Long summer days and later nights probably mean you are getting less sleep than usual. With evenings that are still bright until around 9pm, body senses automatically keep our internal clocks going for longer.
Plus, if you are a parent, you will have noticed that bedtime for youngsters is later. And with no school the next day, you let your child go to bed when they are tired, and not just because you say so.
Once the children are asleep, we all like some down time to unwind. And if the children have lights out around 10pm or even later, then the time we want to ourselves in the evening becomes extended, making us later to bed than ever.
In the weeks leading up to back-to-school, routines need to gradually be adjusted to suit both you and your children.
Sleep times need to be adjusted gradually, so the child's evening becomes shorter by a half hour at a time. Bedtime routines should start early, and if necessary new blinds that block out light completely should be installed at the windows. I always feign darkness by drawing dark curtains and turning on a small lamp in their rooms. The other bedroom doors up stairs are shut tight so no light filters through to their sleeping space. Bedtime snacks and stories are started earlier and kept shorter.
Early to bed, early to rise. Children's wake-up time becomes earlier, and so starts the routine of early nights too. That means your down time in the evening starts early and if you hit the sack an hour earlier than you have done all summer, you still feel like you've had your evening all to yourself.
And it's guaranteed that you'll feel more rested in the morning - even if the kids are up at the crack of dawn.
<< Sponsor >>
As seen in Oprah’s Magazine!