Are your children getting enough sleep?

We want our children to feel happy, content and confident enough to talk with us when they feel troubled. However more and more children are suffering in silence and experiencing mood swings, behaviour issues and worries that are affecting their sleep.

As a parent I learned the hard way that it is an accumulative effect of many stress factors that affect our child’s mental health and behaviour, and even when we are unaware of what exactly is on their minds there are still lots of things that we can do to help them feel better.

Most people think of stress as being work or school related but there are a number of other stresses that affect our mental health i.e.

•  Emotional stress from relationships, memories, mental or physical abuse, trauma, overwhelming emotions like fear, sadness, worry, anger or negative self-belief.

•  Physical stress from an injury, illness, too much or too little exercise

•  Nutritional stress from eating a diet that is lacking in nutrients or that is toxic

As parents we often wonder what is it we can do to help our children and the good news is that there are sensory techniques that help to clear the bad feelings they hold in their bodies and minds. This is particularly beneficial at bedtime to help them sleep.

Then by having good practices around mental stimulation, communication, stress management, nutrition, exercise, sleep and gut health we can help them to feel better again.

The first place to start is by supporting our children to get better sleep. Unfortunately Insomnia amongst children is becoming more common, this can include problems going to sleep, disturbed sleep with or without dreams or simply not feeling well rested after what should be a normal amount of sleep

So here are a few things that you can do at home to help them improve their sleep.

•  Reduce or eliminate sugary foods particularly those with artificial sweeteners, flavors, colors and preservatives.

•  Have a consistent bedtime and breakfast time that allows your 5 to 16 yrs olds to get the recommended 9-12 hrs of sleep per night. I know this can be difficult in the summer time so having curtains with a blackout lining can help.

•  Turn the television and other electrical devises off at least 1 hr before going to bed.

•  Create a bedtime routine that your child enjoys this can include a bath, brushing their hair, story time, a board game or even a foot or back massage.

•  Dim all house lights in the evening to boost your bodies natural sleep/wake rhythms, If your child wants a light left on through the night find the smallest, dimmest night light that they will agree to.

•  Play a game were he/she tells you what a good nights sleep feel’s like

•  Now ask them to focus on their breathing, place both hands on their tummy and as they simply breathe in and out through their nose ask them to focus on the air coming in through their nose and moving down into their belly and back out again through the nose. Getting your kids to watch their hands moving up and down on their tummy can help.

•  Now gently trace a figure of 8 on their forehead children find this very comforting and calming keep tracing  this shape for a number of minutes