If I told you that there was something that you can do in just 30 minutes a day to make you a better parent, would you do it? That in just 30 minutes, you can become less irritable, reduce your level of parenting stress, and feel more competent as a parent.
What if I told you that that same thing would also improve your mental health, your heart health, and your emotional health? That something that takes less time than cooking dinner can reduce your risk of dying, being involved in a car accident, and receiving a workplace injury. That it lowers your risk of developing diabetes, hypertension, cancer, and obesity.
Would you commit 30 minutes a day to getting all those benefits?
It’s simple.
Go to bed 30 minutes earlier.
It matters because 40% of Australian adults regularly aren’t getting enough sleep. It matters because each child you have under the age of 18 reduces your total sleep duration. It matters because there is a bi-directional association between parental sleep quality and duration and children’s sleep quality and duration, meaning that you can potentially improve your child’s sleep (and gift them all of the benefits described above), just by getting enough sleep yourself.
I know it’s not easy. Life is busy. We need to get up early because the kids do. Or maybe it’s because we want to have a moment of peace before they get up, time to drink our tea warm, or to fit in a workout before the day starts. So we get up early.
And then we go to bed late. It’s not that we want to compromise on sleep, but the dishes need to get done, and the laundry needs to be folded. And sometimes it’s just nice to watch an episode of something that isn’t Paw Patrol or Fireman Sam.
I know that going to bed can feel like wasted time. Another 8 hours a day to get everything done would eliminate the to-do list, but seeing as that’s not possible we steal just an extra 30 minutes or an hour here and there.
Yet sleep isn’t a waste of time. There literally isn’t anything else you can do in that span of time that would yield all of the same physical, emotional, and cognitive benefits.
Emily Oster of ParentData wrote: “Because sleep feels passive, it can be very easy to think of it as almost a luxury, perhaps the obvious place to cut if you’re pressed for time. As an adult, that’s often my instinct. That’s not correct. Sleep is crucial for our physical and mental health and functioning.”
So please, just go to bed.
If you’re still not sold on the value of getting enough sleep, can I ask you to do an experiment? For just one week (just one!), focus on your sleep. Go to bed at about the same time every night and wake up at about the same time every morning. Make sure those two set times are about 8 hours apart.
If you want to boost the value of the experiment, clean up your sleep hygiene. Dim the lights in the lead up to bed. Turn off your phone. Make your room as dark as possible while you sleep. Don’t eat anything big in the few hours before bed. Expose yourself to natural light as soon as possible when you wake up.
Just see if you don’t feel like a happier person by the end of the week. You’ll have more energy and patience for your kids. I promise.
I can personally attest to the value of getting enough sleep. I’m currently in training for a half-marathon, and part of that training involves long runs once or twice a week. With a husband who has a long commute to get to work and 3 young kids, I occasionally wake up very early to get my run in. Last week I had a planned early start, but unfortunately for me, my toddler had a restless night. As a result, my early start started 90 minutes earlier than planned. By 5pm I was exhausted, yet I still had dinner and bedtime to get through. My capacity to be a calm, patient, fun parent was gone. I simply couldn’t be the parent I wanted to be, just because I hadn’t had enough sleep.
No TV show, no TikTok video, no book, and no amount of housework is more important than getting enough sleep.
So please, just go to bed.
I'd love to hear your thoughts! Are you getting enough sleep?
Oh, and before you go
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