Copyright CBS News
Daylight saving time ends this weekend, and sleep medicine specialists with Children's Health have tips to help keep your child's body rhythm in check. Adjust your children's sleep schedules by having them go to bed 20 minutes later each night through Sunday. Create a sleep-friendly space Experts said the three key components of a healthy sleep environment are the bedroom being cool, dark and quiet. Children's Health sleep medicine specialist and pediatric pulmonologist Dr. Michelle Carabello said to make sure your child's electronics, including smartphones and tablets, are turned off one hour before bed. Electronics disrupt sleep signals "Going back to the ideal sleep environment being cool, dark, and quiet, electronics violate two out of those three. They emit light, so they're not dark, and they emit sound. They're not quiet, and specifically, we know the blue wavelength of light is the light that interferes most with sleep onset and melatonin release from the brain," Carabello said. Use blackout curtains and nightlights You're encouraged to use blackout curtains to maintain a dark sleep environment. Carabello doesn't recommend overhead lights or lamps, but said a nightlight below eye level is okay.
