The Night Before Christmas:
By: Dr. Michael A. Grandner
Tags: Insomnia, Sleep, Kids, Christmas

7 Ideas for Getting Your Kids (And Yourself) Sleep on Christmas Eve

by Michael A. Grandner PhD MTR

https://michaelgrandner.com

As the poem goes, “’Twas the night before Christmas and, all through the house, not a creature was stirring…” But often that’s not the case.

Christmas morning is a time loaded with anticipation and that often means restless sleep the night before. And this is a problem because on Christmas Day — along with the joy of gifts — there are often numerous sources of stress. Whether it’s because of frustrating family members, cranky kids, or batteries not included, all of these issues might be made worse after a night of terrible sleep.

For these reasons, consider these suggestions for optimizing Christmas Eve sleep and Christmas Day stress.

1. Wake up early on Christmas Eve

Don’t sleep in on the morning of Christmas Eve! Once our body wakes up, we start building up “hunger” for sleep that builds across the day. The later you wake up, the less “hunger” for sleep you will have at bedtime. If you know you’re already more likely to have a tough time falling asleep, getting an early start to the day will help your body be ready for sleep when you want it to be.

2. Get plenty of light and activity during the day

Getting yourself (and the kids!) plenty of physical activity will help set them up for optimal sleep at night. Try to get some outside time if the weather permits — natural sunlight (especially in the earlier part of the day) can help energize you and help your circadian rhythms stay in sync with the day. Not only will the activity tire everyone out a little, but it will help prepare the body for sleep at night. Often, when we lounge around indoors all day, it can sometimes be harder to send a “night” signal when it is bedtime since there was no strong “day” signal to balance it out.

3. Start winding down with relaxing activities in the evening

After dinnertime but before bedtime, try to plan more relaxing activities in anticipation of a big day tomorrow. Now is a great time for a Christmas family movie or reading or just sitting around and chatting. You should consider putting handheld screens to bed earlier than usual, to allow for plenty of wind-down time.

Dim the lights and relax in the evening to help clear your mind and allow your body to let go of the day. Plan ahead for being a little more wound up than usual, which may require more settling in than a typical night.

Some people open presents on Christmas Eve. Opening one or multiple presents may be a great way to diffuse the tension, but it can be frustrating to open a present that you don’t get to enjoy. Avoid opening anything that would be too exciting or activating.

Giving kids (or yourself) a warm bath at night may also help relax the body and mind, and help body temperature drop to prepare you for sleep.

4. Consider sleep-friendly foods during the day and in the evening

During the day, avoid pushing too many sugary foods — even though with all the holiday treats it may be very tempting. Make sure that everyone (adults and kids) eat balanced meals so that when nighttime comes, everyone can fall asleep in comfort.

Adults should take care to avoid any stimulants like coffee in the afternoon and excessive alcohol in the evening. Both of these can disrupt sleep.

Kids may consider a warm drink like hot chocolate (especially if made with warm milk) — though chocolate contains caffeine and hot cocoa has a bit of sugar, it’s likely not enough to cause a huge problem on its own.

5. Stick to the usual bedtime routine

It is important to stick to the usual bedtime routine as much as possible. Any additions should occur before the start of the routine. If you are leaving out milk and cookies, saying extra prayers, reading extra stories, or talking about what will happen tomorrow, all that should occur before the bedtime routine starts.

Once the routine starts, it should be as familiar as possible. This is because a bedtime routine (especially for kids) is an important part of the wind-down process and a disruption can make it harder to fall asleep.

6. Have a plan for presents, and make sure everyone knows what it is

Have the plan for Christmas morning clearly communicated multiple times during the day. Every family has its own traditions, but it may be a good idea to set those traditions around healthy habits that will make the day go smoother. This will help reduce anticipation and uncertainty.

If the morning plan includes provisions for healthy sleep, then it may actually encourage better sleep that night. For example, if kids know that presents don’t get opened right away, they will be less inclined to wake up as early as possible.

Families may have traditions around kids waking in the middle of the night to, as the song says, “see if reindeer really know how to fly.” Some families may want to enforce a “stay in bed” rule, whereas others may prefer a more flexible approach. Either should be fine as long as it is communicated ahead of time.

7. Begin the morning right, and have a plan for the day in place

Kids will often wake up extra early on Christmas morning. Many adults do too! This is OK and part of the magic of happy anticipation. They should be allowed to wake as early as they need to.

In fact, if you are awake and are unable to get back to sleep, you might as well get up. This is an underlying principle to “stimulus control” and developing healthy sleep habits in general. For this reason, getting up whenever sleep is finished should be perfectly permissible.

However, things may go much smoother if this was accompanied by the rule that everyone can wake up whenever their body naturally wants them to. This means that anyone who wakes early is not allowed to wake anyone else. Only when everyone wakes on their own will Christmas morning begin.

This way, everyone gets the rest they need! Another consideration is to plan out meals so that the distractions of gift-giving and other activities don’t leave kids (and adults) cranky and out-of-sorts. Perhaps delaying most of the presents until after a healthy breakfast will help the day go smoother.

Christmas Day can be a fun and joyous time, but it can also be stressful. By getting good sleep, you can help your mind and body be prepared for the day. It can help you (and your kids!) be more emotionally balanced and centered, more patient, and more able to enjoy the day. By starting out Christmas Eve bright and early, you set yourself up for good sleep later. This is helped by getting plenty of light and activity during the day, you set up everyone’s body for better sleep at night. At the end of the day, winding down early will give everyone time to settle down and get ready to let go of the day. This is helped by healthy meals during the day and avoiding excess sugar and caffeine. Then, when getting ready for bed, they should stick to the usual bedtime routine. When the morning comes, there should be a plan in place that was clearly communicated the day before. Ideally, Christmas morning should start when everyone wakes up on their own, so that everyone is rested (at least as much as they can be).

Dr. Michael Grandner is a licensed clinical psychologist, board-certified in Behavioral Sleep Medicine. He is the Director of the Sleep and Health Research Program at the University of Arizona and Director of the Behavioral Sleep Medicine Program at the Banner-University Medical Center in Tucson. Dr. Grandner is Associate Professor of Psychiatry, Psychology, Medicine, Nutritional Sciences, and Clinical Translational Science at the University of Arizona. He is an internationally-recognized expert in sleep health, has over 175 academic publications, and frequently consults with health, technology, athletics, and nutritional companies and organizations regarding sleep, health, and performance. Read more about him at https://michaelgrandner.com.