Working Parents: How to Juggle Responsibilities and Protect Time for Sleep

Life is busy. Plain and simple. And often, we push ourselves to do everything for everyone except ourselves. But the one thing you simply shouldn’t compromise on is making time for sleep.

Sleep is restorative for both your body and brain. Without it, lack of cognitive function ensues, and reaction times aren’t what we need them to be. So, whether you have one child or 10, as a working parent, protecting time for sleep should be a priority.

In this guide, we’ll outline the reasons that all working parents need to protect time for sleep alongside juggling work and parental responsibilities. Plus, we’ve got some inside tips from our very own Chief Commercial and Digital Officer, Ed Preston who knows first hand the difficulties of juggling the various responsibilities that come hand in hand with being a working parent. Read on to learn more.

Why is sleep so important?

When we sleep, our bodies are still hard at work supporting everything from healthy brain function to maintaining physical health and beyond. And, unfortunately, there are some negative health implications that result from not protecting time for and prioritising good quality sleep. Regularly getting inadequate sleep over a prolonged period of time can actually raise the risks of you suffering from chronic health problems (1).

Sleep is actually key to our ability to learn and form long-term memories too. And those memories of your children – playing, baking, learning something new for the first time – are the memories we want to cherish forever. And so, if by not getting enough sleep (or enough high-quality sleep)leads to issues with concentration and an inability to preserve those treasured memories in our long-term memory banks, we’re doing ourselves a disservice as parents by not placing more importance on our sleep quality (2).

And when it comes to work, being able to retain new information is quite often key. From learning to use new systems and processes to being able to articulate our ideas effectively at work and beyond, a lot of our work-based life becomes compromised when we don’t get enough sleep too. If something as simple as getting consistent, quality sleep can help you perform better at work, we should all be prioritising our sleep (3).

How does poor sleep affect our mood?

And the negative sides to not getting enough sleep don’t stop there. In fact, the one thing you want to be as a parent is a positive influence for your children. That role model they look up to! Well, if you’re not getting enough sleep, you’re much more likely to be the grouch on the couch of your household.

Studies demonstrate that people who are lacking in sleep display an increase in their negative moods. Anger and irritability are two things that all working parents need to learn to manage effectively. After all, the last thing you want to do is take your bad mood out on your little ones! But a lack of sleep has the potential to lead to this being an inevitability (4).

So, how can we juggle our parental and working responsibilities and protect time for sleep too? Well, our Chief Commercial and Digital Officer, Ed Preston, has shared his insights. Find out more below.

How to effectively protect time for sleep as a working parent

I, like many people, have a perennially busy life! I work hard each week, as does my wife. We have a 4-year-old daughter who has far more energy than both of us, as well as friends we like to see regularly and other interests and hobbies to spend time on.

So, how can we possibly strike a balance and feel like we can do and enjoy it all? So far in the last 4 years, 6 things have become invaluable in my life:

1. Invest in your sleep

It’s been proven that our energy levels start dropping from our mid-thirties, for a range of physiological and lifestyle reasons, so good sleep is the critical fuel you need. We bought a Sealy Orwell Posturepedic last year and I’ve never slept so well. I’d personally really recommend Sealy mattresses for consistently great relaxation and sleep. We often have friends (and their kids!) to stay for the weekend too. And so, we have recently bought an Eve Hybrid Uno mattress for our guest room – everyone who stays over for a couple of nightsabsolutely loves it!

Pillows are also surprisingly important. I hadn’t previously realised the difference, but I recently purchased some iGel side sleeper deep pillows for extra comfort. And now, I wouldn’t have any other pillows!

2. Set yourself up to sleep well

A great mattress is one thing, but feeling calm and relaxed is also what leads to great sleep. For me, that’s about not watching TV or phones after 9pm.Instead it’s about reading, talking and laughing – stimulating your mind but without an overload of messaging and colours. I’ve also recently tried not to drink any caffeine after 12noon on a working day – a coffee is a great kicker first thing but after lunchtime it’s not!

3. Be selfish with yourself

As a working parent, there’s always a to-do list. So, to prioritise it is self-fulfilling to not having any time left. When you are busy it’s also increasingly easy not to plan your time.

I try to battle against this – putting time aside each week to get things done, or to call friends or to arrange or attend social events – the time will otherwise evaporate.

4. Make decisions!

I sometimes think back to my life before being a father and wonder what I did with all the time! That’s because in reality, we all dither and procrastinate on decisions we have to make or things we need to do – paying bills, calling to arrange something, buying a birthday gift. So, challenge yourself to always do it immediately – nothing takes that long these days, so just get it done!

5. Regular exercise

Exercise provides you with renewed energy and mental clarity. We all know it and so linked to the points above, commit to a routine of exercise and you will reap the rewards!

6. Slow down to speed up!

There’s no greater fallacy than too much multi-tasking – especially for men! You draw more confidence and reassurance from doing a thing at a time really well, especially at work. You will draw a greater sense of achievement and progress from this approach, rather than feeling overwhelmed from being really busy.

Sources:

1. https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/sleep/why-sleep-important
2. https://newsinhealth.nih.gov/2013/04/sleep-it
3. https://www.sleepfoundation.org/sleep-hygiene/good-sleep-and-job-performance
4. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6456824/