With the transition from summer into a new school year, establishing a regular bedtime routine for kids can be a key component to how they do in school.

Advanced Registered Nurse Practitioner Mary Pedersen with Greene County Medical Center advises to pick a sleep and wake time and stick to it. Other tips Pedersen suggests to help with a routine bedtime is limiting the amount of caffeine and exercise, along with avoiding high glycemic foods with high fat and sugar content right before bed. She points out another area of concern is not allowing screen time 1-2 hours before children go to sleep.

“You want their bedtime, and their bed, and their room to be a place where they sleep. So if you can kind of manage that environment and make that bed only for sleep (and) avoid watching tv, movies in bed, then it helps for that bedtime to just be for sleeping.”  

Pedersen notes if kids get less than six hours of sleep there can be negative consequences including obesity, increased risk for diabetes, poor academic work and poor mental health. She says it’s better to start now getting back into a routine and change those summer time habits.

“It can take a little time to break it, especially after summertime, and again my kids were the same way, they were up later in the summer. And it is a little bit harder to get them wound down and get ready for sleep. But our goal at our house is about 8-8:30 (pm for sleep) and my kids are eight and ten years old. They’re involved in a lot of activities so by the end of the day they are getting pretty tired. But we do try to, no screens, no tv, things like that around six o’clock and then wind down.” 

Pedersen says for toddlers and elementary age children, 10-12 hours is recommended for adequate sleep, whereas middle and high school age youth should get between 7-10 hours of sleep.