According to this pediatrician, putting children to bed early could improve the mental health of mothers everywhere

Sometimes, being a mother can be a hard and tiring activity, especially from a neurological and psychological point of view.

So what can these super-busy women do to make their family life a little less stressful? Nothing could be simpler, and perhaps trivial if you think about it!

Just put your children to bed early! When you do this routinely, every evening, then you can indulge in a well-deserved rest and unplug from the hard work of being a parent.

via today.com

Mothers, as well as fathers, who put their children to bed immediately after dinner, at about 8.30 pm, are more serene from a mental health point of view. However, it is not only the parents who benefit from it, but also their children who have a more peaceful and healthy life by going to sleep early.

According to the American pediatrician Wendy Sue Swanson, melatonin - the hormone that helps our body to understand when we should wake up and when to fall asleep - in children reaches its maximum level at around 8.00 pm and it is at that time that the little ones are able to fall asleep more easily and get their proper rest.

Based on the U.S. studies National Sleep Foundation, the non-profit organization that deals with sleep problems, pre-school children should sleep between 10 and 13 hours, while those of school age from 9 to 11 hours.

Given all these benefits, how can parents improve their children's sleep? First of all, they should make sure that their children have been doing healthy physical activity in the open air during the day and that they do not use digital devices after 7:00 pm, certainly the most complicated part due to the almost omnipresence of the virtual world.

Once this has been done, children need to eat healthy food, so that they have a balanced diet and consume food that is easy to digest before going to sleep. Also, it is important after dinner, to let them relax with music at a low volume or with soft lights to help them fall asleep. Never forget to give them a bath or shower and remind them to brush their teeth before bedtime. Moreover, we must always remember to ask them about what happened to them during the day, and to cuddle while reading them a nice story.

These few simple steps must become, for parents and children, a sort of daily ritual so that everyone can live a more serene and less stressful family life.