Instilling Healthy Sleep Habits in Your Children

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Sleep by Guest Blogger, Stephie Hughes
Stephanie Hughes is an SLC mom of two and the owner of Little Star Sleep Coaching, LLC.

What does it mean to be healthy? Most of us think automatically of good nutrition and exercise, but did you know that sleep is just as important? Poor sleep is linked with greater risks of obesity, heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, depression, and increased rates of accidents, to name just a few. For our children, sleep is even more critical:

  • Children need good sleep to learn and thrive. A shortage of even one hour of sleep can affect learning, memory, attention, and concentration. It’s now believed that sleep problems may be the true culprit for more than a third of kids diagnosed with ADHD.
  • Children need good sleep to grow. Human growth hormone production peaks during sleep and can diminish in kids who aren’t getting sufficient rest.
  • Children need good sleep to be healthy. Kids who are short on sleep have weakened immune systems and are more susceptible to colds, flus, and all the other viruses they’re exposed to.

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