Friday 17th March is World Sleep Day
This year's theme is Sleep is Essential for Health. Sleep is an essential, core pillar of health and is often under-valued and poorly understood. It's as important as diet and exercise.
What happens if I don't get enough sleep?
Lack of sleep makes young people more anxious, able to concentrate less, have more changes in mood, hyperactivity at school and increases challenging behaviours. It also makes you more likely to be sick later in life.
The Sleep Health Foundation has a range of helpful fact sheets including for children with particular sleep problems. (Click on QR code)
How much sleep do you need?
It is well known that as children get older, they need less sleep. Different people have different sleep needs. The advice below is only a guide. You can make a good guess if a person is sleeping enough at night - observe how they act and function during the day.
- 3 – 5-year-olds need 10 – 13 hours a night 6 – 13-year-olds need 09 – 11 hours a night
- 14-17- years old’s need 8-10 hours a night Adults: 7-9 hours
