3 Simple Sleeping Tips For Busy Mothers
/3 Simple Sleeping Tips For Busy Mothers
The time after the birth of your child, is one of the most stressful times for mothers (and fathers!). It’s difficult to get enough sleep. And that is at a time when you need to have all your mental and physical energy ready to take care of your newborn child.
Here are 3 tips that can make it easier to get more sleep. I’ve done my best to make them as simple as possible to implement. After all, this is not the right time to overhaul your diet or try some strategy for more sleep. Now, you can implement these tips into your daily schedule – even if they help you only get 20 minutes more (or better quality) sleep, then that’s already considered a success.
#1 Improve the bedroom conditions
For example, it always surprises me when I’m at a friend’s place and they have this super new bedroom from Ikea, with fancy transparent see through curtains – in front of a street light. How is it possible to sleep well with so much light? Look, it’s important that your bedroom looks nice, but it’s more important that it support good sleeping conditions.
Some tips to make your bedroom more conductive to good sleep:
· Install black out curtains to sleep in the dark
· Get some sleeping earplugs if you sleep next to a busy road
· Charge your phone on the opposite side of the bedroom (NOT on your nightstand)
· Make sure you sleep at the right room temperature (between 60 to 67 degrees – 15 and 19 degrees Celsius)
#2 Avoid chemicals (at the wrong times)
A 4 PM cappuccino might be just what you need to get through a weary afternoon. But you’ll pay for it later. Caffeine after noon affects most people still at night. So it’s more difficult to fall asleep and you sleep lighter. Better take a green tea.
Also, alcohol at night is also not the best idea. It might make you fall asleep faster, but you’ll wake up when the alcohol leaves the body and your sleep is lighter. On a similar note, watch out with taking sleep medication such as Benadryl (better take melatonin), as it’s not the best idea for natural sleep.
#3 Find what relaxes you
Too many mothers also forget to take time for themselves. Just like in the airplane, put the oxygen mask on yourself first. If you’re feeling stressed out, then what effect will that have on your child?
It’s important to destress and relax at night. This will make you feel better overall and makes it easier to fall asleep. Some ideas are:
· Drink a hot cup of herbal tea
· Read a nice (fiction) book
· Go for a light walk
· Watch your favorite series
· Meditate for 5 minutes (or do yoga)
It doesn’t matter what exactly you do, the main thing is that you feel calmer and more relaxed after doing it. It’s best if you can do this little ritual for somewhere between 5 to 30 minutes – otherwise you wouldn’t have enough time to do it every day.
Getting enough sleep is as tough as it is. So why make it more difficult than it has to be? 😊
Picture: https://pixabay.com/en/baby-mother-infant-child-female-821625/
This blog is courtesy of Jamy Russell, who started Sleep Investor to teach people simple, yet effective ways to improve sleep. Falling asleep doesn’t have to be as difficult as many people make it out to be, and often there are many easy wins that people overlook in their quest for better sleep.
