We are within days of the start of school, and that means scheduled bedtime is back.
Experts typically suggest practicing two weeks before school starts to get circadian rhythms back on track, but some of you don't have that much time.
Here's how to make changes faster:
“You’re kind of panicking a little bit about how we're going to wake them early without being frustrated or grumpy,” Dr. Ghazala Abuazza said.
Kelsey-Seybold pediatrician, Abuazza, said the secret is going slow so the new bedtime is hardly noticeable.
“We want to do it slowly by probably, by increments of 15 minutes. For example, tonight, 9:45 then the next night 9:30 and so on,” Abuazza said.
Do the same in the morning: wake up 15 minutes earlier, or 30 if you're in a pinch to make this change quicker. No more than half an hour at a time.
“We don't want to change this over the weekend,” she said. “It's really better not to change it over the weekend and say ‘well they have two days off so they can sleep late…’ it takes a few days for the internal clock to set it back so it's better to keep it consistent throughout the weekend.”
The recommendations for elementary and middle school students, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics, is 10 to 12 hours and 8 to 10 hours for high schoolers.
AAP also recommends turning off electronics 30 minutes before bed.