The time change is coming soon, March 9th to be exact.
I had an interesting question regarding that and thought I would share it with everyone.
A parent asked if she could use the time change to her advantage and have her daughter start going to bed later to spend more time with the family in the evenings.
Here is my response.
“We all have a Circadian Rhythm or body clock. The word Circadian means approx. 24 hours. So our body goes through a series of things around the clock at certain times. We have hormone releases, temperature fluctuations etc. We also have “sleepy awake” and “alert awake” stages. That is why we really concentrate on the timing of naps and bedtime. Because when our babies nap in tune with their body clock it will allow them to fall asleep easier and gives a better quality of sleep. This Rhythm is first and foremost set by the sun and it is secondarily set by things we do during the day such as eating. So if you were to not adjust your child’s clock it would probably remain that way for a while but after a time the sun and even your daily activities (such as eating) would reset her clock on its own. It might vary slightly from what it was but it won’t stay exactly the way you would like it too. That is why we always recommend that children get lots of afternoon sun during the time change to help speed along the reset process. Children are biologically wired to need early evening sleep. Good Luck!”
As counter cultural as it is, children are biologically wired to need early evening hours of sleep. So trying to get our children to stay up later will eventually back fire on us.
Check back for more time change tips soon!
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