Back to school, back to sleep, says UBC expert

As kids head back to the classroom, a nurse and sleep expert at the University of British Columbia says parents and students should take extra care to ensure they get proper sleep as the dog days of summer are over.

Professor Wendy Hall, who is also a registered nurse, says as kids head back to the classroom, parents can ensure the transition is a lot smoother if they make sure young ones go to bed at the same time each night.

“I can’t emphasize enough the importance of routines,” she told CityNews. “[There is] some really good research to suggest that when parents are fairly hard line about … putting a bedtime routine in place, school-aged children and adolescents do better as a result.”

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She says the key is ritualizing — it’s not supposed to be hard to go to bed, but there are lots of ways to make it easier.

Hall recommends avoiding any strenuous activity right before bed since the body needs time to unwind to have a good sleep.

“It takes one to two hours for our core temperature to drop after we’ve been really physically active, and that makes it hard for us to go to sleep.”

Keeping kid’s rooms free from digital distractions is also important, Hall says, and suggests keeping those screens out.

“Because they know they’re there, it can interfere with them falling asleep because they might be thinking, ‘What if there’s a message from one of my friends?'” she explained. “So it’s just better to keep them out of the bedroom.”