This month’s entry continues exploring some ways of helping children drop off to sleep, with assistance from natural sensory aids and soothing dialogue.
Sight
All lights should be off. If a child is afraid of the dark, however, a low-powered night-light can be used.
Remember light stimulates mental and bodily activity: the body requires darkness to achieve deep sleep. Darkness encourages sleep.
Electronic devices give off blue light, which interrupts the production of natural sleep hormones: turn off such devices at least 30 minutes before bedtime. You may wish to tape over led displays too if items are charging, etc. Better still, unplug them.
The child’s bedroom should be dark. This enables the muscles at the side of the eye to relax fully. Check curtains and blinds to make sure that no light is getting in (if curtains are thin consider purchasing ‘blackout’ liners, which can be detachable).
Exercises
Some of the following sensory exercises are taken from the booklet accompanying Mozart’s Sleepy time Music Box by Gerald Joe Markoe – a CD of musical box-type melodies suitable for encouraging sleep – recommended! Other ideas are my own.
For ‘child’ in this context read also ‘adolescent’. Adults may find the exercises helpful too.
Exercise 1
The child closes their eyes as tightly as possible, then relaxes them little by little, deeper and deeper. Repeat.
Exercise 2
The child rubs their palms together rapidly until the palms become warm, then places their warm palms over their eyes for a few minutes. This relaxes the eyes and mind.
Variant: place a warm soft ‘hop pillow’ (these are sometimes used in yoga) over the eyes and allow the weight to rest comfortably on the eyes. Breathe as normal, allowing your eyes to relax.
Exercise 3
Encourage your child to practice ‘seeing’ with his/her eyes closed and to visualise and create whatever film they want to make in their own mind.
Exercise 4
Sit with your child. Ask him/her to ‘see‘ with their eyes closed: a giraffe, a camel, a bicycle, carrot, cat, sunset, seashore, etc. Make up anything that may be of interest to your child (though avoid highly stimulating ideas such as dinosaurs/tigers, etc).
An alternative to darkness is a blue bulb of 10 watts or less – just enough to bathe the room in faint blue light.
Luminous/glow-in-the-dark stickers pasted on the ceiling appeal to many children. These convey the notion of sleeping under a starry sky. Stickers can be placed in imaginative shapes or used to mark out names/initials. Good-quality stickers will glow for several minutes once the light is turned out. This helps invite sleep.
Hearing
Ambient/soft music. Mozart’s Sleepy time Music Box, soft classical music (especially harp, flute), New Age relaxation sounds of countryside, and recordings of whale or dolphin sounds may help induce sleep. Likewise, sounds of surf, crickets, rain, etc. When choosing classical music for this purpose ensure it doesn’t switch from slow and soft to fast and loud!
When choosing a recording, especially one with speech – whether for relaxation, meditation or affirmation purposes – be aware that the accent, pitch and voice tone that sound pleasing to one child may be completing off-putting to others.
Best to let them choose: many stores and outlets (including some garden centres) have a stock of such CDs. Have a ‘try-before-you-buy’ policy: you will also find music samples online.
Six-year-old Rebecca sleeps soundly after ‘dropping off’ to her favourite CD: Dolphin Music for the Inner Child (by Mike Rowland and Christa Michel), which combines silver flute with tinkly piano and watery dolphin sounds.
An aquarium with fish and a gurgling filter will give your child the soothing sound of water at night and fish to look at during the day.
The room should be absolutely quiet. It is worthwhile putting soundproof tiles on the ceiling and sealing all places where noise gets through.
If it’s impossible to eliminate all noise from the room (chimneys etc), use music and/or environmental sounds to soothe and mask.
Smell and breathing
Ensure that the breathing passages are clear so the child can breathe naturally through the nose. Breathing through the mouth makes the throat dry and uncomfortable.
Many people have an allergy to or intolerance of wheat and don’t know it. The symptoms are experienced after eating when the nasal passages close fully or partially. If your child has chronic trouble breathing though the nose, try eliminating all wheat from the diet for a few days to see if the nasal passages open.
In winter if the child’s room is centrally heated, an inexpensive hanging radiator or eco-humidifier will restore balance to the air, keeping it comfortable to breathe.
In sleep breathing is slow and deep with the belly rising and falling. Try to help the child breathe this way and sleep will follow.
Natural aromas in the form of aromatic oils or packs of dried plants – sage, dried flowers, pine needles etc – are also good. Your child may like oil fragrances: a few drops of lavender or eucalyptus oil added to water in a burner (safely powered by ‘tea’ light candles, available from health stores, aromatherapy stockists) are soothing for many. Some find that burning grapefruit, lemon or geranium oil is mood lifting and aids concentration. This could be useful when doing homework or revising for exams.
Lavender oil is relaxing and doesn’t stain: a few drops placed on a pillow, pyjamas or added to bath water may help your child drop off.
Tobacco smoke
If anyone in your house smokes your child will absorb nicotine through the air. Nicotine is a powerful stimulant to a child and will prevent sleep.
Electronic ‘E’ cigarettes are reportedly less polluting as they do not release second-hand smoke chemicals into the atmosphere. However, they still generate nicotine gas through the vaporising of liquid nicotine.
One way of mitigating nicotine’s effects is by purchasing an ioniser for the child’s bedroom. Measure the room dimensions first so that your purchase is one of sufficient power to do the job effectively. Consider buying additional ionisers too in order to neutralise the air in common parts of the house: kitchen, living room. Ionisers are often helpful for children with breathing allergies such as asthma.
Yoga
There are several yoga books for children that have exercises that help breathing and relaxation. Violet Oaklander, author of Windows to our Children, recommends the following exercise, taken from Gay Hendricks & Russell Wills’ The Centering Book, published by Prentice–Hall (1975):
“Let’s close our eyes. Now tense every muscle in your body at the same time. Legs, arms, jaws, fists, face, shoulders and stomach. Hold them tightly. Now relax and feel the tension pour out of your body. Let all the tension flow out of your body and your mind… replacing the tension with calm, peaceful energy… letting each breath you take bring calmness and relaxation into your body…” (pp 16–47)
More ideas follow in next month’s blog on sleep!
