HOUSTON, Aug. 3 (UPI) -- Children and teens who got used to "sleeping in" during summer need to develop better sleep habits before school starts, warn U.S. sleep experts.
Pediatric sleep expert Dr. Daniel G. Glaze, of Texas Children's Hospital in Houston, notes that just as a driver wouldn't start a trip with a half-full tank of gas, children and teens need to obtain a proper amount of sleep to complete the school day successfully.
"Many children, and especially teens, alter their sleep-wake schedules and maintain a later bedtime in summer," says Glaze.
"It is difficult to advance your bedtime and, once a schedule has been established, it may take days or weeks to develop a new schedule. It can't be done overnight. Not unexpectedly, for the first weeks of school, many children and teens do not obtain a proper amount of sleep."
Ralph Downey, chief of sleep medicine at Loma Linda University Medical Center, in California, notes that many teens face the same sleep adjustment as many travelers.
Downey suggests teens adjust their bedtimes by going to bed earlier each day to help make the adjustment and get at least nine hours of sleep.
