Get back on track with sleep after disruptions

Parents may notice cranky children this week after some major disruptions in sleep schedules.

It’s been a bad week for sleep.

We may have gained an hour of sleep when daylight saving time ended on Sunday, but we lost it to extra innings in the Kansas City Royals’ World Series victory.

Parents may notice cranky children this week after some major disruptions in sleep schedules, and although adults can typically deal with a few bleary-eyed days on fewer hours of sleep than normal, children don’t tolerate sleep disruption as well.

How much sleep does a child need?

Bob Whitman, director of the sleep lab at Kansas University Hospital, says much depends on the age of the child. He offers these guidelines:

Ages 3 to 6 need 10 to 12 hours of sleep

Ages 7 to 12 need 10 to 11 hours of sleep

Ages 13 to 18 need eight to nine hours sleep

A sleep-deprived child may not necessarily act sleepy, said Bob Whitman, director of the sleep lab at Kansas University Hospital, in a video produced by the hospital.

“They may actually become very hyperactive,” Whitman said. “They may become disobedient.”

Other consequences include shorter attention span and reaction times, memory issues and limitations to creativity, Whitman said.

Most high school students have a little bit of sleep deprivation as it is, but the problem, Whitman said, comes with the younger kids, who require more sleep. It’s possible to shortchange that for a night, but doing it several days in a row may result in difficulties in school.

Daylight saving time’s end may bring its own set of sleep disruptions for children as well as adults.

Anthony Komaroff, a physician and editor of the Harvard Health Letter, wrote in November 2013 that many people don’t — or can’t — take advantage of the extra hour of sleep.

Komaroff noted a Sleep Medicine Review study that concluded that a seemingly small one-hour shift in the sleep cycle could affect sleep for up to a week.

In the fall, “only a minority of people actually get that promised extra hour of sleep,” Komaroff wrote. “During the following week, many people wake up earlier, have more trouble falling asleep and are more likely to wake up during the night.”

He said early risers and people who tend to get fewer than 7.5 hours of sleep per night have the most trouble adjusting to the new schedule.

Whitman said in a KU Hospital video that people can more quickly adjust their sleep habits after a time change by getting plenty of sunshine during the day before going to bed.

“It usually takes about one to two days for your internal clock to actually sync to the new time, so it doesn’t take very long,” he said.

— Contact WellCommons editor Michelle Tevis at mtevis@ljworld.com and 832-7255.