Table of contents:
- How do children increase in height during sleep?
- How long should the child sleep?
- How do you get a child to sleep soundly?
Drinking milk before bed is said to support height growth while the child is sleeping. Is this just a myth? Many factors affect a child's height, such as heredity, nutritional status, lifestyle, and others. Maybe sleep can be one of the factors that can affect the child's height to increase.
During sleep, the organs in our body work and hormones are also released to support the work of the organs. Maybe this hormone is the main key why sleep can support the growth of a child. To find out more, let's look at the following reviews.
How do children increase in height during sleep?
Growth is a complex process that requires several hormones. One of the hormones that affects the growth of a child's height is growth hormone because this hormone stimulates biological processes in the blood, organs, muscles, and bones needed to increase height. Some of the things that affect the work of the growth hormone are nutrition, stress, exercise and sleep.
Growth hormone is released by the pituitary gland in the brain into the bloodstream and is released throughout the day, but the period of release is highest during sleep, not long after the child has slept well. This means that short sleep duration or disturbance during sleep can affect the release of growth hormone because we need time to achieve deeper sleep.
Research by Takahashi in 1968 showed that delayed nighttime sleep and poor sleep or frequent waking can inhibit peak growth hormone release. Other research published by the journal Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery 2010 explained that children with growth hormone deficiency are associated with poor sleep quality and shorter stature.
Therefore, children should get enough sleep at night to maximize the release of growth hormone which supports the increase in children's height. If only one night the child does not get good quality sleep it may not stunt growth, but if this happens almost every day it may affect the child's growth.
How long should the child sleep?
Adequate sleep is an important thing for children to get because during sleep the body can restore energy to build connections in the brain. Insufficient sleep duration can cause children to experience growth problems, such as stunted growth and can result in children becoming short or stunting. Short sleep duration or lack of sleep can cause children to fail to produce growth hormone optimally during sleep, so that height growth during sleep does not work optimally.
Lack of sleep can also lead to growth hormone deficiency conditions that can affect the work of the heart, lungs, and immune system. Research published in the journal Neuroendocrinology in 2011 showed that children with growth hormone deficiency had shorter sleep duration and poor sleep quality compared to children of the same age who had normal growth.
The amount of sleep a child needs varies depending on his age. According to the National Sleep Foundation, the amount of sleep needed for babies to adolescents is:
- Newborns aged 0-3 months need about 14-17 hours of sleep
- Infants aged 4-11 months need about 12-15 hours of sleep
- Children aged 1-2 years need about 11-14 hours of sleep
- Children aged 3-5 years need about 10-13 hours of sleep
- Children aged 6-13 years need about 9-11 hours of sleep
- Teens aged 14-17 years need about 8-10 hours of sleep
How do you get a child to sleep soundly?
Growth hormone can be released in the highest amount when the child sleeps soundly. By making the child soundly while sleeping, you mean supporting the child to grow, aka increase their height. To help your child sleep well in a sufficient duration, you as a parent can:
- Applying sleeping hours for children every day. School children should be asleep by 8 or 9 at night. Apply the same thing even on weekends. Erratic sleeping hours can make a child's sleeping habits worse.
- Accompany the child before bed, this can be done by talking to the child, singing a lullaby, or reading a bedtime story. Also, don't invite children to do activities before bed. Make sure the child is in a comfortable condition before going to bed.
- Make sure the child sleeps in a comfortable room, preferably with the lights turned off and the atmosphere is calm.
- Do not place a television or computer in a child's room.
