The Importance of Sleep

By Natalie Salaman, at the Life Story Hub.

I wonder how many of us feel rejuvenated now we are springing into spring?!

Holiday periods promise a chance to catch up on sleep even though we lost an hour back on the 21st March, yet sleep is not something to make assumptions about and can be very elusive for many children especially with the sugar highs after Easter Eggs!

“We are such stuff / as dreams are made on, and our little life / is rounded with a sleep” (The Tempest, Shakespeare). There is no underestimating the importance of a break from our chattering minds and the ups and downs of our waking days.

I know many families who set different sleep routines in holidays and term times.  Whilst there is a rationale for this, my experience is that it is usually best to stick to the same time for bedtime, as consistency and habit do much to settle the unconscious mind.  Making bed time later could go with the child’s birthday or the turn of a new year as of course this does need to happen at some point.

Not many of us expect a good night’s sleep before an exciting or nerve inducing event and this applies to children too  [for example starting secondary school or having a test or even a new school term] . Keeping to the same bed time in term and holidays avoids speedy escalation of emotion between parent and child which occurs if the time gets earlier [once back at school] rather than the other way round! The body also has its own circadian rhythms that don’t respond well to change, and it is a scientific fact that children need more sleeping hours than adults with a lot of growing going on when the eyes are shut!  Tired muscles that have exercised are also likely to relax more quickly than those that have just sat in front of a screen.

The rituals around sleep are fascinating, varying so much from person to person but it is children’s sleep that life story hub focuses on, whilst recognising that adult sleep can be dependent on how well our children sleep! I hope some of the ideas you encounter on the hub around sleep help make the evenings more peaceful or fun for you and leave your children sleeping sweetly. May all of you wake up refreshed-possibly an unusual experience for many.

Charlotte Bronte back in 1874 said ‘A ruffled mind makes a restless pillow’. May all the pillows in your home become smoother.

Read ideas and techniques on how to settle your young ones, on the Life Story Hub.