Start Transitioning to Back-to-School Sleep Patterns

Ada, MN — Whether your kids want to believe it or not, it’s time to start preparing for them to go back to school. Not only does that mean getting new clothes and new school supplies, but also starting to transition to those back-to-school sleep patterns. Tracy Johnson of Norman-Mahnomen Public Health says it takes a good two weeks to transition the brain into those normal sleep patterns, so she recommends slowly starting the process of getting your kids to bed early so its not an abrupt change come September.

Good sleep patterns can be especially difficult with teenagers, who like to stay up late and wake up even later if they have the option. Johnson says the best thing you can do to get them to bed earlier is to limit their screen time.

According to WebMd, Children 7-12 years of age need 10-11 hours of sleep per day and those 12-18 need 8 to 9 hours of sleep per day.