We have been brought up learning that the only three essentials for leading a good life are food, clothing, and shelter. There is no denying this. However, we at Delhi Public School Sushant Lok, regarded as one of the top schools in Gurgaon, would like to make an addition to this list by mentioning SLEEP as one of the equal essentials.
In times, when most of us are running around the clock leading busy lives under the cloud of pressure and stress, pulling in 7 to 9 hours of sound sleep becomes mandatory. This is where introducing sleep hygiene proves helpful. It is best to make this application early on, which is why this blog post.
What is Sleep Hygiene?
As parents who are working on introducing their children to sleep hygiene, you should first understand the scope of this concept.
Sleep Hygiene essentially deals with all the night-time habits and practices that sow seeds for a sound and uninterrupted sleep cycle. Let us discover some of these prerequisites in further detail.
- Get children’s body clock in place:
At Delhi Public School Sushant Lok, we continue to make attempts to introduce children to their in-built body clock – A clock, which decides the time at which every individual goes to bed and wakes up. The best part is that you have full control over your body clock.
All it takes is for you to remain consistent with your sleeping and waking up timings because, at the end of the day, that is what contributes to strong sleep hygiene. Do this over a period of time and you will not have to rely on bedtime stories and loud alarms to get you to sleep and wake up. Isn’t this an excellent starting point for getting your scattered sleep cycles on track?
- Put electronics away:
Walking the talk becomes highly important when it comes to introducing children to well-defined sleep hygiene, especially with respect to the usage of electronics.
As adults and in this case, as a parent, if you take your phone, tablet, or laptop to bed to finish some last-minute work or catch up on a few episodes of your favorite web show, you will have to first change your habits.
The first step to getting in some sound sleep is keeping the blue light emitted from the screens away at least two hours before bedtime. Next, pass on the same learning to your children. That’s another sleep hygiene habit taken care of right there.
- Introduce a night-time routine:
We at Delhi Public School Sushant Lok strongly believe that one of the easiest ways of getting children into sleep hygiene habits is by defining a comfortable night-time routine. Doing this on a daily basis becomes equally crucial.
You can begin by introducing small habits such as taking a warm bath, putting on light music, or reading a book so that the mind is put to sleep and the body can follow soon after. This is not something you’ll be able to achieve overnight, which is why continued practice and consistency becomes critical.
- Stress on eating light:
One of the most underrated ways of staying on track with one’s sleep hygiene is by watching what you eat.
If you have a heavy meal and sleep right after, you are likely to experience heaviness, indigestion, or even heartburn, which would make it difficult for you to sleep. Let alone enjoy a sound sleep cycle.
An ideal way out is to keep your night meal as light as possible. Consume foods that are easy to digest. Make sure you eat at least two hours before bedtime so that there is enough time for your food to digest. If you haven’t already, try this with your child.
- Say no to excess napping:
If there is one activity that most of us enjoy to the fullest it is to pull in quick naps. The problem with naps is that what begins as a quick 20-minute refreshing nap soon turns into a full-fledged three-hour sleep session.
Say you take a long three-hour nap in the afternoon. Now that your body has gotten enough rest during the day, you may have trouble sleeping at night, which will eventually end up putting your entire sleep schedule for a toss. Hence, it is not always advisable to settle for naps, particularly the long ones.
Summing Up:
We at Delhi Public School Sushant Lok, ranked among the best schools in Gurgaon, have come across many parents who always complain that their kids don’t sleep on time at night and thus remain lethargic during the mornings.
While some complain about their children having interrupted sleep cycles, others have trouble putting their children to bed on time. This, in turn, leads to children sleeping late and losing productive morning hours.
The only solution to all these problems is introducing a healthy and viable sleep hygiene routine to children. Don’t know where to get started? The above pointers shall prove useful.