Lights Out!
“To bed, to bed, said sleepy-head. Good night, good night, turn off the light.” My father chanted this every evening when ushering his children to bed. We went to bed early. I remember many a summer evening lying in my darkened room listening to my friends still playing outside.
My parents knew that children need a lot of sleep. So every evening, they drew the curtains early and tucked us in. Recent studies support my parents’ early-to-bed policy for young children. Young children need ten to twelve hours a night for optimal functioning. But many children resist going to bed.
In an article in The New York Times, Perry Klass, M.D. reports on a sleep study conducted at the University of Colorado with children ages three to five. They found that children’s eyes are more sensitive to light and that exposure to bright light in the hour before bedtime causes children to resist sleep: “Just a short exposure of bright light may suppress melatonin and shut down [its] sleep-promoting effect.” In other words, exposing children’s eyes to bright light before bedtimes triggers wakefulness, not sleep.
Researchers found that bright lights wake up the eye and the brain. They suggest turning down the lights an hour before bedtime to trigger melatonin and sleepiness. Children often get out of bed to ask for water or a bathroom visit. Bright light at this time can trigger wakefulness too. So parents should limit light inside and outside of the bedroom at bedtimes to make sure that children get to bed and stay there. Nightlights should be kept low to the ground away from eye level.
Screen-viewing also triggers wakefulness. Watching TV or playing video games can keep children from falling asleep. A bedtime story read by a parent or soft music playing in the bedroom induce sleepiness. Regular bedtime routines are vital. Children should go to bed a “regular consistent bedtime, even on weekends… early enough so that they get all the sleep they need.”
To promote sleep, calm them down, don’t rev them up. Have a regular bedtime routine to help your children prepare to rest. Turn down all the lights. Clean up both bodies and rooms. Put on the pajamas. Snuggle up with a good book. Tuck them in and kiss them goodnight. Then exit with the intention of preparing for bed yourselves. Let children know that everyone needs to sleep. It is an important part of family life and vital for good health. Let the whole house be ready for “sleepy-time.”
My parents knew that “sleepy-heads” were not productive or pleasant so they made sure that we got the rest we needed. They also needed restful evenings (after all they had six children) to be a couple in love. Set your clocks and turn down the lights for consistent bedtimes for your children.
Happy children and happy parents sleep long and well.
