It’s August 21 as I’m writing this, and I just received the back-to-school email from the New York City DOE with tips for getting ready for the first day. On one hand, I’m like, chill out, we have three more weeks, but on the other, I’m grateful for the reminder, because there's actually something we all need to be doing right now to get ready. No, it's not buying new school supplies; it’s going to sleep and waking up on time.
I hate to be the one to break up the party, but healthy sleep habits need to start now. (Not the week before school. Now!) I have so many teenagers in my practice who push back, arguing that they need these last few weeks to sleep a lot, as if sleep is money in the bank that they can withdraw later when they're running short. It isn't, and that's not how this works.
It’s a common misconception that a kid can sleep from 2 to 10 am for the rest of August and then just shift everything earlier after Labor Day. But, unfortunately, that’s not how it goes. Sure, the total hours matter, but the consistency matters almost as much. Eight hours a night is a great target for most teenagers, but it needs to be roughly the same eight hours, night after night, for many of the benefits to kick in. So kids need to start moving their sleep well in advance, easing toward something closer to the 11-to-7-ish schedule they'll actually be on in the fall.
Look, I get it. The last few weeks of summer are a hard time to be regimented about anything. Camp is over. Kids are enjoying some downtime, hanging around, and maybe fall sports tryouts are coming up, or maybe there's a family trip shoehorned in, but for the most part, a lot of us don't have much going on. Still, it helps to keep some kind of rhythm to the day. Set aside some time for physical activity, do something with friends outside of the house, and maybe even get to that summer homework you’ve been avoiding since June. And, while we’re at it, this is also a perfect moment to get screens out of bedrooms!
I'm not saying we flip a switch tomorrow and suddenly it's lights-out at 10 and up at 6. There's some wiggle room. But sleep hygiene doesn't happen overnight. You can't manufacture it the night before school starts. So start easing into the fall schedule now. It'll be a much smaller shock to the system in September.
Great opportunity to see Hadestown if you haven’t already!