Insomnia In Children: Look For The Signs

Insomnia, the inability to fall asleep, doesn’t only affect adults. Many children also suffer from this sleeping disorder. However, since most children aren’t very effective in expressing their feelings and telling adults what’s wrong with them, it may not be easy to diagnose. Only by looking for certain signs of insomnia in children can you hope to find a way to cure it.

Insomnia in children can be caused by various things. Diet, stress, anxiety, fear and even watching TV late at night can all cause insomnia in children. These are the causes and these are just a few. However, you may not even know your child has insomnia until the symptoms begin showing themselves.

The symptoms to watch out for when it comes to insomnia in children include mood swings, lethargy, an inability to concentrate or remember things as well as many others. If your child exhibits any of these signs, your child might just be suffering from insomnia.

Monitor What Your Child Eats

Insomnia in children can often be cured by monitoring what your child eats throughout the day. If your child consumes too much sugar or eats late at night, this can often be a major culprit in insomnia in children. As a parent, you should be able to restrict certain foods from your child’s diet. Especially if your child drinks too many sugary, caffeinated beverages throughout the day, try to get them to drink more water or natural fruit juice. While fruit juice does contain sugar, it’s better than drinking three cans of cola before bed.

Make sure your child gets plenty of exercise throughout the day, also. Get them to play outside, to expend as much energy as possible so that they actually feel tired at night. By getting them to exercise, you can often help alleviate insomnia in children.

Finally, don’t allow your child to watch TV or play on the computer late at night. Studies have shown that the light emitted from television screens and computer monitors can act just like sunlight, making someone unable to sleep after staring at them for long periods of time.

Insomnia in children can be alleviated by watching your child, monitoring their behavior and by monitoring what goes into their body. Children especially need plenty of sleep in order to grow and develop properly. You want to curb insomnia as early as you can and you can do this by watching out for the signs and symptoms that occur from this sleeping disorder that affects many more children than people realize.