How to Improve Your Child or Adolescent’s Sleep

ParentingChildren & TeensResources
Written By Melissa Wesner
 
 

Welcome! This post is all about how to encourage a good night’s sleep for your child or adolescent. A good night’s sleep helps the body and mind recharge; improving mood, increasing one’s ability to concentrate and think clearly. It has been proven to lower anxiety levels, elevate mood, and improve overall functioning. As one can imagine, better relationships are formed due to clear minds and elevated moods. So how is it achieved? Here are some tips that I have found in research and within my experience in working with children and adolescents.

Sleep Tips for Both Children and Adolescents

1. A consistent, predictable bedtime routine is the foundation for a good night’s sleep.

It is the number one recommendation that I have when working with families to promote sleep. Determine three to four routines that lead up to bedtime that you and your child can do in the same order, every night, including weekends. This could be a snack, followed by a bath, then brushing their teeth, and ending with a bedtime story.

A woman in bed at nighttime looking at a phone screen

2. Children need at least one hour of exercise a day.

But not within two hours of bedtime because they will be too wound-up to fall asleep.

3. Watch out for scary things before bed.

Watching, reading, or listening to things that might scare your child could get in the way of their ability and willingness to fall asleep.

4. Refrain from caffeine in the later afternoon or evenings.

Remember, caffeine can be found in a number of places like sodas, teas, and chocolates. 

5. No electronic devices a half an hour before bedtime; no cellphone checking after bedtime.

This is a big one! Blue light suppresses the body’s natural production of melatonin. 

6. Get plenty of sunshine during the day.

7. It may be beneficial to have homework completed well before bedtime.

This encourages nighttime to be a period of winding down and relaxing.

Teenagers and Appropriate Rest

According to experts, teenagers need between eight to ten hours of sleep each night, but many of my teenage clients’ report having dramatically less sleep than that. After diving into articles written by sources like, The Sleep Foundation and Johns Hopkins medicine, I learned that teenagers truly don’t feel tired until later in the evening as compared to children and adults. Their bodies wait to start producing melatonin. The most fitting sleep schedule for teenagers’ biological clocks would be 11 pm to 8 or 9 am, but school starts well before then. One recommendation that may be helpful to add needed sleep to your teen’s sleep routine, without taking away from nighttime sleep, is a 30–45-minute nap prior to dinner time. 


Teenagers need to turn off their phones at night. I know that many of my adolescent clients fear missing out on interacting with friends at night, keeping them on their technology until the early hours of the morning, but I remind my clients that this interaction can occur during the daytime and will more than likely consist of more positive interactions with a good night’s rest.

Helpful Resources

There are a few additional resources that I hope you will find helpful in exploring how to gain more sleep for your child/adolescent.The Sleep Foundation and Johns Hopkins Medicine are favorite resources of mine and utilized in writing this article.

An individual standing outdoors, looking at their phone

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Interested in Counseling for Children & Teens?

If you’re a Marylander who knows that counseling is the direction you need to take, the therapists at LifeSpring Counseling Services are here to help. We offer online counseling services for mindfulness, depression, anxiety, trauma, and grief and loss. We also offer Brainspotting as a specialized service, and Brainspotting can be done online, too!

Here’s how you can get started! Online counseling for children and teens isn’t the only service offered at our Maryland office

The counselors and social workers at our Maryland office also offer counseling services for trauma, grief and loss, boundary setting, communication skills, and difficult life transitions. We also offer specialized counseling services including Brainspotting and spiritually-integrated counseling. Because we are located next to several local universities, we also work with college students and international students.

 
 
 

Written by: Caroline Masucci, LMSW
Caroline is a Licensed Master Social Worker (LMSW) at LifeSpring Counseling Services in Maryland, and she specializes in anxiety, depression, trauma, and communication skills. She works closely with children, teens, and adults.

Photo Credit: cottonbro and mikoto.raw
Date of download: 10/24/2022

Melissa Wesner
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