The Dark Night: The Importance Of Sleep For Your Entire Family

The importance of sleep cannot be overly emphasised. Yes, it’s something that we all need to do. But it’s necessary for a reason. Your body doesn’t punish you with a nodding head and heavy eyelids for the fun. During sleep you never completely shut off. Your body undergoes physical and mental maintenance. Sufficient hours of sleep also ensure that you have a good quality of life and are safe. Here’s why you should value your much needed shut eye.

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Babies

Babies grow rapidly. In the first couple of years of your life, you grow at a rapid rate. It’s not surprising that babies are tired a lot of the time. They might make a lot of noise but a healthy baby is often asleep as regularly as he or she is awake. Sleep triggers a natural growth hormone in babies’ bodies, which promotes normal growth.

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Children

In children and teens, sleep takes care of supporting growth and development, both physically and mentally. When children get to a school age, sleep helps them to pay attention in class, make decisions more easily and improve their problem solving skills. Sleep also contributes to higher levels of motivation, which is essential for your little ones to achieve their long term goals, whatever they may be. So if you want your kids to get good grades as they grow up, set an early bedtime. As well as taking in facts, children need to learn how to function properly in society. It is important that your kids have social skills. Sleep deficient children often tend to throw temper tantrums. They often feel angry, irritated and impulsive. These aren’t personality traits that often lead to popularity. It is important for your child to have peers, or they could become unsociable, reclusive and isolated.

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Adults

Mental Wellbeing

During sleep, your brain prepares your body for the next day. It builds new pathways which will enable you to learn and remember more information. This is important. You might not think you have much to learn, but you need to be able to take in a process information on a daily basis. Each day your brain will work out more ways to make the things you do easier. Certain routines or ways of doing things that result in less stress and more time, for example. As well as creating these pathways, prioritising sleep will ensure you have a healthier mental wellbeing. Brain scans of sleep deficient people show a higher susceptibility to sudden mood swings and consequent irrational behaviour. These individuals also show much more difficulty in coping with change, which is an inevitable aspect of adult life. Sleep deficiency in adulthood has been directly linked to risky behaviour, depression and even suicide.

Physical Wellbeing

You can’t afford to get sick as an adult. You have children to look after, a job to do and a home to upkeep. Days in bed can throw your routine completely off schedule. Sleep is essential to maintaining a healthy immune system. In short, the more you sleep, the stronger your immune system will become. This will result in a lower susceptibility to common illnesses and infections.  Now we don’t propose spending your entire day off in bed. But make sure you get the recommended eight hours.
As you can see, sleep is important at all stages in life. So it’s important that you and your family get enough of it. This is easier said than done though. Anyone trying to get little ones off to the land of nod will be able to tell you that. Even if you don’t have children, many of us end up tossing and turning for most of the night. This is frustrating. However that can really help your entire household get a full night’s kip.

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Lights Out

We sleep best in the dark. We are, after all, diurnal creatures. We sleep at night. Way back in the day, once the sun was out, people had little other option than to go straight to bed. After all, things are a lot harder to do when it’s pitch black. Nowadays, we not only have lights, but we have a whole range of distractions. Major cities are often said to no longer sleep at all. There’s always something to do, or watch, or play. Set a routine and go to bed at a specific time. This will set your body clock and you’ll soon grow used to it. Now for the important part. Once you’re in bed, make sure it’s as dark as possible. Most people recommend black out blinds. These are the best option for ensuring the glare of street lamps don’t reach you or your family as you try to get to sleep. In spring and summer, when the sun rises ludicrously early, they also ensure a nice dark atmosphere, so you can continue to snooze until the alarm goes off. Sleep masks are an alternative, cheaper option. But they won’t be as effective.

Double Glazing and Earplugs

No matter where you live, there’s often non stop noise around us. In the countryside? Sheep bleeting, cattle causing a ruckus and pigs snorting through the night can be pretty off-putting. In the city, it’s even worse. Traffic, aircrafts, arguments, drunk people in the streets on a Friday and Saturday night. Double glazing does a good job of blocking out all of this unwanted sound. If it’s really loud, order a pair of earplugs for extra protection.

Heating and Fans

Your body temperature needs to be stable to avoid waking up constantly throughout the night. In summer, temperatures soar and no matter how far open you push the window, only warm air ends up circulating the room. In these climates, invest in air conditioning or even a simple fan. In winter, you’ll have the opposite problem. Nobody wants to leave a fire or blow heater burning through the night though. That would be absurdly dangerous. Ensure your heating is working before the cold seasons hit and try out alternatives too. Extra blankets, thick socks, electric blankets, hot water bottles and microwavable teddy bears are all brilliant options.