bed
  • Trouble falling back asleep after waking
  • Waking up extremely early (before the sun rises)
  • Trouble concentrating during the day
  • Exhibiting anxiety, irritability, or mood swings throughout the day
  • Hyperactive/aggressive during the day

Identifying the cause

There can be many causes leading to your child’s difficulties sleeping:

Temporary/Behavioral issues

If the issue seems to come out of nowhere, recent changes in your child’s life such as an introduction to a new medicine or a seasonal change causing allergies may be the cause. Additional caffeine in your child’s diet or obstructed airways could be temporary issues preventing proper sleep. Excess energy can also alter a child’s sleep schedule. If your child’s activity levels have recently reduced, this could be the cause of their restlessness.

Conditions interfering with sleep

If your child has suffered from insomnia for an extended period of time, there may be a deeper issue at the root of the problem. Any sources of anxiety, stress, or depression can make it challenging to sleep at night. Your child could also be suffering from a condition such as sleep apnea, asthma, or restless legs syndrome.

Environmental issues

An improper sleep environment could also be the cause for your child’s restlessness. If you have excessive noise in your house or outside, that could make it difficult for your child to stay in a deep sleep state at night. Intrusive lighting can also present challenges in the bedroom, along with an uncomfortable bed, a hot temperature, or a cluttered room.

Taking the next steps

After identifying the cause of your child’s insomnia, or if you are at a loss for what could be disrupting your child, it may be time to consult with a licensed professional or sleep specialist.

A professional can run tests on your child to deduce the problem and provide proper treatment. This may include cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), over-the-counter medications, or melatonin supplements.

However, if the cause is temporary, behavioral, or environmental, there are steps you can take to help your child at home.

Optimizing their sleep environment

If you live in a busy city, avoiding late night noises may be impossible, but a simple way to block them out is to use a white noise machine to mask background noises. If light is an issue, hanging up blackout curtains are an easy way to knock out that problem. It’s also important to have a cool temperature between 60-68 degrees Fahrenheit for your child’s best night’s sleep. If you exhaust all of your options, there may be an underlying issue preventing your child’s comfort — their mattress. A bed is only good for about seven to ten years, and an individual’s preferences are important in finding the best bed. Overall, you should do what you can to make sure your child’s room is quiet, dark, and comfortable for their best night’s sleep.

Regulating sleep

It’s important that you help develop a healthy, regular routine for your child. They should be going to sleep and waking up at the same time each night, even on the weekends. Creating a pattern helps your child’s body understand when they should be awake and asleep. To further enforce this, helping your child create a wind down routine will signal that it’s time for bed. This can include a warm bath, turning off the electronics, reading a book, or other relaxing activities. Also, while napping during the day is normal for children, you should start to limit the naps as your child ages. This will make falling asleep each night less of a battle.

Employ healthy daily practices

You should make sure your child is getting a healthy amount of physical activity daily and maintaining a healthy diet as well. Burning energy throughout the day helps your child go to bed ready for sleep instead of fighting it. You should avoid allowing your child to eat heavy meals at least within two hours of bedtime. For light snacks, you can provide cottage cheese, warm milk, yogurt, or other foods with melatonin or tryptophan. Also, make sure to avoid caffeine as that will have an adverse effect for helping your child sleep.

How Technology Can Improve Childhood Obesity

January 27, 2017 By Herman Davis Leave a Comment

Let’s face it: We’ve all at some point and time played on our phone while hanging out with kids. Whether it’s a quick text or a social media post, it can be difficult to put our electronics down. But in all honestly, our email and Facebook can wait. Especially if it means setting a good example for your child and protecting their health, since increased screen time is associated with higher rates of childhood obesity.

There’s no question obesity has become a major health threat in the United States, and with some recent studies showing one in three children to be obese, it’s clear that the problem isn’t going anywhere. To many, the culprits appear to be: Fast-food restaurants, a decrease in physical activity among school children, and even possibly genetic links.

In order to respond to the growing population of sick youth, companies are now coming up with computer programs, interactive mobile apps, and wearable trackers. One of the newest tech toys, for example, is Leap Band “Kids Wearables,” which was released back in 2014 as the first health tracker for children with 50 activities and challenges programmed in it.

Using apps to teach children takes advantage of the child’s inclination to play games on their parents’ phones and tablets. “Super Stretch Yoga” is another application for young iPad users to introduce them to yoga and inspire healthier routines in their day-to-day lives. These adventure fitness games are highly supported by teachers, parents, and medical experts and provides young viewers and their parents with learning materials, tips from medical experts, and activities that encourage physical activities.

Three Technologies That Are Helping Children Live a Healthier Life

Leap band: Although some parents may be tempted to give technology to their children for all the wrong reasons:

  • To entertain them or keep them busy while the parent is busy doing something else.
  • To demonstrate how awesome of a parent they are in order to befriend their child.
  • As a way to assuage guilt over being gone or absent due to commitments or situations such as relationship problems, work, or fear of being a parent.

Leapfrog, the creator of popular kids’ educational electronics, has debuted the first wearable health-tracker for children called Leap band. The app, however, wasn’t designed for babysitting children. Instead, the wearable band was designed for children ages 4 to 7, and includes a built-in accelerometer, color screen, rechargeable battery and water-resistant design.

Learning Anatomy: Explore a working model of the body with your child using The Human Body App. Every part is animated and interactive. The heart beats, the stomach gurgles, lungs breathe, the skin feels, and the eyes see. The application was designed for kids ages 4+ to help them discover just what we’re made of and how we work.

Nutrition: Smash Your Food makes it easy for children to learn about salt, sugar, and oil content of various different foods. The app is designed to challenge families to “smash” real food like hamburgers, milkshakes, donuts, bagels, and entire meals, to learn about nutrition and inspire ways to eat healthier for children and adults alike. In doing so, parents can also help minimize their child’s chances of getting varicose veins. A condition that makes the vein visibly bumpy or rope-like and has the ability to occur in any part of the leg. The risk, however, can increase by a substantial amount if the child is obese. Which could also lead to the child getting heart disease later on down the road as an adult.

The United States is at a time when action must be taken in order to battle the rising numbers of childhood obesity, which is defined by Mayo Clinic as a serious medical condition that has cost thousands of extra resources per child. Not to mention it could also increase the risk of adults becoming obese, which adds on several more life-threatening risks.

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Thanks for the read. Did I miss anything? What are some other ways technology can minimize childhood obesity? Feel free to leave comments below.

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