Sleep deprivation seems like a standard feature of motherhood. Whether it’s your newborn waking up every hour, or your preschooler keeps having nightmares, or it’s your teenager thumping up the stairs late after curfew, sleep doesn’t seem to come easy to mothers regardless of their children’s age. As soon as your head hits the pillow, you hear the alarm and have no choice but to wake up. Sleep deprivation can have adverse effects on your brain function, performance levels, and overall health. You will find below are a few sleep hacks to help tired moms sleep better!
Sleep-Deprived Mom?
5 Genius Sleep Hacks for the Tired Mom
Stick To a Sleep Schedule
Regular sleep patterns help to set your internal body clock to expect sleep at a certain time every night. This allows you to fall asleep much faster. Try going to bed and getting up at the same time every day, even on the weekends. Set your bedtime to when you normally feel tired. If you’re unable to fall asleep within 20 minutes, get out of bed and do something relaxing to avoid turning and tossing.
Have a Relaxing Bedtime Ritual
A typical day for any mom is filled with a never-ending to-do list that causes physical drain, not to mention strong emotional feelings of anger, anxiety, stress, and worry from work and life. Your body and mind need time to unwind and relax before going into sleep mode. You need to associate yourself with restful activities or try out some relaxation techniques before bedtime. Examples include reading a book, deep breathing, meditation, a relaxing massage, listening to relaxing music, etc.
Create a Good Sleep Environment
Your sleep environment also plays a huge role in ensuring a good night’s sleep. Start by removing any distractions, including computers, TV, phones, and work materials, to help strengthen the mental association of your bedroom with sleep. Also, keep the room quiet, dark, and cool to establish the conditions necessary for sleep. Lastly, ensure your bedroom is equipped with a comfortable bed, mattress, and bedding. The top mattress picks available in the market are ideal for every kind of sleeper and suit every budget.
Avoid Caffeine Late In the Day
Caffeine has many benefits, including enhancing focus and energy. But it’s also a stimulant and can stay in the body for up to 8 hours. Taking caffeine late in the day will only stimulate your nervous system and hinder your body from relaxing naturally at night. Some of the common sources of caffeine include coffee, non-herbal tea, soft drinks, some pain relievers, diet drugs, and chocolate. In the evening, stick with decaffeinated coffee or better yet, take warm water or herbal tea.
Exercise Regularly
Exercising every day can help improve sleep quality in several ways. For starters, it elevates body temperature. Later in the day when your internal body temperature drops, it triggers feelings of drowsiness, allowing you to fall asleep much faster. Exercise can also help decompress your mind, leaving you stress and worry-free. It’s, however, important to time your workouts at least 3 hours before bedtime. This is because exercise has a stimulatory effect, which increases alertness and makes it harder to fall asleep.
I have developed my own little ritual over the years and I finally found my way of falling asleep. That is something I’ve struggled with for a long time.
Glad to hear!
The hardest part to me is keeping a regular bedtime schedule.
For me its not children causing my sleep deprivation, it’s my 15 year old dog. It doesn’t matter if its 4 or 6 in the morning, he seems to come in and get me up so he can go out. But I love him all the same.
Oh no! Poor you! We do get so attached to our pets!
I agree, especially with the exercising part. Very important.. I think you can feel the difference after a hard work out. Let’s you have a more recovering sleep.