For a child to become smarter and happier, he needs to go to bed earlier

Are you the kind of ruthless parent who picks up a child from the street, picnics and concerts to put him to bed before the summer sun sets over the horizon? Probably, people around you besiege you with questions like "Well, why don't you just let the baby walk?", "Why so early?", "Can't you just let him stay up late?" Do not pay attention and firmly answer: "No, I can not."

Why? Because going to bed early, according to scientists, has many benefits.

Putting children to bed early will be beneficial for their physical, emotional and cognitive development.

And you parents will love this schedule. Putting the little ones to bed, sitting on the couch, playing a movie and starting the evening with a glass of good wine - what could be better?

Before we move on to discussing the benefits of going to bed early, let's note this:

For some families, such a schedule is categorically unsuitable, but we will talk about it later.
It is wrong to insist on such a schedule, because every parent knows for sure what is best for his child. But you just try it! Perhaps this decision will then pay off handsomely.

Why change the schedule

So, to start with, here's a worrying fact: many babies don't get enough sleep. According to surveys conducted in the United States, about 30% of children under the age of 11 and more than half of adolescents rest less than recommended. Few listen to the experts who advise going to bed at 6-8 pm.

Studies show that the time a child is in bed is closely related to the length of sleep. But this dependence is not easy. You can't think that if a child goes to bed 20 minutes earlier, he will sleep 20 minutes more. No, babies who go to bed later tend to fall asleep longer and wake up more often in the middle of the night, and this only exacerbates the sleep deficit.

When researchers of parents put 7-11-year-olds to bed an hour earlier for five days in a row, they found that each child slept an average of 27 minutes longer.

But that is not all. The school teachers noted that the subjects were less irritable and impulsive than usual. Another study found that children aged 8-12 who went to bed an hour earlier just four days in a row had improved memory and alertness.

It also turned out that early going to bed helps to reduce aggression and build social relationships, improves the functioning of the musculoskeletal system.

Children who are well rested behave differently from those who do not sleep much.

For teens, going to bed early is also beneficial. As scientists, those who went to bed before 10:00 pm were 24% less likely to be depressed and 20% less likely to think about suicide than their night owl peers. Nobody says that only sleep influenced the worldview and self-awareness of the subjects. Lifestyle, parenting, and stress levels are important. But we must not forget about sleep.

And by the way, sleeping off on weekends is bad. A study that the longer teens slept on Saturday and Sunday, the more mistakes they made on attentiveness tests.

There is also a very interesting connection between sleep duration and proper metabolism. Scientists suggest that sleep deprived people are more likely to gain weight. Nobody knows exactly what this is about. The altered production of leptin and ghrelin, which are responsible for appetite and hunger, may be to blame.

What time should the child go to bed

How do you know when your child is best to go to bed? Unfortunately, there is no simple answer. It all depends on age, schedule and other factors. So you need to experiment and observe how the mood and well-being of the child changes.

Try laying your child 20 minutes earlier for several days. If your baby falls asleep easily, then he really needs more sleep.

In addition, while you are looking for the ideal value, make sure that your child does not play with a smartphone or watch TV before bedtime.

If your toddler wakes up very early or acts as if he secretly ate everything in the sugar bowl, do not take this as a sign that you need to go to bed later. When sleep is not enough, the body begins to produce cortisol and adrenaline. Because of this, the child cannot fall asleep normally, sleeps poorly and little. It turns out that you need to pack earlier, not later.

How to implement your plan? This all sounds great until it comes down to implementation. Some are fortunate enough to have a flexible schedule and the ability to adjust to a child's new schedule. What should the rest of us do? They should try to lay the baby at least 20 minutes earlier. Even such a small step will give impressive results.

The company also has negative sides. At first, all your friends, and possibly your family, will think you are crazy. You will be told that you are being too hard on children and that you are wasting your personal time.

You must be on the defensive: the fact that few people put their children to bed early should not limit you. After all, not everyone has read this article. And if they did, they would know how useful it is for a child to fall asleep early.