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Getting the doctor’s recommended eight hours of sleep is hard for any mom, but it can be especially challenging when your home sanctuary is also your office. Work-at-home moms face a unique set of challenges, but getting enough sleep shouldn’t be one of them. Here’s how busy moms can get more rest at home.
Establish a Bedtime for Everyone
Bedtimes aren’t just for kids. Consider establishing a sleep schedule that your entire family can follow. It may be hard to get older kids or even your spouse on board, but once everyone is one the same page and the sleep schedule becomes a routine, you may find yourself waking more rested than before.
Mothers with babies or young kids will find that establishing a bedtime routine will help everyone sleep well. Sleep for Kids and The National Sleep Foundation recommend that infants get 10 to 18 hours of sleep, babies should get 14 to 15 hours and toddlers should get 12 to 14 hours each night.
Bedtime rituals like taking a bath, putting on pajamas, brushing teeth and reading a story can help your child get ready for bedtime. Once your child is ready for sleep, take that time to relax from your day as well. Follow this routine every day and avoid evening temper tantrums and sleepless nights.
Create a Sleep Environment that Promotes Rest
Unlike the restrictions of a traditional office, moms who work from home can use many different areas of their house as workspaces. From the patio to the kitchen table, each space in the home can be a place for work. However, your work shouldn’t come into the bedroom. If you’re up late checking emails or have your personal computer in your bedroom, rethink your current setup and eliminate all electronics from your bedroom. This way you’ll be able to go to sleep at night without any distractions.
Other additions like light-blocking shades can help you get a more restful sleep. Light-blocking window shades work best when paired with drapes. When used together, the two styles can totally eliminate outside light. Just be sure to pull your shades open when you wake up to soak in the morning light and get your day started off right.
Cut the Caffeine
If you reach for a cup of coffee or an energy drink to rejuvenate or inspire creativity during the afternoon hours, stop. You don’t have to give up your favorite latte or soda, but studies have shown that the consumption of caffeine late in the day can keep you awake at night.
Researchers at the Sleep Disorder and Research Center at Henry Ford Hospital in Michigan and the Wayne State College of Medicine found that people who drink caffeine six hours before bedtime experience a disruption in sleep patterns, which includes sleep quality and quantity.
If you’re having trouble sleeping and think it may be caused by caffeine, Psychology Today recommends cutting off the caffeine consumption after 2 p.m. and limiting caffeinated beverages in the mornings.
What helps you sleep?
Krystle Cook – the creator of Home Jobs by MOM – put her psychology degree on a shelf and dived into a pile of diapers and dishes instead. She is a wife and mother to two rambunctious boys, sweating it out in her Texas hometown. She loves cooking, DIY home projects, and family fun activities.
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“Every day is another chance to get stronger, to eat better, to live healthier, and to be the best version of you.”
Hi Krystle, well I’m not a working mom, but I do work from home. I like your tips on keeping the bedroom for sleeping, not working. That is about the only room is the house my food blog has not taken over. 🙂
I try to not let work stuff get in the bedroom it does happen sometimes though. There’s more peace in there LOL.
Hi Krystle, I am a working mom and you are right. I have laptop in my bedroom and till late at night I am busy checking emails and stuff.
Everyday I decide not to use laptop at all but…
I think it is better idea to remove it from my bed room. This can be something working for me. As I will never go in any other room at that time to check emails.
Yes, electronics at bedtime are bad. When I do have them in the bedroom they just keep reminding me of stuff I have to do. I then have a bad nights sleep.