00:00For some kids, the school mornings, they're also back, which means the school days are right
00:04around the corner. And of course, if you have been staying up late, it might be time to try
00:09to reset that sleep routine. Joining us right now is Dr. Brian Chen, sleep specialist at Cleveland
00:16Clinic Sleep Disorders Center. Now, Dr. Chen, don't focus on us. We don't sleep enough. We know
00:24that's not right. But let's talk about kids and how summer does throw off a child's sleep schedule.
00:32That's right. Yeah. As it can throw off for anybody, any adult or child or anybody,
00:37there's sunlight later into the evening, you know, so the sun goes down later. And so there's more fun
00:43things to do, stay out, hang out, have a barbecue, whatever it may be. But like you said, some things
00:49happen in the morning. And so we have to get up for those things like school and that's coming up real
00:53soon. Now, we talk about a lot, I think, certain times of the year. But instead of that sudden
00:58change of bedtime, how should we be adjusting our child's sleep gradually? That's right. Yeah,
01:03gradual, slow and steady is the way. So if you slowly move up the bedtime by an hour, that is
01:11probably by an hour a week, that's probably the most sustainable. Now, if you're in a little bit of
01:16a crunch, if school starts next week or something, then, you know, you do what you have to do. And you'll
01:21feel that jet lag later on. So move up your bedtime by an hour once a week. But you should
01:27also move your wake up time earlier by an hour once a week.
01:32And how much sleep do kids need, depending on their age?
01:38Yeah, it varies, you know, so adults need somewhere between seven to nine hours of sleep. And everybody
01:43varies. You know, we all want to be seven hours of sleep. But most people need eight hours of sleep.
01:47And some people even nine hours of sleep. And we have to keep in mind that kids need more sleep
01:52than we do, though, it doesn't seem like they get it sometimes. So let's let's say for teenagers,
01:57it's somewhere eight to 10 hours of sleep. And then younger kids can be even nine to 12 hours of
02:03sleep. And then kids in elementary school, it can be even 10 to 14 hours of sleep. And young babies,
02:09it can be much longer, they're basically sleeping the whole day almost. So keep that in mind,
02:13whenever you're saying, is my kid getting enough sleep? When do they have to go to bed based on
02:18when do they have to wake up? And is that enough hours of sleep?
02:22Bernie and I are looking at it. We're thinking about, you said adult seven to nine. I think we
02:26both timed out because I got 4.5 last night. If I get four and a half, I'm lucky.
02:32Yeah, we're living on the edge here. Granted, I usually do better.
02:35But we don't want to beat the focus on us.
02:37The kids.
02:38We know we need more sleep.
02:39Bedtime routine. It can be really difficult sometimes to put a child to bed. How can screen
02:45light and screen time be avoided?
02:48Yes, that's right. So we advise the screens be cut off about two hours before the bedtime. And
02:53remember, that has to scoot up as you scoot to bedtime earlier, too. How do you do that? That's
02:57up to you. Maybe there's some sort of reward system. Maybe it's lead by example. Sometimes maybe,
03:03but it's difficult. It's really hard. There's so much fun things that go on in the screens.
03:07And the light from the screens can wake our brain up or suppress the natural melatonin
03:12production in our brain. That melatonin helps us know it's time to go to sleep. Just like
03:17it helps when the sun goes down, the light goes away, and thus our brains are trained to
03:22go to sleep. The same is true on the other end. Get bright light in your eyes when you
03:27wake up in the morning. As soon as you wake up in the morning, that's when lights go in
03:31your eyes. So if the sun is out, but you guys can let them know if the sun's going to be
03:35out tomorrow. Then get out there and get some sunlight.
03:38All right. Dr. Brian Chen, sleep specialist at Cleveland Clinic Sleep Disorders Center.
03:43Thanks for joining us here on AccuWeather Hurley. Doctor, great information.
03:47Yeah, really interesting stuff.
03:48Thank you, guys.
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