Funny how our perceptions of sleep change over time.
In our 20's: I'm staying up until 2am every night forever! I'm never going to get old!!!
In our 30's: I can go to bed at 8pm tonight? Thank God!!
The world makes a good night's sleep harder and harder every year. It starts with how are kids are trained.
Any Google search will tell you that high-school age kids still need about 9 hours of sleep a night. Because, you know...they're technically still growing.
9 hours...laughable, right???
The average high schooler is out the door by 7am for school, gets home around 5pm, and has 2-3 hours of homework a night.
Add on an extracurricular activity or two, and there's no place else to go but cut into time that would otherwise be spent sleeping.
It's hard to focus on anything when you're tired. We might push through the menial day-to-day tasks. But the work that requires practice, creative thinking, problem solving, emotional regulation...you gotta be rested!
Most people are operating at 80%. But it's hard to realize that because everyone else is operating at 80%, too.
If you or your kids are having a hard time, try getting an extra hour of sleep. If I'm wrong, you can always stay up an hour later the next night.
But I think you'll find in an era of workaholism and over-scheduling, getting a good night's sleep is like having a superpower.
Calm, focus, and creativity can be as close as tomorrow.