Sweet Dreamzzz Celebrates National Sleep Awareness Week

DETROIT - Feb. 24, 2014 - PRLog -- National Sleep Awareness Week®, which takes place March 2-9, 2014, is an annual public education and awareness campaign to promote the importance of sleep, hosted by the National Sleep Foundation. The week begins with the announcement of the National Sleep Foundation's Sleep in America poll results and ends with the clock change to Daylight Saving Time, where Americans lose one hour of sleep.

Sweet Dreamzzz, Inc. (SD), a Farmington Hills, Michigan-based non-profit organization committed to improving children’s health, well-being, and academic performance by providing sleep education and bedtime essentials to economically disadvantaged students and their families, will participate in National Sleep Awareness Week with R.E.M. (Rest. Educate. Motivate.) Sleep Programs, a Parent Sleep Education Workshop and a Metro-Detroit Pajama Day.

As a member of Sweet Dreamzzz’ Advisory Council, Dr. Ronald Chervin, Professor of Neurology, and Director of the University of Michigan Sleep Disorders Center, explains, “Many families do not realize that inadequate sleep may promote deficient school performance, problematic behavior, weight gain, development of diabetes, impaired growth, and perhaps cardiovascular consequences. In some of these cases, simple, low-cost education of children and parents about the importance of sleep is likely to have a dramatic impact.”  Our sleep programs help to educate families about the importance of a good night’s sleep and how they can improve their children’s sleep.

On Monday, March 3 and Tuesday, March 4 the children at St. Vincent Sarah Fisher Center in Detroit will receive a Sweet Dreamzzz R.E.M. (Rest. Educate. Motivate.) Sleep Program.  The program will educate the children on the importance of sleep and provide each child with a ‘sleep kit’ containing a sleeping bag, tote, nightshirt, toothbrush, toothpaste and more.  The sleep kits are sponsored by Michael and Susan Fezzey, long-time supporters of Sweet Dreamzzz.

The Ford Early Learning Center in Ypsilanti, will help celebrate on Wednesday, March 5 with a pajama day.  They were the recipients of the SD Early Childhood Sleep Education Program and the children received SD teddy bears and blankets.  They will bring them to school on Pajama Day and review the sleep tips they learned in the program.

Sweet Dreamzzz will bring their R.E.M. Sleep Program to the Detroit International Academy of Young Women, Detroit, on Friday, March 7.  Approximately 100 girls in Kindergarten through 5^th grade will receive an educational presentation on the importance of a good night’s sleep and each one receives a Sweet Dreamzzz Sleep Kit.  The students will become “Sleep Ambassadors” as they take a sleep information sheet home with them and tell their families and friends about what they learned about sleep.  On Friday, March 14, World Sleep Day, they will bring their sheets back to school, dress in their SD t-shirts and relax on their SD sleeping bags during reading time.  This program is sponsored by 100 Plus Women Who Care Motown and the UPS Foundation.

Friday, March 7^th will also be the Sweet Dreamzzz Pajama Day in Metro-Detroit.  SD is asking schools and companies to wear their pajamas (or jeans) that day to help raise awareness of the importance of sleep.  Participants can support Sweet Dreamzzz by making a donation to wear their pajamas/jeans; the proceeds will go to Sweet Dreamzzz to help more at-risk children get a good night’s sleep.

National Sleep Awareness Week and Sweet Dreamzzz’ Pajama Day are a chance for the metro-Detroit community to come together to help one another.  If you would like more information on how to participate or how you can be involved go to www.SweetDreamzzz.org, email Info@sweetdreamzzz.org, or call 248-478-3242.  Sweet Dreamzzz has served over 40,000 children since 1998