The holidays are often a jam-packed time where activities and events abound alongside quality time spent with your friends and family. However, this doesn’t mean that your sleep has to suffer. In fact, even when the season may seem hectic, there are ways to find calm amidst the chaos, allowing you to enjoy the holidays even more.
By creating rituals for the holiday season that focus on higher-quality sleep, you and your family will be well-rested and ready to tackle each holiday activity on your bucket list.
How The Holidays Affect Your Sleep
Even if your family has a set routine for the rest of the year, it can be thrown into disarray when the holidays approach.
Being on vacation from school, having fewer daylight hours, doing late-night activities, and traveling can all throw a wrench in the carefully curated nighttime routine you had in place or cause even greater disarray to a bedtime routine that was already struggling. The holidays can also be stressful and, for some people, depressing.
All of these factors can influence your ability to sleep, but there are ways to combat them so that you can still enjoy the holidays instead of needing a holiday from the holidays.
Creating Holiday Rituals to Destress and Rest
While you may want to fill your holidays with as many memory-making activities as possible, it is equally important to have rituals in place that help you feel calm and rested for the season. The following habits can be implemented before bed to create holiday sleep traditions:
Create a Sleep Schedule
This one can be challenging to adhere to, given the activities that are bound to happen, but the key here is to follow this sleep schedule when you’re able and quickly get back on track after a night where you can’t.
Most adults need 7-9 hours of sleep, and children and teens need between 8-11 hours of sleep. Having set times to go to bed and wake up ensures that you and your family are able to meet these goals. If you can, try to schedule your outings and holiday activities around these hours, and if an event has a set time, have fun at the event, but then the next night, work to get right back on track.
Maintain Healthy Habits
The holidays may bring along a desire to spend lazy days on the couch, but this can make it hard to fall asleep at night. In fact, research has shown that regular exercise can help you fall asleep more easily and get a higher quality of sleep. So, even if you long for a lazy day, try to fit some activity into it, even if it’s just a walk around the neighborhood. This will help your body stay on its routine and prevent the dreaded burst of energy the moment you try to go to bed because you were too inactive during the day.
During the holiday season, it’s also important to avoid overindulging in sweets. Cookies, cakes, and pies are often prominent during the holidays, but it’s possible to enjoy them without overdoing them—a habit that can impede your sleep. To maintain good sleep, avoid eating too many sweets, especially too close to bedtime, since the sugar may give you a burst of energy that can make it hard to fall asleep.
Share Gratitude
The holidays are a time spent with friends and family, so why not strengthen these bonds by sharing your gratitude each night? Whether you choose to make it a family event where everyone shares something they’re grateful for each night or a solo endeavor where you pull out your journal and write down your gratitude, reflecting on what you’re thankful for is a great way to end your day on a positive note, helping to improve your mental health and relax as you focus on what you’re lucky to have, instead of what you wish for.
Play Holiday Music
Holiday music brings along nostalgia and joy for the time that it represents, making it a great addition to your nighttime routine during the holiday season. Whether you choose to play holiday music while playing a game as a family or while you’re brushing your teeth and preparing for bed, listening to music before bed can help calm your mind and get you into the right headspace for sleep, all with a festive cheer.
Try Screen-Free Activities Before Bed
While you may want to spend your time before bed watching a holiday movie, to preserve your sleep, leave some time before the end of the movie and when you and your children plan to go to bed. TVs and other electronic devices give off blue light, which can suppress melatonin and make it hard to fall asleep.
Instead, after watching the movie, spend some time talking about your favorite parts of it or engage in a different sort of unplugged activity, such as a puzzle, board game, or reading. As an extra boost of holiday cheer, tailor these activities to the season.
Add Some Candlelight
As the amount of daylight you see lessens, why not use candles to fill the evening hours before bed? Not only can candlelight be calming, especially when the candle itself has a soothing scent, but it is also dimmer than standard indoor lighting, which can be bright enough to throw off your circadian rhythm.
Whether you choose to add some candles to your dinner or opt to take a bath by candlelight, the flickering light can be calming and a great addition to your holiday sleep routine. Sitting in front of a fire’s flickering flame, as well, is a great way to get cozy.
Sleep Soundly This Holiday Season
The holidays are a joyous time, but they can also be stressful. With numerous events to attend and the added stress of everyone’s schedule being thrown off, it can be difficult to relax and get enough rest each night. The sleeplessness can then taint your mood during the day, turning a joyful season into one that’s full of tension and poor moods.
By adopting a holiday sleep ritual, you can infuse your time before bed with the best habits for celebrating the season while maintaining good sleep hygiene. In the end, you’ll wake each day well-rested and ready to form more holiday memories.
