The American Academy of Pediatrics’ provides the following guidelines for how much sleep children need at night:

• Children 3 to 5 years of age should sleep 10 to 13 hours (including naps).
• Children 6 to 12 years of age should sleep 9 to 12 hours.
• Teenagers 13 to 18 years of age should sleep 8 to 10 hours.

Is your child getting adequate sleep? Many kids aren’t, and sleep deprivation in children can have serious effects on their physical and mental well-being. Consider the studies cited in this report:

• “Short sleep duration (less than 10 hours per night by maternal report) and nocturnal awakenings (more than three times per night) in toddlers were associated with the development of behavioral and emotional problems at age 5.”
• “Sleep problems at age 4 have been found to predict a greater incidence of behavioral and emotional problems emerging by mid-adolescence.”
• “A large cross-sectional study of adolescents identified associations between short sleep duration and emotional problems, peer conflict, and suicidal ideation.”

Sleep is important for children and adolescents. What is one of the biggest modern-day culprits inhibiting our sleep?

You guessed it. Screens.

Our phones, tablets, laptops, and televisions are detrimental to our sleep and…