Chronic Pain Family Education Sheets: Healthy Sleep for Kids and Teens

Sleep challenges and chronic pain often go hand in hand. Top experts put together this guide about all the things that can help!

Kids (3-11) Tweens & Teens (12+) Breathing and calming Chronic pain Everyday life and routines Healthcare Providers Living with ongoing pain Sleep Chronic Pain Breathing and calming Chronic pain Everyday life and routines Living with ongoing pain Pain Management Sleep

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Also available in: Español

About This Resource

This is a part of our Family Education Sheets Series!

It’s SUPER common for kids and teens with chronic pain to have a hard time sleeping, and when sleep runs short, you get more sensitive to pain and pain is more likely to stick around. The good news is that sleep can get better! This guide, written for kids and teens, covers how much sleep you need, what gets in the way (ummm…screens), and the small changes that work best when you do them the same way every day.

How To Use This Resource

PARENTS AND CAREGIVERS: Learn why sleep matters so much for kids and teens with chronic pain, and simple ways to help at home, like a steady wake-up time and phones charged in the kitchen overnight.

KIDS AND TEENS: Find out why naps can be tricky and when to put screens away before bed. And give new habits 2–3 weeks, because that’s how long it can take to notice a difference.

PROVIDERS: Give this to patients and families dealing with chronic pain and poor sleep, so they can see why healthy sleep is a big part of feeling better and which habits to start with. The other education sheets in this series cover school, daily functioning, and CBT.

Who Is This For

This guide is for parents and caregivers supporting kids and teens with chronic pain. It’s also useful for healthcare providers.

This guide is part of a collaboration between the Meg Foundation and the Society of Pediatric Psychology’s Pain Special Interest Group.

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Chronic Pain Family Education Sheets: Daily Functioning

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Chronic Pain Family Education Sheets: School Guidelines

School can be tough when you’re dealing with chronic pain. This educational guide helps families understand all the ways they can support kids and teens as they navigate the challenges.

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Understanding Pain Handout

Knowing how pain works is key to learning how to prevent and manage it. This handout breaks it all down to make it easier for patients and providers.

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This website teaches you how you can use your imagination to have more control over your brain, your body, and your experience.

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Bouncing Back From Pediatric Chronic Pain: Our Stories

In this episode, you will meet Sophia Brooke, Fiona, and Bridget. These four share their experiences learning to manage chronic pain and how they never thought they would be where they are today.

A Note About Keeping This Free

Good pain care should be a right, not a privilege.

We’ve spent our careers treating pain and medical anxiety, and we know that comfort and control come from putting the power where it belongs: in your hands. Everything here is free and open source by design. No parent should have to pay to learn how to get their child through a vaccine or a bad headache. No provider should have to hunt for what they need to do their job well. Hundreds of thousands of people have used Meg tools, and not one of them has ever been asked to pay.

But free still costs something.

We rely on the generosity of people like you to keep it that way. It takes about 1 in 30 of us, each giving $15 a month, to keep these tools available for free. If they helped you and you’re able, $15 a month keeps these resources available the next time you or another family need them.

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— Dr. Jody, Founder and CEO

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