Welcome back! Thanks for all your sweet comments about this series! I am loving it too! 
DAY 3: Get enough Sleep!
This is another simple health tip and yet it is often overlooked!
I now I am guilty of skipping out of my sleep for sure!
If I am busy, which is like everyday, I seem to always sacrifice my own sleep.
I am totally a late-night person and love the peace and quiet that only happens when everyone is asleep! I am going to be working on this one with you this month.
How much sleep should you get?
Well, according to the National Sleep Foundation, adults need 7-9 hours of sleep a night.
It is best to be sleeping from 10pm-2am for the best REM cycle.
While you are working on this for yourself, please make sure that your children and getting enough sleep! Even though I don’t follow the rules for myself, I am a total stickler when it comes to my kids’ sleep schedules!
I read the book, “Happy Sleep Habits, Happy Child”, and it changed my life FOREVER!
I had a hard time with my daughter’s nap and bedtime routine and I needed something new with Michael. This books made sense to me and it worked like a breeze for us. All of my kids go down between 7-8pm and sleep through the night. Before Michael turned 2 he has taking 2 naps a day and going to bed at 5:30pm and sleeping until 7am. (I have so much to say about this that it could be a post by itself.)
Anyway, back to you!
There are a ton of reasons to get your sleep including looking and feeling better (we all want that, right?), repairing your body, reducing stress, putting you in a better mood (this is extremely important as a mom, in my opinion, because nobody wants a cranky mom) it helps with your memory and controls your weight, (oh yes ladies, did you hear that? sleep helps control your weight!!).
One way thing that helps our family’s sleep pattern is to create a night routine. After dinner, we slow things down. We will play a family game, finish homework and then we read as a whole family. We will dim the lights and quiet the house down. After that, we get ready for bed and do more reading in bed. Grace will read aloud and then we will read a little more to the kids. Also, this is a great time to talk one-on-one with our kids. I find that they open up and talk to us when we are with them in bed with them and we are giving them 100% of our attention.
After we put the kids to bed, we have adult time to talk, read, go on the computer, take a bath or shower or whatever else we want. We usually don’t watch TV because we think it is a waste of time and money. Remember, we don’t have cable or the dish. Now I just need to work on being in bed by 10. I just love staying up late but then I usually pay for it the next morning, haha!
If you are having a hard time sleeping, I know a couple of people that have really benefited from taking this natural Gentle Sleep Complex.
What time do you go to bed?
What time do your kids go to bed?
Have a healthy day!
Bonnie :)
This is so true. The earlier my daughter goes to bed the less cranky she is and I am usually a stickler. Only days I might let it slide is the days when her dad is off. He works 2nd shift so when it is me and her I can get a bunch done between her bedtime at 8pm and 10pm. If he is home she wants to stay up and play and he usually wears her out running throughout the house. I would prefer her going to bed at her regular time but its hard when dad is around. Another great read...I like your series:)
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