Sleep plays an essential role in everyone’s routine, and is also an indispensable part of a healthy lifestyle. Many studies have shown that children who get an adequate amount of sleep regularly experience improved attention, behaviour, learning, memory and an enhanced mental and physical health.
Read on as we share more about the importance of sleep and how it may contribute to your child’s learning.
What Happens When Children Do Not Get Enough Sleep
Every parent knows that when a child is short on sleep, they can swing between grumpy and hyperactive. In addition to those, sleepiness can also affect your child’s ability to pay attention, resulting in ramifications for their preschool learning performance. Having minimal sleep restrictions can also have negative effects on your child’s day-to-day life. Insufficient sleep also increases impulsivity in children, causing adverse behavioural problems and posing health risks.
How Much Sleep Does My Child Need
While sleep patterns and behaviours vary from child to child at different ages, this table below provides a general guide for the recommended total sleep your child should get per day.
Newborns (0-1 years): 16 hours
Toddlers (1-2 years): 11 to 14 hours
Preschoolers (3-5 years): 10 to 13 hours
School age (6-12 years): 9 to 12 hours
Teenagers (13-18 years): 8 to 10 hours
It is normal for some children to sleep an average of one to two hours more or less than the above recommendation, after all, everyone has different genetic and physiological needs.
Benefits Of Your Preschooler Getting Quality Sleep
A preschooler tends to use their brain during sleeping hours to sort through the information that they have gathered during the day. In turn, this helps them retain the knowledge they have gained longer. Besides getting quality sleep throughout the night, additional research has also shown that napping is necessary for memory consolidation, executive attention and motor skill development.
Having a good night’s sleep helps your child to behave well, concentrate and remember things better. All of these are qualities that can help your child become a successful learner. Poor or insufficient sleep tends to affect concentration levels and memory, thus making it harder for your child to learn.
Sleepy children tend to have trouble concentrating during the day. Furthermore, remembering things is part of learning. If your child is tired, it becomes harder to recognise and retain basic things like how to spell, do simple math calculations or participate in daily preschool activities.
How Can You Help Your Preschooler Sleep Well?
At MindChamps Preschool, your child will be actively engaged in the learning process – our educators will help to foster your child’s curiosity and critical thinking skills about the world around them. To nurture all aspects of your child during their early years and provide them with a holistic education, our Singapore preschool curriculum includes proprietary core and enrichment modules like English and Chinese language classes, numeracy strategies and music. All of these will require your child to stay focused in class so that they can understand and reap the benefits of our preschool curriculum.
As a parent, there are several things you can do to ensure your child gets sufficient sleep. Some of these include:
- Sticking to the same bedtime during the day and night. Also, try to have the same wake-up timing during the school days as well as the weekends.
- Establishing a bedtime routine. This can be through simple actions like switching off the room lights and using dim lamps an hour before bedtime. You can also help your child to unwind by reading them a book or singing a lullaby.
- Limit their food and drink intake before bedtime. You should also ensure the bedroom is quiet, dark and comfortable for sleep.
By following these simple steps, you can help your child reach their fullest learning potential.
Want to learn more about our unique pedagogy and how our preschool curriculum can bring out the best in your child? Simply book a visit to any of our preschools in Singapore today!
Book a visit to any of our preschools in Singapore to learn more about our unique pedagogy and music classes for children today!