Four Tips to Help Your Child Get to Sleep

A consistent sleep routine is just as important for children as it is for adults. Children aged three and over can need anywhere from eight to twelve hours of sleep or more every night, and missing out on this can affect their day-to-day life in a dramatic way. However, due to numerous reasons, children of all ages can find it difficult to sleep. Here are some useful tips and tricks aimed directly at helping your child get a relaxing night’s sleep:

Create a Routine

This is always the first step in helping your child enjoy healthy sleep every night. While it will be difficult at first, you should encourage your child to go to bed at the same time every night and wake up at the same time every morning, while still allowing them to get enough sleep for their individual needs. At first, your child will likely still struggle to fall asleep straight away, but it will become easier with each passing night.

Keep Stress to a Minimum

Finding that your child does not enjoy going to bed is not a particularly rare problem, and it can be caused by fear, anxiety or even boredom. Stay patient if your child is having trouble sleeping, as an impatient reaction from you may cause your child further problems. For children who are scared at bedtime, a night light is always a useful item. As long it is not bright enough to cause a distraction, it will act as a soothing reminder to children that they are safe and protected.

Encourage Napping

There is nothing wrong with your child enjoying a nap during the day. Ensure that you keep the nap to less than two hours. Any more could affect your child’s nightly sleep routine. A short nap can also prevent your child from feeling irritable and fussy.

Give Your Child the Right Food and Drink

As with your own sleep routine, a child’s ability to sleep can be affected by what they have eaten in the run up to bedtime. A carbohydrate-rich snack before bed can help your child get to sleep, while sugars and proteins can have the opposite effect. A banana or a bowl of porridge are good foods to aid sleep, as they are high in carbohydrates and relatively low in protein and sugar.

Having a child that has difficulty sleeping is nothing to be overly worried about, as many children will go through phases where they struggle to sleep. If it becomes a problem over a prolonged period of time however, you should pay a visit to your doctor. Prolonged sleep deprivation can be a sign of an underlying sleep disorder, which can have a serious impact on your child’s day-to-day quality of life if left unchecked.

Four Ways to Reduce Stress at Bedtime

There are many factors that can stop you from enjoying a good night’s sleep. However, one of the most common factors, which will also negatively affect other areas of your life, is feeling stressed. Trying to sleep when stressed can seem almost impossible, as you will inevitably struggle to relax. Here are a few simple tips on how to overcome stress at bedtime:

Spend Time Winding Down

If you’ve been working all day, when you try and get to sleep it can be hard to relax. Your adrenaline levels will likely still be quite high, which means you need to take time to wind down and relax before trying to sleep. Have a small snack and a hot drink, and take the time to read a book or magazine. After an hour you will feel more relaxed and sleepy, meaning it will be easy to fall into a restful night’s sleep.

Write Your Worries in a Notebook

Sometimes a nagging thought in your mind can be the cause of stress. This is because you keep turning it over in your head, which stops you from relaxing. Writing the thought down will allow you to keep it safe for tomorrow and allow you to temporarily forgot about whatever the problem may be.

Try Progressive Muscle Relaxation

Progressive muscle relaxation is where you focus on tensing the muscles in your body, starting at your feet and working all the way up to your head. The tensing action helps to relax your body, while the focus of the exercise is a good distraction for your mind.

Visualise Something Peaceful and Breathe Deeply

Similar to the progressive muscle relaxation tip, following this exercise works both on a physical and mental level. Breathe deeply and slowly, while simultaneously focusing on a peaceful image. The deep breathing helps to slow the heart rate, making it easier to relax, while the visualisation distracts you from other stressful thoughts.

Hopefully following the above tips will help combat your stress problems. However, some serious cases of stress and anxiety cannot be combated with sheer force of will alone. You should not hesitate to pay a visit to your doctor if this is the case, because a prolonged battle with stress and anxiety can cause serious problems with your sleep routine and everyday health.

The Art of Napping: Five Tips for the Perfect Nap

Many people worry about the effects of taking a nap on their overall sleep schedule, but a nap can actually be beneficial if you’re feeling drowsy. Other people incorporate a nap into their everyday routine, and take advantage of the associated benefits. However, napping at the wrong time or for the wrong amount of time can cause problems to your sleep. This means you need to follow a few simple tips to get the biggest benefit from your nap:

1. Nap for Less than 20 Minutes

If you decide that you are feeling sleepy during the day and decide to take a nap, ensure that you don’t sleep for longer than 20 minutes. Any longer and you risk falling into deep sleep, which will make it harder for you to wake up easily. In fact, you may even experience sleep inertia, which creates feelings of grogginess and drowsiness, meaning your nap will have only made things worse.

2. Keep Naps to One per Day

While there is nothing wrong with enjoying a nap if you’re feeling sleepy, napping multiple times a day can begin to affect your regular sleep routine. Plus, if you feel the need to nap multiple times a day, then that is a sign that your overall quality of sleep needs attention.

3. Nap at the Right Time

As a general rule, you should nap when you feel tired, and enjoy a quick boost in energy afterwards. However, as you get closer to your regular bedtime, it is best to avoid napping, even if you’re feeling drowsy. This is because the energy boost you get from a nap will make it harder to relax and fall asleep at your normal bedtime.

4. Nap in a Dark and Quiet Space

Just as you would when sleeping at night, try to nap in a dark and quiet place. This will make it easier to sleep, as distractions from excess noise and light can make it difficult to relax. This can be difficult in the workplace, so using a sleep mask and ear plugs can offer a solution.

5. Enjoy Your Nap

Many people choose not to nap even if they’re tired, but it is a common sight in many cultures, such as in many Mediterranean countries where siestas are a daily occurrence. As long as the above tips are followed, you will notice an immediate effect on your energy and productivity after a nap, which might cause you to make them a regular part of your overall sleep routine.

Coping with the Stresses and Strains of Exams

As many students will be fully aware, preparation for exams and essays can be incredibly stressful. Whether at school, college or university, students will likely have some form of revision or studying that needs to be undertaken over the coming weeks and months. The anxiety and nerves that are caused by exams, as well as last-minute cramming, can lead to students developing a poor sleep routine, which will only serve to hamper their ability to perform to the best of their potential.

A typical twelve-year old child needs ten hours of sleep, whereas an adult will need about eight hours. Therefore most students at school, college or university will fall somewhere between these two figures. However, during their teenage years, they will often experience a shift forward in their sleeping patterns, meaning they can find it harder to fall asleep until after 11 p.m. or even later. This means that it can be hard for a student to achieve enough sleep if they have to be up early the next day.

One way to help students maintain a healthy quality of sleep throughout exam period is to ensure that they stick to a consistent routine. While it can be difficult for them to fall asleep until a certain time, if they begin trying to go to bed and waking up at the same time everyday, they will eventually find that this becomes the norm.

Avoiding artificial light in the hour before bed can also be beneficial, because artificial light can hamper the production of melatonin, which is an important sleep-regulating chemical. If students are revising before bed, then it is best to stick to books, using just enough light to be able to see without straining their eyes. Computers, televisions and mobile phones all give off artificial light, so should therefore be switched off.

There are few times in life that are more stressful than important exam periods. Therefore, it is no surprise that students’ sleep patterns can be interrupted by them. However, following the tips above can offer a lot of help, if not a complete solution to sleep trouble in exam periods. If you are a student, or if you have a family member who is, and you think their quality of sleep has become so poor that is affecting their everyday life, then you should not hesitate to visit your doctor for help.

Five of the Best Food and Drinks to Help You Sleep

There are many factors that can affect your ability to enjoy a peaceful night’s sleep, and this can even include the food you’ve been eating and what you have been drinking. Certain foods and drinks can aid sleep, while others can cause you to have a disrupted and restless night. To help you enjoy a restful night’s sleep, we’ve compiled a list of the best food and drink that you can enjoy before bed:

Have a Snack if You’re Feeling Peckish

Going to bed feeling very full and bloated can upset your sleep, but going to bed hungry can be just as bad. Feeling hungry when you are trying to sleep can be very distracting, because your mind will turn to thoughts of food. If you are peckish before bed, have a small bowl of cereal, which should fill you up without making you feel bloated or sluggish.

Almonds help with Muscle Relaxation

Snacking on almonds can actually be beneficial to your sleep, because they contain magnesium, which helps with muscle relaxation. They can also provide proteins to maintain a stable blood pressure as you sleep.

Drink Cherry Juice for a Melatonin Boost

Researchers at Northumbria University have recently discovered that drinking a glass of cherry juice before bed can increase the levels of melatonin in your body. Melatonin is an important sleep-regulating chemical that allows for a more restful sleep. Cherry juice could therefore also offer a benefit to shift workers or people experiencing jet lag.

Protein-Rich Snacks to Counteract Dropping Blood-Sugar Levels

Sometimes the reason you are finding it difficult to sleep is due to having eaten too many carbohydrates before bed, which will affect your blood-sugar levels. This drop in blood sugar can also cause you to wake up numerous times during the night. A quick protein snack, such as a hard-boiled egg, can counteract this problem, giving you an undisturbed night’s sleep.

Dairy Products Increase Tryptophan

Tryptophan is an important chemical for aiding sleep. Dairy products are rich in tryptophan, which is converted into melatonin to help promote healthy sleep. Hot milk is often suggested as a drink to help you sleep, because the usefulness of tryptophan is coupled with the soothing effects of a hot drink.

The importance of food and drink in your sleep routine should not be overlooked. Following the above tips can be really helpful in improving your sleep. However, if you have a sleep-friendly diet, and your sleep is not improving, it might be due to other factors. If this is the case, a visit to your doctor will help narrow down any potential causes, and hopefully offer you a solution to your problems.

Shift Working: Five of the Best Tips for Making it Through the Day

One of the main aspects of a positive night’s sleep is being able to create a consistent routine. If you follow the same routine every night, you will likely find it easier to drift off into a restful sleep. However, if you work erratic shifts, possibly including night shifts, you will be unable to stick to a consistent routine. Plus, with job opportunities sparse, more and more people are turning to shift working as a much-needed source of income. Below are some useful tips for making it through long shifts and still achieving an optimum level of sleep:

Enjoy a Power Nap during a Break

If you’re working a long shift, and get a break that lasts about 20 minutes or longer, it may be useful to have a short power nap. A nap lasting no more than twenty minutes will give you a quick boost of energy. Beware of napping for any longer, because you could fall into deep sleep, making you feel groggy when you wake up.

Complete Repetitive Tasks First

You may have a list of jobs that need doing while on your shift, and it will be tempting to work through the more interesting and easier ones first. However, if you leave a monotonous task until the very end of your shift, when you will be feeling your most tired, you may be unable to focus and concentrate on it properly.

Take the Chance to Get Outdoors

Getting outside before or after work, or during a break, can be both beneficial to your sleep routine and your ability to stay focused during your shift. Spending time in the sun will also trigger the production of melatonin in your body, which helps regulate the timing of your body clock.

Beware of Accepting Extra Shifts

Accepting to do an extra shift is obviously a useful way of earning some extra money, but accepting too many, or one during a time you would normally be catching up on sleep, may mean you can’t work to the best of your ability on this shift. When you are asked to do an extra shift, carefully consider the timing and length of the shift, and whether you can truly cope with the extra strain.

Work with Others

It seems like a very simple tip, but working with other people during long shifts can really help, especially if your co-workers are working equally-erratic shifts. Simply chatting while carrying out tedious work can help your shift go by that little bit quicker.

Working unpredictable shifts can take its toll on your quality of sleep, and therefore your general focus and concentration. While there is no true substitute for a consistent sleep pattern, following the above tips will help you make it through those really tough days, when thoughts of sleep are making it hard to focus on your work.

The Top Ten Tips for Getting a Better Night’s Sleep

Sometimes, no matter how tired you feel, you just can’t get to sleep. As long as these are just rare occasions, and not regular occurrences, you may just need to try some simple tips and tricks to help you drift off. Here are ten of the best ideas to help you to get a restful night’s sleep:

10. Block Out Excess Light and Noise – Getting to sleep when there is excess noise or light outside can be very difficult. Turning off all electronic sources of noise and light, such as computers, televisions and mobile phones is a start. If stopping excess light and noise is difficult, use ear plugs and an eye mask.

9. Turn the Heating Down – Having a slightly cooler bedroom is much more effective than a warmer one. This is because your body naturally drops in temperature during sleep, so a cool room will help start this process.

8. Avoid Alcohol – Drinking alcohol to help you sleep is one of the most commonly-held myths about sleep. In actual fact, it will dehydrate you and disturb your slumber, leaving you more tired in the morning.

7. Try Yoga – Vigorous exercise in the three hours before bed can be detrimental to your sleep, because your body will start to produce adrenaline, making it harder to relax. On the other hand, yoga, which keeps your heart at a near-resting rate, will help relax your body and mind.

6. Don’t Nap Too Much – One nap during the day will be unlikely to affect your overall sleep schedule, and can be a good way to get a quick energy boost. However, multiple naps will mean that you may not be able to sleep at your regular bedtime, which will have a knock-on effect the next day.

5. Drink Cherry Juice – There are many drinks that are supposed to help you fall asleep more easily, but cherry juice has been proven to do so by researchers at Northumbria University. Cherry Juice before bed helps control production of melatonin, an important sleep-regulating hormone

4. Don’t Go to Bed Hungry (or Too Full) – Eating too much or too little before bed can make it difficult to relax. Being hungry will make your thoughts turn to food, while being too full may upset your stomach during the night.

3. Write Down Nagging Thoughts – Sometimes it can be a mental block that is stopping you from getting to sleep. It may be something you know you have to remember or a nagging thought in the back of your mind. Writing it down will help you to forget these problems until tomorrow.

2. Invest in a Quality Mattress – No matter how tired you are, sleeping on an uncomfortable mattress will only make your sleeping problems worse. An Ergoflex visco-elastic memory foam mattress provides even support for your entire body, and the innovative cool-sleep layer helps negate excess heat retention.

1. Stick to a schedule – This is perhaps the most important tip we can give to help you get a better night’s sleep. A schedule will help train your body clock to know when to sleep and when to get up. It may be difficult at first, but over time will become a vital part of your sleep routine.

If you have a rare night, when you can’t sleep, chances are that at least one of these tips will offer you some benefit. If you regularly find it difficult to get to sleep, and none of these remedies have any effect, you should visit your doctor, as you may be suffering from a sleeping disorder. Your doctor will hopefully be able to diagnose the exact problem and offer advice on the best form of treatment.