Dr. Howard Smith Oncall

Vidcast: https://youtu.be/lqthcPqYONM The gold standard for a school-aged child’s sleep is a good 9 to 11 hours depending on age.  Can you or your children actually tell how long they slept? A study from the University of Arizona just published in the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine answers yes!  Researchers compared the sleep tallies from questionnaires completed by children and others by their parents with the actual numbers derived from sleep studies, so-called polysomnograms, completed at the children’s homes. The kids were the best at estimating their sleep duration.  They overestimated their sleep duration by an average of only 32 minutes while their parents overestimated it by 36 minutes.  Both children and parents did better estimating the time it took to fall asleep.  The children overestimated by an average of only 4 minutes and the parents by 2 minutes. A good night’s sleep is key for recharging you brain and revitalizing you body.  Be sure to ask your kids how long they slept and encourage them