Over the summer holidays it is natural for children’s bedtimes to creep later and for wake times to become later. This can lead to some fun family times, in the evenings, and for parents and carers getting a much appreciated lie-in in the morning. However, this is not helpful when school is about to start again.
Schools usually start at around 8:30am, so sleeping in until 9 or 10 am is not going to work during term time. Getting back in to the school routine can be hard enough without difficult bed times and mornings.
In this blog, Dr Lindsay Browning offers some some top tips to help your children be ready, get plenty of rest and waking on time, ready for school restarting in September.
Holiday activities and sleep
There are a multitude of things that can disrupt or change bedtime routines during the holidays and it’s good to be aware of these and how they may have affected your child’s sleep during the summer break.
Screen time
Many children find that their holiday routines are so vastly different from what they do during school term time and this can actually have an impact on their sleep.
Without the necessity to get up to and go to school, children may be spending increased amounts of time on devices and in front of screens. This is especially so if parents or carers are working from home, during the holidays. Plus, there is likely to be limited need to do homework or revision.
If this screen time is near bedtime, then this increased light exposure can make it harder to fall asleep. Our brains need to have darkness in the evening so that we can produce melatonin (our sleep hormone) to help us fall asleep easily. If we are exposed to bright light from tablets and laptop screens then this fools our brains into thinking it’s still daytime and we don’t produce as much melatonin.
Lack of physical activity
If children are not as physically active during the school holidays, then this may also affect their sleep. It is common for children to be less active in the holidays, especially as there are likely to be fewer out-of-school clubs and sports matches running, during the holidays, as well as the lack of need to physically get up and walk to and from school, for example.
We all tend to sleep better when we are more physically active, both in terms of the amount of sleep we get and also the deepness of our sleep.
If children are able to get outside, during the day, as well as being active and playing outside, then they will get lots of sunlight exposure. This helps boost their circadian rhythm and helps them to feel more awake during the day and more sleepy at night. If this doesn’t happen, then the reverse is true.
Holiday bedtimes
The timing of when children wake up and go to sleep may also be affected during the school holidays. Often, children start to go to bed later and wake up later because they don’t have to be up in time for school.
Although this is not a problem in itself, it can become problematic towards the end of the holidays when school is about to start as the children may be in a very different sleeping pattern to what they will need when school restarts. It’s as if children are jetlagged – not feeling sleepy until later and then being forced to wake earlier than they naturally would in time for school.
Back-to-school bedtime and sleep tips
Move bedtimes slowly back to their usual times
If you can, it’s a good idea to start moving your children’s bedtime and wake time a little earlier towards your normal term time sleeping schedule, before school starts. This means it will not be a shock to the system the day school restarts and they have to be up a lot earlier than they have during the holidays.
You can make this transition gently, by moving bedtime and wake time towards the ideal times, in the days leading up to going back to school. Moving bedtimes and wake times by around 15-20 minutes a day is recommended.
When you move their bedtime earlier, make sure you also move their wake time earlier by the same amount, which will almost certainly need you to set an alarm so they don’t oversleep.
Encourage morning light exposure
When we get light exposure, it can help to move our circadian rhythm. If your children are used to waking up late and staying up late, then you can start helping them shift this earlier by getting outside in the morning to the park or even having breakfast in the garden. This bright early morning sunshine will help make it easier to wake up earlier and fall asleep earlier.
Revive your regular routine
Another change that can happen during the summer holidays is that normal pre-bedtime routines may go out the window. Although the late night socialising and relaxed summer holiday evenings may be fun, generally speaking people sleep better when they have a regular pre-bedtime routine.
Having a pre-bedtime routine ensures that children know bedtime is coming. Doing the same things before bed in the same order can help prepare the brain and body for sleep. For children, this pre-bedtime routine may involve stopping screens an hour before bed; doing a more peaceful activity after that time, such as reading a book or doing a jigsaw; taking a bath or shower; getting into pyjamas, having a glass of milk; brushing teeth, and getting into bed. Return to whatever combination is normal for your child and help them get ready for sleep and calm the mind before bed.
Again, it is important to re-introduce the routine a few days before the start of term as this helps a child get used to it again.
Limit screen time
If you are a parent of a younger child or a teen, then you may have disabled parental controls on the tablets and phones during the summer holidays to allow them more time on screens. However, with school restarting, it might be a good idea to look at these controls and reinstate screen time limits on the number of hours spent on the device, as well as stopping the device automatically in the evening.
Too much screen time can be bad for sleep in a number of ways by keeping the brain to active as well as too much bright light exposure before bed. You should also make sure that night mode is enabled to automatically come on round about 6 or 7 pm each day on their devices, to minimise bright blue light exposure from screens. Even if evidence suggests it is not as disruptive as previously thought, it is still recommended.
Make time to speak about any worries
Just before school restarts, it is natural that your child may start to worry about what the new term may bring. Rather than these thoughts whirring through their mind at night, keeping them from being able to sleep, it’s a good idea to spend some time talking through their worries earlier in the day. It’s especially useful to do this somewhere other than the bedroom so that the child’s bedroom isn’t the place where they get used to worrying. You could discuss any concerns about going back to school over dinner, on the sofa between watching TV shows, or even better you could talk to them whilst going for a long walk in nature.
Children and sleep issues
Needing a little time to readjust to a new bedtime routine, suitable for term time is very normal. By adopting regular routines and slowly adjusting bedtimes, you can ensure your child gets enough sleep to face the school day…even if it takes a little time to get back in to normal routines.
However, if sleep issues continue, you may want to consider what is causing this and you may want to seek further support. If so, please learn more about my services for children and also consider speaking to your GP.