June 15, 2016.
At each age its quota of sleep. In a recent publication, the American Academy of Sleep Medicine for the first time established official recommendations for the number of hours of sleep children and adolescents should receive each day.
Sleeping well contributes to good general health
How many hours do children and adolescents need to sleep for good mental and physical health? The American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) just answered that question, in a publication in the June issue of Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine.
The organization categorized children by age group to establish its recommendations and concluded that infants four to 12 months old should sleep between 12 and 16 hours per 24 hours, counting the naps, to be in good health. Children one to two years old should get 11 to 14 hours of sleep per 24 hours. Between three and five years of age, 10 to 13 hours of sleep are required. Children over six and up to 12 years old should sleep between nine and 12 hours, while teens between 13 and 18 need between eight and 10 hours of sleep per night.
In adolescents, lack of sleep can lead to suicide
These recommendations were made following a meeting of 13 of America’s leading sleep experts, all accredited by the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Sleep Research Society. For ten months, these experts examined 864 scientific publications studying the link between sleep duration and health in children. This panel of experts found that sleeping the right number of hours was associated with better overall health. A good sleep would bring in particular an improvement in attention, behavior, learning, memory, emotional regulation or even quality of life.
A lack of sleep is also associated with an increased risk of accidents, injuries, hypertension, obesity, diabetes and depression. In adolescents, this sleep deficiency is also linked to a greater risk of self-harm, suicidal thoughts and suicide attempts..
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