While some people are able to fall asleep the instant their head touches their pillow, many others have difficulty relaxing at the end of a hard day. This holds true regardless of the person’s age – children, teenagers, adults, and seniors all occasionally experience sleeping issues. The good thing is that the cause is generally easy to fix. By adjusting your or your family’s nightly schedule in the hours leading up to bedtime, you can help encourage deep, restful sleep for your whole family. Here are some easy ways people of all ages can start to sleep better every day.
Create a Relaxing Environment
If a member of your family has been having trouble sleeping even though they follow a regular schedule, their environment may be at fault. It is important to put away electronic devices an hour or two before bed to allow your mind to rest. Bedrooms should be cool, dark, and quiet, and each person’s mattress should be comfortable. If your mattress or one of your family members’ mattresses is an inadequate size or firmness, it may be inhibiting sleep. Pick a mattress to suit your sleeping style, or that of your family member. One of the most popular sizes of mattress in the world is the queen size. This means that not only will there be more options for you to choose from, but it will also be more likely that you can find a high quality mattress at a lower price point. Be sure to also take a look at your and your family members’ bedding. For example, comforters that are too thin or too thick, aren’t washed regularly, or scratch or itch skin should be upgraded to a more comfortable version.
Make Sure Each Person is Getting Enough Sleep
The first thing you should do is make sure that each member of your family is getting however much sleep they need to function properly the next day. Keep in mind that people of different ages require different amounts of sleep, and that people’s body clocks tend to change over the years. For instance, preschoolers require between ten and thirteen hours of sleep per night, teenagers need between eight and ten hours, and most adults need between seven to nine hours. The rule of thumb is that the amount of sleep people require decreases as they grow up, then levels off throughout adulthood. Seniors generally require the least sleep. Remember that this is not a catch-all rule for every person, nor is there an ideal bedtime for every person of a certain age – ideal bedtimes are determined by each person’s individual rhythms. While children tend to fall asleep earlier in the night, teenagers are generally primed to stay up and sleep later. Due to the relatively small amount of sleep they require, seniors often wake up the earliest of all. This means that when you are determining when each person in your family should go to bed, take into account their needs.
Maintain Your Sleep Schedule Every Day
The most important thing you can do once you’ve created a soothing sleeping environment and found the perfect time for your family members to go to sleep is to maintain that schedule. Even if you don’t have to wake up at a certain time on the weekends, experts advise that you maintain your normal sleeping habits as often as possible. Skewing it by several hours will wreak havoc with your body’s rhythms and cause you to be extremely groggy on Monday morning. A regular bedtime will also help make your body’s processes more regular and predictable in general, making it easier to plan mealtimes. Plus, if your body expects to go to sleep at a certain time, it will be much easier for you to fall asleep and stay asleep throughout the night.
One of the best things you and your family members can do for your health is to get enough sleep each night. Getting to sleep doesn’t have to be an issue if you figure out the proper amount of sleep each family member requires based on their age and body clocks. Then, you can focus on improving the quality of their sleep by making their environment more relaxing, upgrading their mattresses, and helping them maintain a set schedule.