I'm an exhausted parent. I'm exhausted period. Who isn't exhausted these days? Sometimes, though, its not just that we need more sleep but we struggle falling asleep when we actually have time available to sleep. Here are some tips from a reader that parents and anyone else can use to help them catch the most winks.
Parenting is a beautiful journey. But, behind the happy smiles of the children looking satisfied, well-taken care of, and well-fed are exhausted parents. The moment your baby is born, the exhaustion felt by parents just multiplies a hundred-fold. This is a uniform feeling whether you’re stay-at-home parents, or also juggling work.
The downside to this exhaustion is that if it’s left to progress, it may leave the parents cranky and moody the next day. This can affect the entire mood of the family. The children’s happiness as well. Health-wise, exhaustion leads to possible serious health issues in the long run. Parents deserve a break, too. And, while going out regularly may sometimes not be an option, there are still many ways you can pamper yourself, even when you’re just at home. You just have to make use of the products out in the market that can help you navigate better through exhaustion, parent anxiety, sleeplessness, and other stressors you may be feeling.
Take it easy. Here are five essentials you may want to consider using, to help you better cope with your exhaustion:
1. Lavender Pillow
Lavender has long been known for its good ability to lower anxiety, improve mood, and help one fall asleep faster. So, it’s not surprising that pillow and bedding manufacturers have now come up with the lavender pillow. For exhausted parents, this is certainly something you need to have in your bedroom.
Often the exhaustion from parents come from the difficult ability to go back to sleep after multiple times of waking up when the baby cries. For those without infants, it may also stem from all of the worries, stress, and anxiety parents may be carrying, as they manage the needs of the children.
If counting sheep no longer works for you, then a lavender pillow is definitely a good investment. Apart from improving your sleep quality, lavender, now incorporated in your pillow, may bring in the following benefits:
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It may help cope with mental health issues, as now you can finally sleep better and replenish your mind and body for the coming day ahead.
- It may help with skin irritations, especially for those who sleep with their face tucked on the side of your pillow, as some pillow fabrics may be unknowingly contributing to your skin irritations and acne.
- It may help manage headaches or migraines, by enabling you to sleep longer and better, without aggravating your discomfort.
With the benefits listed above, here are other convincing reasons a lavender neck roll pillow, or any other pillow type, is indeed worth a purchase:
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It’s easy to maintain: While the lavender scent of your pillow may diminish over time, you can always refresh the scent with a linen spray.
- It has a comfortable structure: Lavender pillows are made with natural materials, so they can end up more comfortable than pillows made from synthetic materials. Apart from the dried lavender itself, buckwheat is also used to construct this type of aromatherapy pillow, making it breathable and hypoallergenic.
- It’s durable: Because it shapes better, lavender pillows are also more durable, being that they’re sourced from organic and natural materials.
2. Remote-Controlled White Noise Machine
If you have a newborn baby and they’re struggling through their sleep, as new parents, you’ll find that one of the best products you might want to take advantage of is a remote-controlled white noise machine. Yes, even white noise machines have evolved, too, to now have a remote-controlled option. This means you won’t always have to get out of bed just to control the music or white noise.
If you haven’t considered using a white noise machine yet, here are good reasons why you should consider investing in one:
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It creates a nightly ritual: Kids are creatures of habit. And, it can benefit them greatly to have a nightly ritual. With one, their bodies know it’s finally time to go to sleep. It helps your kids’ (and even your own) bodies and minds to wind down, so you can condition everybody when it’s bedtime.
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It keeps your room quiet: Even if you live in the suburbs and in a purely residential area, there may still be those desperate evenings where the world seems to be conniving against your sleep. Think dogs barking, the neighbor having a party, cars passing by, among many other noises.
These sudden noises will, undoubtedly affect the entire family’s sleep quality. Especially for young infants who aren’t used to that noise: they may suddenly get up and get startled. Having a white noise machine helps to block out that noise. Plus, with a remote-controlled one, you can adjust the volume or kind of white noise, without even getting out of bed. - It may help you sleep soundly. Yes, you may be closing your eyes and sleeping, but have you given it much thought as to how good your sleep quality is? Having a white noise machine may not just help your baby sleep soundly, but you as well. And, that sleep quality is deep and good.
As you can see, a white noise machine won’t just benefit your baby. If you’re in the nursery, or in the same room, it can even lull you to a better quality of sleep. For exhausted parents, sometimes, even an extra half hour or hour of sleep at night is more than enough to make a difference.
3. Organic Silk Sleep Mask
Sleep masks aren’t just for traveling! You can use them at home, too. And, if you’ve been using one for a long time now, have you actually given your sleep mask’s material some thought? Being that you put it over your eyes for quite a long time at night, it’s just but right to ensure you’re choosing gentle materials. You wouldn’t want harsh fabrics brushing on your eyes. Otherwise, doing so may make your eye area age faster.
Upgrade your ordinary sleep mask to one made of organic silk. This is a material that’s soft and gentle on your delicate eye area.
If you haven’t started using a sleep mask yet, here are good reasons why you should buy one now:
Swaddle blankets is another baby item on this list. But it has tremendous effects on reducing parents’ exhaustion. For parents with newborn babies, sleep quality and sleep length are often two of the biggest struggles they have to go through.
And, this is quite expected from newborns. As parents adjust to having a newborn baby, do note that your baby is adjusting as well. While the baby is inside the womb, it’s used to curling up, and feeling the warmth inside the womb. The outside world is a totally new experience for them. They're adjusting to stretching, and the difference in the temperature.
This is where the struggle starts to sit in. For parents to sleep well, their babies have to be sleeping good as well. But you just can’t adjust the temperature of the thermostat every so often at night. Then, there’s also the risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) for babies, where loose blankets are one of the top no-no's to use for them.
A solution to this woe is using swaddle blankets. As its name implies, swaddle blankets keep your newborn baby swaddled tightly and snug, through the Velcro straps swaddles have. You won’t have to worry about any loose fabric that may cover your baby’s nose. The swaddles give your newborn baby warmth, and also avoids their arms from flinging all over the place, particularly as they start to discover little movements.
Many parents swear by swaddle blankets as their holy grail product to help their babies sleep better. And, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t use it as well. When your baby sleeps longer and better through the night, and also has comfortable naps, this can ease out your exhaustion, as it also buys you more time to sleep, or take care of yourself.
5. Silk Or Organic Cottom Pajamas
Sleepwear has suddenly gotten so much more popular these days when people are spending more time than usual at home. And, there’s good reason for this.
Gone are the days when sleepwear is only just an afterthought, like your old university clothes, jacket, or any old shirts you still have at home.
If you haven’t started using a sleep mask yet, here are good reasons why you should buy one now:
- It improves your sleep quality: The eye’s retina area is very sensitive. It can detect light fast, which helps it identify night from day. So, if your room has even a small source of light, this may disrupt your overall sleep quality.
Note that one reason parents are so exhausted is that their kids may wake up regularly at night to ask for assistance to go to the bathroom. If the kids are sleeping in another room, most parents still leave a small light on in their bedroom, to give the kids light, when they do switch back to their parents’ room in the middle of the night.
Having a sleep mask over your eyes can help ensure even the slightest hint of light won’t disrupt your sleep quality, as the mask is able to cover this. - It may help your body improve its health: The body sometimes need assistance or push, to improve its overall health. And how does a simple sleeping mask have that kind of benefit? It has something to do with the body’s production of melatonin.
The human body needs total darkness to maximize its production of melatonin, which you may now know is very important for good sleep quality. But melatonin also has other effects on the body extending beyond sleep. The body needs an adequate supply of melatonin for it to produce antioxidants that can help heal damaged DNA.
As parents, you’d know that good health is very important, and this is the best thing you can give to your kids, so you can continue to rear them and watch them grow. It'll also make you less exhausted and anxious about your body when you know you’re getting adequate sleep and rest. And know and feel that your body is in good condition. You can live long and healthy to watch your children grow. - It makes you more relaxed, thereby possibly reducing the onset of depression: It's hard to be relaxed when you’re always woken up in your sleep. Even if you sleep for eight hours, if you were still anxious and not relaxed, you wake up the next day feeling as sloppy as you did the night before.
In fact, depending on how exhausted you may be as a parent, there are some nights when you don’t even look forward to sleep anymore. You know your body needs it, so you sleep, but it’s basically just that. You still wake up regularly at night, and you know your body isn’t at its optimum state of rest.
As wearing a sleep mask shuts out light, you may start to feel more relaxed, thereby also possibly reducing the onset of depression.
Swaddle blankets is another baby item on this list. But it has tremendous effects on reducing parents’ exhaustion. For parents with newborn babies, sleep quality and sleep length are often two of the biggest struggles they have to go through.
And, this is quite expected from newborns. As parents adjust to having a newborn baby, do note that your baby is adjusting as well. While the baby is inside the womb, it’s used to curling up, and feeling the warmth inside the womb. The outside world is a totally new experience for them. They're adjusting to stretching, and the difference in the temperature.
This is where the struggle starts to sit in. For parents to sleep well, their babies have to be sleeping good as well. But you just can’t adjust the temperature of the thermostat every so often at night. Then, there’s also the risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) for babies, where loose blankets are one of the top no-no's to use for them.
A solution to this woe is using swaddle blankets. As its name implies, swaddle blankets keep your newborn baby swaddled tightly and snug, through the Velcro straps swaddles have. You won’t have to worry about any loose fabric that may cover your baby’s nose. The swaddles give your newborn baby warmth, and also avoids their arms from flinging all over the place, particularly as they start to discover little movements.
Many parents swear by swaddle blankets as their holy grail product to help their babies sleep better. And, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t use it as well. When your baby sleeps longer and better through the night, and also has comfortable naps, this can ease out your exhaustion, as it also buys you more time to sleep, or take care of yourself.
5. Silk Or Organic Cottom Pajamas
Sleepwear has suddenly gotten so much more popular these days when people are spending more time than usual at home. And, there’s good reason for this.
Gone are the days when sleepwear is only just an afterthought, like your old university clothes, jacket, or any old shirts you still have at home.
Your sleepwear’s fabric can affect your sleep quality, particularly when it comes to comfort and temperature control. There’s no denying the good temperature control and comfort fabrics such as organic cotton, silk, and bamboo bring. This is especially helpful for those who may feel itchy at night. Or when you have night sweats because the duvet is too hot--or your sleepwear itself is too hot.
A good investment to gift yourself this year are brand new sleepwear sets. And, in keeping with the organic fabric, you may want to consider switching your sheets and that of your kids’ beds to bamboo, organic cotton, or silk sheets. Then you’ll see the difference in comfort and sleep quality of everyone at home.
Conclusion
So, with the list of products above, are you now ready to give yourself better quality rest and sleep? Parent exhaustion is real, but it doesn’t have to eat you up completely. Parents can take a break, too, and you shouldn’t feel guilty for taking one.
A good investment to gift yourself this year are brand new sleepwear sets. And, in keeping with the organic fabric, you may want to consider switching your sheets and that of your kids’ beds to bamboo, organic cotton, or silk sheets. Then you’ll see the difference in comfort and sleep quality of everyone at home.
Conclusion
So, with the list of products above, are you now ready to give yourself better quality rest and sleep? Parent exhaustion is real, but it doesn’t have to eat you up completely. Parents can take a break, too, and you shouldn’t feel guilty for taking one.
Even if they’re used just at home, the products above can significantly reduce the physical and mental toils of parenthood. These products can help both you and your children. Everyone in the entire household is happy, well-rested, calm, and well-relaxed. A happy household makes happy parents.