How to Get a Goodnight’s Sleep

By Antonia Llull View Bio

Antonia Llull

Antonia, better known as Tonina, has been a practicing occupational therapist for over 20 years, specializing in Pediatrics. In her career’s journey, she has founded/directed a multidisciplinary rehab clinic and a private school for students with special needs (in Orlando, FL) and has been part of the rehab medicine management team at a top rated hospital in Manhattan. Tonina continues to work with children and families while building educational programming for parents and professionals. Founding MPowerMe and mpowermetoys.com culminates her clinical experiences and her love for discovering, sharing, and collaborating with her community to foster growth and creativity in children of all ages and skill levels. She strives to share about the use of toys, games, gadgets, literature, and sensory accessories to build children’s social skills, physical performance, ability to respond adaptively to their environment, and foster their continued journey as life-long learners.

Glorious Sleep! Most of us long for the days we don’t have to set the alarm clock. Sleep is critical for growth, healing, bolstering the immune system, sustaining good concentration levels, memory, emotional control, preventing impulsivity and clumsiness, anxiety and stress reduction. Studies even show adequate sleep helps to promote a healthy weight. Researchers have found that as little as 1 hour less sleep, over just 4 days, greatly impacts children’s level of well-being and functional performance.

During the day we need light and at night we need darkness to keep our biological timekeeper in sync with our need to work and play during the day and to sleep at night (circadian rhythm). Light, any type of light, decreases the release of melatonin, the hormone that promotes sleep. Exposure to natural light (and even artificial light) during the day promotes good sleep. Melatonin levels will stay low during the day and then the body will start to secrete more melatonin once it becomes dark.

"Any light at night will alter the circadian rhythm and negatively impacts sleep. Harvard’s study found that blue light is the most disruptive for sleep. They recommend using dim red light, at night when needed, because it was found to be the least disruptive to our biological timekeeper."

For the purposes of improving sleep they also recommend spending as much time as possible, in bright light during the day and refraining from bright screens 2-3 hours before bedtime.

• During the day, play and complete leisure activities in bright natural light and/or in well-lit inside areas.

• When playing with handheld devices or computer games, where blue light frequency glasses to limit the impact of blue light on your child’s sleep cycle.

• Establish a bedtime routine that includes turning off electronics 2 hours before bedtime.

• Two hours before bed time, play games that can be completed in dimmer light intensities – for example, building a fort or using pop up tents for story telling time with flashlight using red bulbs; play charades with dim red light projector to illuminate the room, various versions of pin the tail on the donkey, auditory sound puzzles or games requiring children to identify sounds, and feeling-touch games that require your child to feel an item and guess what it is through touch.

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• 8 Bedtime Tips for the Best Zzzzz’s

  1. Turning off electronics at least 2 hour(s) before bedtime
  2. Engage in activities that have been observed to relax your child – a warm bath, rocking in a “glider rocker”, dimming the lights, story time, etc.
  3. Use a sleeping bag (on top of the bed) gives the child a smaller space providing more proprioceptive-tactile input that may be comforting.
  4. Use bed frames, a low bed frame or place the mattress directly on the floor which can help if the child is gravitationally insecure and has a fear of heights or falling.
  5. Use music – on a timer - as ambient noise as part of a bedtime routine
  6. For a typically anxious child, talk about the day, prepare for any changes in routine for the next day, share one or two positive accomplishments of the day.
  7. Use dim red night lights and/or light projectors
  8. Use room darkening or sound minimizing shades if he/she tends to wake up too early or if it is still light out when they go to bed.