With national tragedies in the news, The Huffington Post provides parents tips on helping their children sleep with advice from different medical groups and healthcare professionals.

Turning off the news ? especially at night ? and limiting your exposure to violence and media coverage is also helpful. Leave a buffer zone of at least 30 to 45 minutes before you try to sleep to allow yourself to relax, he advised. Meditation, relaxation exercises, yoga and deep breathing are all things that can help the body deactivate and get ready for sleep.

For kids, it’s important to avoid discussing bothersome news or events in the evening and limit how much news they watch, pediatric sleep expert Jodi Mindell, professor of psychology at St. Joseph’s University in Philadelphia, told HuffPost.

“Nighttime is when things seem scarier and when kids are often alone with their thoughts,” she said.

Here are a few other things parents can do to help children cope with traumatic news and national tragedies:

1. Remind kids of what keeps them safe

Remind kids of what does keep them safe: parents watching over them and emergency workers in their community who protect them. Identify the trustworthy people around them, the National Association of School Psychologists recommends.

Sometimes that means reminding kids that there are good people and bad people ? and in the wake of last week’s shootings, that there are good police and bad police, Robert Hawkins said.

Young children may not be able to fully understand, but they can understand the difference between good and bad, he said.

Read the full story at www.huffingtonpost.com