James Donaldson on Mental Health - Encouraging Good Sleep Habits

The basics of sleep hygiene Sleep is essential, but many of us, kids and adults alike, don’t get enough of it.

One of the best ways to get back on track is through better sleep hygiene .

This means establishing habits that promote a good night’s sleep, like setting a routine.

Routines look different at different ages.

For example, infants aren’t born with the same biological clock that keeps us asleep at night and awake during the day.

Instead infants will sleep for a few hours and then stay awake for a few hours, regardless of the time of day.

This is perfectly normal behavior for a newborn, so parents should let them stick to their natural drowsiness patterns — and try to sleep when they sleep.

To avoid having an overtired baby, parents should reinforce the natural sleep schedule by starting a soothing activity after an hour or so of an infant being awake.

Parents can also help ease infants into the sleeping patterns you want them to develop by putting them in sunny rooms during the daytime and dark rooms at night.

Eventually they’ll begin sleeping more at night and napping less and less.