You’re a parent. You’re exhausted. Running on empty. Wrecked. Knackered. Wiped. ALL of the above. Okay, it’s tiring, we get it, but before the mummy mafia attack us for moaning about the tough parts, we don’t regret having kids for one single second.
To put it in simple terms, the positives far outweigh the negatives. But that’s not to say the negatives don’t wreck our heads, leave us feeling hollow, old and well, at times, just no fun at all.
The stress of sleep deprivation and the demanding nature of being a parent can have a huge impact on our bodies – and not just on our mental health and tolerance levels, but our health too. And while it’s easy for us to tell you to try and get a nap or more sleep, often, it’s actually the quality of the sleep you get or the fact that you’re so stressed-out, you can’t even get to sleep without tossing and turning for hours.
We hear you. We’ve been there. Take the team at HerFamily.ie, our conversations are mainly about bad sleep, lack-of-sleep and methods of getting to sleep, and that’s just for us, not our offspring. So, in an effort to help all you stressed-out parents out there, and yes, us too, we’ve done a little sleepy-time research to remind us all of the little tips that make a big difference.
1. Relax
Not so easy, right? You have school runs in the morning, those forms you forgot to fill out, and a 9am meeting with your boss, and the knowledge you might be woken three times before that. But research says it’s all in the art of winding down. Something you do with your own kids, right? So take a piece of your own advice: dim the lights, take a bath or shower, read a non-parent-related book, do some yoga in your bedroom, listen to some soothing tunes or listen to one of these HerFamily.ie tried and tested mindfulness techniques before you drift off (and you will).
2. Avoid caffeine after lunchtime
Did you know caffeine can remain in your body up to fourteen hours after you drink it? Even though the effects of caffeine will differ from one person to another, and you might just have that one cup at 9am, eliminating it may vastly improve your sleep. Try out the alternatives, you may think you’re not an herbal tea drinker, but there are so many flavours on the market now, there’s bound to be one you like. Failing that, pimp up your water, follow our guide here.
3. Turn the lights off half an hour earlier than usual
Sounds simplistic, right? But try it for a week and notice the difference. We all know that golden hour at night is precious; the kids are asleep, and you’ve got a teeny window for yourself. But staying up late, being up in the middle of the night with a baby or toddler, then having to get up early starts a cycle that leads to burn-out. Our working mum expert @officemum knows all about it, read her experiences here. Just don’t repeat them.
4. Make dinnertime a sleep meal
Eat sleepy foods. It actually works. Tryptophan, magnesium and melatonin help the body rest. You’ll get them via roasted pumpkin seeds, just sprinkle them over salads, meat, fish or vegetables, and mix it with a dish of quinoa along with some sautéed greens. Oats are rich in melatonin, which relaxes the body and helps you fall asleep, so a bowl of porridge before bed or some oat cakes are a good idea. Top the oat cakes in hummus as chick peas are rich in tryptophan. Almonds are an easy evening snack and contain tryptophan and magnesium, which both help to naturally reduce muscle and nerve function while also steadying your heart rhythm.
5. Try this ultimate get-to-sleep breathing technique (the HerFamily team cannot live without it now)
Developed by mindful breathing expert Dr Andrew Weil, the sequence is widely recognised as “a natural tranquiliser for the nervous system.” The 4-7-8 breathing technique works like this: Breathe in for four seconds, hold for seven seconds and exhale for eight seconds. Repeat the breaths, and you can actually feel it working as your heart rate slows and an intense feeling of calm washes over you.
Happy sleeping y’all.
