Getting quality sleep is critical for both physical and mental health. As back-to-school season approaches, it’s especially important to get kids into a regular and healthy sleep pattern so that they can stay happy, healthy, and well-prepared for class.
To learn more about the importance of sleep, we sat down with Joshua Johnson, RPSGT, Clinical Coordinator of Neurology at Glenwood Regional Medical Center in West Monroe, Louisiana, to discuss the importance of sleep and debunk some common myths. Joshua has been with Glenwood for 24 years.
Q: Why is it important to get quality sleep?
Joshua says, “The big thing is you can have a lot of ill effects without sleep. Hypertension is a big one that a lot of people don’t realize that they’re getting from a lack of rest.”
He also notes sleep is important just being able to rest your memory. “If you’re not getting good sleep, you aren’t going to remember what you did that day.”
Overall, Joshua says sleep is important for quality of life. “If you are tired and run-down, and running off of caffeine, you are going to crash.”
“With kids, it’s pivotal to get good rest. You’ll see a lot of times during those critical years, kids get a lot more delta sleep, way more deep sleep, and that’s going to help them grow,” Joshua adds.
Lastly, Joshua notes that often they see patients who snore and have apnea, or microarousals. “We see routinely some that have 700-900 events a night. When they’re having an event, they’re having arousals,” he explains. “They might think ‘I slept for eight hours, why am I tired?’ But every 30 seconds they’re waking up and they don’t know it.”
Q: What kind of impacts does sleep have on your health?
Joshua says, “Your stress levels are going to be higher with a lack of sleep, your mental health is going to be down as well.”
He also says a lot of the time you see weight gain. With a lack of energy, you are less likely to want to work out. “If you’re super tired, you’re going to make poor choices, especially with food.”
Q: How many hours of sleep should we be getting each night?
Joshua says, “Try to stay in increments of 90 minutes: so, six or seven-and-a-half hours.”
He adds, “If you run over, like 8 or 8.5 and wake up groggy, what’s happened is you wake up in delta sleep, which is a deep sleep.”
Q: What are some ways to improve your sleep? How helpful or useful is technology like sleeping tracking devices or apps when it comes to improving our sleep?
Joshua explains “The big thing is sleep hygiene, as far as helping your sleep.” He says you should eat around the same time, and not right before you go to bed. You also shouldn’t work out an hour before bed.
He says sleep tracking apps are not super accurate, especially for tracking the specific sleep stages at night.
Q: What should parents do to help their kids improve sleep, especially as they go back to school?
One is a routine bedtime, Joshua explains. “Try to get them to bed right around the same time every night.”
He also says screen time is a big deal. “We have artificial light everywhere, especially with your phone,” Joshua explains. “You have to monitor your kids. If you let them play with their phones and video games nonstop, that is going to severely affect their time frame for when they want to go to sleep.”
Lastly, Joshua says to watch out for caffeine. “A lot of people don’t realize how much caffeine is in chocolate, coke, and tea.” He notes the half-life for caffeine is 8-12 hours. “You really don’t want your kid drinking a big coke for dinner
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