Getting good sleep is important for our mental and physical health. This is especially true for kids, who are still growing and developing. And there are a lot of things to help a child sleep. But with the spread of the Covid-19 virus, lots of parents have taken to keeping their children indoors to protect them from the virus’ spread. And I totally understand this.

But as a certified sleep consultant, this worries me for one reason. Physical activity and social gatherings are important things to help a child sleep. From this article by MedicalNewsToday, you can see that sleep latency (or the amount of time it takes your children to fall asleep once they are in bed) increases by three minutes for every hour of the day that they spend engaged in sedentary activity. So to get your children sleeping better, get them moving!

To start with, here is a list of activities or exercises for better sleep you can experiment with your child. These can either be done indoors, or if done outdoors, then in smaller sized settings.

Dancing

Tiktok is all the rage today. It is a short video app that features many dance challenges that can be learned by anyone. Let your kids go wild with those dance steps. You may even want to join them and record your own Tiktok!

Bike Rides

For those older aged babies with better locomotive skills, a bike ride lets one escape and exercise outside. Pedaling to move forward can also burn off excess energy.

Yoga

There’s even older aged baby yoga poses you can find online! Flexibility lets your baby strike poses you as a parent can't. Yoga poses and scorekeeping can calm anyone, regardless of age.

Hello Neighbor

If your child has a friend in the neighborhood, a few houses away, you and your neighbour could hide an extra key outside and tell the kids that the winner is the child who finds the key and opens the other child's front door first. Or if that doesn’t interest you, send your child on a scavenger hunt!

Wii Sports/Wii Fit

Many parents think video games and exercise are incompatible, but the Wii is different. Wii Sports and Wii Fit are two programs that promote physical exercise. Just right to keep your children’s body moving during the lockdown. Just be sure not to leave the TV screen on too close to bedtime!

It is our responsibility as parents to ensure that our children get the physical activity they require. Since the Covid-19 outbreak shows no signs of abating, this is a new norm we’ll have to learn to cope with. Be intentional about your kids’ physical activities and social engagements, and you’ll see the results in their sleep.

If you have more concerns about your baby’s sleep, don’t hesitate to let us know so we can talk about it.