Medical Monday Sleep Environment Importance

PRESQUE ISLE, Maine (WAGM) -Getting a good nights sleep is important, but getting that good nights sleep can be difficult if you don’t have the right bedtime routine. Especially for children.

Teresa Green, Sleep Medicine Specialist for Northern Light AR Gould Hospital says, “Shutting off the electronics an hour or two before bed time, creating a more relaxing routine involving maybe reading or story time, music. Making sure the sleep environment is conducive to sleep. You want the child’s bedroom to be dark, quiet, so no tv running in the background, no music going on once they go to sleep. A night light if they need a little bit of light but you don’t want any bright lights in the sleep, in the sleeping environment. Cool temperatures definitely help as well. Uh, so those things can all help a little bit.

Green recommends if a child needs noise to sleep, to use white noise. White noise will supply background noise without disrupting sleep. It is also recommended if at all possible not to have electronic devices in the bedroom to help take away the temptation to use them. Green adds there are things to watch for with your child’s sleep that might mean something more serious is going on.

Green says, “If a child has some other symptoms like again they wake up a lot at night. Um, they are snoring, or you witness them having difficulty breathing, um they’re really restlessness, restless and they’re bed is all torn, torn apart in the morning. That’s a sign that, that there may be something going on with their sleep that’s keeping them from sleeping well. Um, so those would be some of the red flags that I would say would prompt me to encourage a parent to bring that issue up with a pediatrician.”

Green recommends helping your children understand the important role sleep plays in their growth and development. If your child is having issues with sleep it’s important to reach out to your child’s pediatrician.

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