“Don’t talk to me, I’m just waking up”…

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How many times have we heard that statement? Or how about, I just need my tea or coffee first to wake up? It’s obvious these people are not still sleeping and yet, they are not fully awake either. 

This was just one of the interesting things discussed during a recent talk I attended on Sleep and the Sleeping Child. Other things covered were what happens when we sleep, why we sometimes can’t sleep and how do we help our little ones really wake up. I’ve highlighted some little treasures I took away from the night and hope you enjoy…

1. If Mum sleeps well in the house – the rest of the family sleeps well! Why didn't someone tell my family this sooner and let me have a few more sleep ins? Research show there is a definite relationship between how Mum sleeps and how the rest of the family sleeps.
 

2. We basically live in two worlds; a sensory and conscious world which is wakefulness and the other world we call sleep which is when we lose this consciousness. Depending on beliefs, there are many changes that happen during our sleep on a physical, mental, emotional, energetic and spiritual level so when we wake up are we the same person as the one that went to sleep?
 

3. For babies, sleep equals growth and so the popular phrase “you grew overnight” is quite literally true – our babies do grow overnight.
 

4. In order for us to have a restful sleep at night, we need to have fully digested our day ie. we need to have taken all the things from the outside world like our food, our emotions and our thoughts and have processed them. Then we can fully rest.

For me, this is the one that will keep me awake at night. It’s those busy days and never ending  lists of things I haven’t done, need to do, want to do that keep running around my head in the wee hours of the morning so I definitely need to practice “digesting” the day before going to bed (see night time saying at the end).
 

5. For children, night time rituals are invaluable. Turn off the phones. Dim the lights. Keep the big stories, noises and activities for the next day and for now just let them enjoy some quieter bedtime stories, cuddles in bed and warm cups or bottles of milk.
 

For adults, night time rituals are also helpful. In particular try switching off the devices (you can do it!) and enjoying a calming herbal infusion before going to bed. I've been drinking Hampstead Tea’s Lemon Valerian for years and just the whole process of thinking about making my Lemon Valerian and putting the kettle on makes me feel tireder already. 
 

6. For children, there is no rush to bring them fully alert in the mornings and into the highly sensory world but there are ways we can help them. The process of dressing our children and putting on their external “outfit” for the day is one opportunity. Talk to the buttons. Say hello to the pants that are so excited about heading out for the day or perhaps give a little cheer on behalf of that tshirt that is finally coming out after always being left behind at the bottom of the drawer.

 

Give your children a healthy breakfast of complex carbohydrates and protein. By getting their bodies in the process of digesting food in a sense prepares them to start digesting and taking in the rest of the day. Porridge is perfect for this. Finally, doing activities that require little fingers to work like coloring, drawing and building are great ways of helping our small children become more present after a long sleep and period of rest a night.

The way we wake up in the morning can definitely impact on how the rest of the day goes and how we spend our night can impact on our sleep so like all things, everything is connected. Here’s a little saying you may like to practice at night to help close off the day otherwise, you can make up your own.

What I did today, I did well. Tomorrow I will start again. Until then I can rest.