Proper Sleeping Hours Help a Strong Start After a Holiday Break
By
Bright Eyed and Ready
Any time students have a break of a week or more off from school it is important to get them back into regular school mode by starting that process a few days before their first day back. If you can return to sleeping hours which are not more than two hours different from their regular going to bed and getting up times that will be most effective.
The body has built in waking and sleeping rhythms called Circadian rhythms. These are often referred to as the “body clock” and upsets in normal sleeping and waking times can have a very negative effect on both physical and mental performance.
If your child or teen has traveled across several time zones during the time off from school it can be particularly tricky to get back onto a normal schedule. This is most evident when experiencing jet lag.
If you can get your child back on a normal sleeping schedule from three to five days before the first day of school you will get best results. It is really helpful if at least two days before the first day back your student can wake up and go to bed within one hour of the usual school day times. If you can only get back to two hours earlier or later you will fall inside that two hour zone. The body clock can usually make that work.
You will be sending a better rested and more alert child off to school on the first day back.
