Helping your child sleep better.

<p><b>Helping your child sleep better.</b></p> <p>The number of children being prescribed the previous jet lag hormone melatonin to help their child sleep has nearly tripled in the past seven years.</p> <p>Melatonin is indeed not a sleep hormone but a biological marker of darkness.” For example, in humans and other diurnal animals, the release of melatonin into the bloodstream helps prepare the body for sleep. </p> <p>A recent study from the Netherlands suggested that teenagers’ sleep problems can improve after just one week by limiting evening exposure to light-emitting screens on mobile phones, tablets and computers. </p> <p>Overexposure before bedtime to blue light emitted from devices can affect the brain’s clock and the production of the melatonin hormone, resulting in disrupted sleep time and quality.</p> <p> So is sleep medication being overused by children?</p> <p>Speaking to Colin Espie, a professor of sleep medicine in the Nuffield department of clinical neuroscience at the University of Oxford, is one of many leading experts worried by this trend. “We seem to be socialising our youngsters into the idea that sleep is difficult, and you need tablets for it,” he says. Instead, he explains, our focus should be on helping them to establish healthy sleep patterns at home.</p> <p>As stark new NHS figures show, children are experiencing an epidemic of sleeping problems amid a sharp decline in their mental health triggered by the pandemic. Insomnia can exacerbate an underlying mental or physical health problem. </p> <p>Emma Thomas, YoungMinds’ chief executive, said: there is alarming pressure young people face with their mental health, with many experiencing isolation, loneliness, and reduced support caused partly by the pandemic.</p> <p><b>Here are some valuable tips. </b></p> <p><b>Prepare children’s minds for sleep (even your three-year-old can meditate)</b></p> <p>If we want children to sleep naturally, teaching simple, mindful noticing skills can be helpful, says Dr Guy Meadows, co-founder