Published on 12, July, 2020
Hi, does anyone's preteen struggle going to sleep?
My daughter is nearly 12 and has always had a good bedtime routine but tells me she struggles to go to sleep. She is normally in bed at 9pm, 10 at the latest but she will often say she isn't tired and tells me she struggles to go to sleep for another hour or two.
I think 9-10 is a good bedtime. She does seem to function okay but I do notice some days she yawns quite a bit.
Looking back when she was much younger, she would never seem tired or fall asleep early. She also tells me that nothing is playing on her mind to worry her which would keep her awake.
Does anyone have any suggestions or is dealing with similar sleep issues please.
Thanks
I would suggest to buy her a halogen lamp for her bedroom and dark curtains + an eye mask if you don't already have these. The consequence of LEDs and blue light is far more severe than we even know. it's not just having a major effect on our circadian rhythm which impacts our sleep cycles. Unfortunately it's also blocking out the infrared light from our universe, changing ecology (as bugs and animals rely on infrared of night, not to mention LEDs are just greenwashing - they deplete far more rare earth.
in 2010, Bell Electric made a halogen that is the same energy rating as many LEDs you can buy now. There's loads of reasons why filament bulbs had been previously made cheap and ineffective, but the corporate rule of "Planned Obsolescence" which was legally allowed had a lot to do with it.
There's quite a bit of testing on the effect it's having on humans, but not enough for governments to make energy cheap (being renewable) and bulbs human-safe. Blue blocking lenses can help, but light hits the eye from what they don't cover and even a small amount in the evening sends signals to the brain it's time to wake up.
Have a look at lightaware.org if you're interested. For those of us with sensitivity, halogens are not illegal.
diet is something that needs to be looked into... alot of drinks and food contain caffeine or other substances that are supposed to energise or keep you awake..... dont get me started on monster energy drink, if she drank that she wont be getting sleep for 2 or 3 days properly loli find some really good cardio excercise would likely send her to sleep. get her a excercise bike and have her bomb it before bed and sweat out and then she will sleep fine.
Get a little routine going. A warm bath or hot milky drink perhaps, a quiet activity, and then some reading before actually getting into bed. Laying there awake isn’t helpful. Lavender pillow spray might help, as well as a blackout mask and earplugs.
Unwind with doing a word search book, listen to calming music and read a non fiction book.