Our latest blog looks at how to have a sleep-friendly summer routine.
During the summer holidays, school may still feel as if it is a long way off, and it’s understandable if no-one wants to think too much about it. However, you can help yourself and your child manage the back to school changes – including sleep – more easily and without taking all the fun out of the summer.
It’s easy to think that sleep is just something we all do when we’re tired, but as an adult you have probably had times when you couldn’t sleep – even when you were exhausted. This can have a lot to do with what is happening during the day.
Your child’s sleep is influenced by many different things, but let’s look at three main parts.
A good daytime pattern will include:
- Lots of exercise to build up sleep pressure
- Daylight and activities which will help synch natural hormonal patterns
- Familiar rhythms and routines to help your child’s body and brain know when it is daytime and when it’s time to sleep
Summer holidays can be a great time for exercise and getting outdoors, but for many families, the rhythms and routines of term time go out of the window. No-one wants to run their holidays like a school day, but here’s why keeping a basic framework of rhythms and routines can help all the family now….and once term starts again.
Morning is like the starting pistol in the race to bedtime
A sleep-friendly summer routine starts with a regular getting-up time.
Why does this help? By signalling the beginning of the day, it sends a clear message to your child’s body and brain to start building sleep pressure ready for night-time.
When your child has many later or inconsistent getting-up times, this signal gets confused and your child’s sleep pattern can suffer, even if they are enjoying busy active days.
During the summer holidays, you may want to go with a later getting-up time, but not too much later. Keep it consistent and maybe adopt lazier morning to keep the relaxed vibe.
Checkpoints for the body clock throughout the day
A school day is filled with lots of stages always carried out at the same time. The morning routine, the time at school, activities afterwards are all likely to governed by the clock. School holidays are a welcome break from all that timekeeping, and don’t need to be run so strictly!
A few regular milestones at roughly the same times throughout most days will help act like checkpoints to keep your child’s body clock on track and setting the right pace to bedtime. Our Sleep Counsellors give these checkpoints an amazing name, ‘Zeitgebers’ which means ‘time givers’ in German.
‘Zeitgebers’ might include:
- Getting up
- Mealtimes
- A parent returning home from work
- A shared activity like a game, some play or even a bit of TV
- Wind-down to bed
The good news is that missing a few days won’t necessarily derail things, as long as you come back to your routine as soon as you are home. Following the same patterns child’s usual environment will reinforce how place, time and activity go together.
If you can, try and keep some of your ‘Zeitgebers’ or checkpoints in place when you are away. Your child may sleep better as a result.
Getting ready for going back to school
If you have kept an outline of a routine going through the summer holidays then you are in a stronger position. It is always easier to adjust an existing routine than it is to start from scratch. Don’t compromise those last precious days too much, but you could start to tighten the timings a bit, and to add a few more. Both you and your child will find the following weeks easier to manage and less of a shock.
School holidays can be complex times. Perhaps you are juggling childcare, covering the costs of trips and treats, managing your child’s expectations. But by keeping a bit of rhythm and routine in your lives, you can make your lives a little more straightforward.
Learn more about better sleep for you and your family on our website.
Kirsty is the Sleep Support Line Manager at Sleep Action
