Sleeping is one of the key pillars of health, along with diet and stress levels. It is extremely important to maintain adequate levels of sleep in order to prevent lack of productivity, increased stress levels, depression, and other negative side effects. Some of these factors can, in turn, lead to serious illnesses. As a result, as a parent, you’ll want to ensure that both you and your children are getting enough sleep. This should help maximize both you and your children’s health, as well as ensuring that you are a focused, determined, and energized parent.

However, synchronizing sleep patterns within the household can be difficult due to different age groups requiring different amounts of sleep. The modern age of social media may also keep you and your children up at night. It is not impossible, though, and you are likely to reap more rewards than the effort you’re putting in. Here are some top tips to help you and your family get the sleep you need:

1. Know that your diet can affect your sleep: While most people know that having caffeine in the hours preceding your sleep probably isn’t the best of ideas, there is also a wide range of foods and drinks that can promote and hamper your sleep. Foods with high melatonin and serotonin levels can help you sleep, so be sure to research such foods and include them in your diet. Eating a lot of fruit, nuts, and oats is also said to help your sleep. Eating before bed probably isn’t the best idea either, as your body requires time to digest.
2. Cut down on social media and technology usage: Setting strict bedtime hours isn’t going to do much if you leave your children alone in their rooms with access to their smartphones and social media accounts. Heck, they could be staying up all night for all you know. Despite scientific studies now saying that lack of sleep is more harmful to children than social media usage, both can go hand in hand. Social media can be distracting and addictive, and it can really affect one’s sleep. In addition to this, it is a good idea to avoid using technology often for at least an hour before you go to sleep.
3. A bedtime routine: It is a good idea to create a bedtime atmosphere in the house before going to sleep. This will help calm down your mind and ensure that you are in the perfect, relaxed mental state to be going to sleep. A perfect way to do this is by serving a nice warm cup of milk and honey to your children. While this may not have scientific benefits to your sleep, they will begin to psychologically associate warm milk with sleep, leading their minds to slowly shut down. You might decide to do another bedtime routine, such as reading aloud to your children, or a cup of chamomile tea.
4. Be a role model for your children: This means that the strict sleeping rules that you set for your children should be applied to you as well. Or at least it should appear that way. This will ensure that your children feel as though the rules are fair and that they are not being singled out. This will also emphasize the fact that you believe in the importance of sleep. You should also set a good example regarding technology usage. 65% of children whose parents have an electronic device in their bedroom also have at least one device in theirs.
5. Sleep nearby your children: Instead of making your children sleep on another floor in the house, try to make sure that they are in a room close to your room. This means that if they need you throughout the night, you will only be a small shout away. It will also give your children added comfort throughout the night that may help them sleep better.

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