2-Minute Sleep Tip: Help Your Night Owl Streamline the Morning

A major factor that sets up your teen for sleep problems is a body clock that runs late.

While there are ways to prevent this problem from snowballing, the reality is that most teens will never bound out of bed and be at their best at 6am. 

For now, it’s helpful to accept their underlying night owl tendency and help them work with it.

So they can squeeze out every last precious minute of morning sleep, help them simplify, offload, and put things on autopilot.  

2-MINUTE ACTION:

1. Take one minute to brainstorm all of the things your teen has to do or is currently doing in the morning.
2. Then, take another minute to ask yourself: What isn't essential? What can happen at another time (ex. the night before)? What could I take on to simplify things for them? What can be put on autopilot?

Some ideas:

• Help your teen create a checklist of tasks that can be moved to the evening (ex. choose clothes, make lunch, pack bag for the day, shower)
• Help your teen create a simple morning routine so that they can go on autopilot when drowsy and exhausted
• Share tips to avoid snoozing and to boost morning alertness from this podcast episode
• Prepare make-ahead breakfasts (this one is my favourite)

FOR MORE:

Listen to Find the Eight Episode #3: How to Make Waking Up Less Painful and Find the Eight Episode #5: Is Your Body Clock Out-Of-Sync?​

COMING UP:

In next week’s newsletter, we'll talk about the #1 investment I recommend to help you teen sleep better.

All the Best,

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A friendly note if you not are a parent of teens: You may have noticed that this newsletter doesn’t sound like it’s written for you. Though I hope you'll still find the ideas and tips helpful, if you wish to unsubscribe, no hard feelings! If you know any parents of teens who might benefit from these tips, please share my website where they can sign up for this newsletter.

NOTE: The content and all linked materials in this newsletter provide general information about sleep and insomnia and are not intended to replace medical advice from a qualified healthcare provider. The provided content should not be relied upon for medical diagnosis or management. Please direct questions or concerns to your physician and/or qualified health care provider.