The Power Hour: High-Input Bedtime Routine for Deep Sleep
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Bedtime doesn’t have to be a battle. For many parents, it’s a chaotic sprint to get kids settled down, but what if bedtime could become a calming, enjoyable part of your evening? Enter The Power Hour: High-Input Bedtime Routine for Deep Sleep, a structured routine that transitions your child from high-energy activities to calm, grounding techniques—helping them release pent-up energy and prepare for restful sleep.
This sensory-focused routine is perfect for children who thrive on movement or struggle with winding down at night. By starting with high-intensity activities and gradually slowing down, this approach helps regulate your child’s body and mind, ensuring they’re ready for a deep, restorative sleep.
How It Works
Here’s a step-by-step guide to implementing The Power Hour routine:
1️⃣ Animal Walk Relay
Start with something fun and active! Encourage your child to crawl like a bear, hop like a frog, or stomp like a dinosaur around the house. Spend 5-10 minutes on this to burn off excess energy and engage their whole body.
2️⃣ Heavy Work Play
Incorporate activities that involve pushing, pulling, or lifting. Have your child push a weighted laundry basket across the floor or carry a stack of books from one room to another. These "heavy work" tasks provide proprioceptive input, which is deeply calming for the nervous system.
3️⃣ Jumping and Crashing
Set up a safe "crash pad" made with couch cushions and blamkets. Let your child jump off a low surface or the couch into pillow mountain for 10-15 minutes of sensory fun. This activity helps regulate their energy while giving them a satisfying sensory release.
4️⃣ Wall Push-Ups
Help your child engage their upper body with wall push-ups. These gentle, resistance-based movements are a great way to channel energy and calm their system.
5️⃣ Cuddle Swing or Hammock Time
Now it’s time to start slowing things down. Provide 5-10 minutes of rhythmic, swinging motion in a sensory swing or hammock. This repetitive movement can help your child’s nervous system transition from high energy to relaxation.
6️⃣ Yoga Mat or Blanket Roll-Ups
Roll your child up snugly in a yoga mat or blanket, creating a cocoon-like effect. This deep-pressure technique provides a grounding, calming sensation and helps ease the transition to stillness.
7️⃣ Pillow Squishes
Using a pillow, apply gentle pressure to your child’s body, starting with their chest, then moving to their back, belly, trunk, arms, and legs. Slowly press from the chest down to the toes and from the center out to the fingertips. This technique is soothing and promotes body awareness.
8️⃣ Obstacle Course Adventure
Set up a mini obstacle course in your home. Include tunnels to crawl through, cushions to jump over, or items to carry. This activity helps burn off any lingering energy in a fun, structured way.
9️⃣ Yoga and Deep Stretches
End physical activities with calming yoga poses and deep stretches. Try poses like child’s pose, seated forward fold, or downward dog, and pair them with slow, deep breathing for maximum relaxation.
🔟 Calmily Pillow Wind-Down
Finally, bring the evening to a close with the ultimate calming tool—the Calmily Perfectly Weighted Pillow. Have your child lay on their bed with the pillow placed on their chest. Encourage your child to take slow deep breaths moving the Calmily pillow up and down on each inhale and exhale. The graded weight provides soothing, deep-pressure input, helping your child fully relax and prepare for sleep.
Why It Works
This routine is intentionally designed to help your child regulate their energy levels and ease into relaxation. By starting with high-input, active movements and gradually shifting to calming, grounding techniques, you’re providing the sensory input their body needs for a smooth transition to bedtime.
The result? Better sleep for your child and a more peaceful evening for the whole family.
Ready to Try It?
Save this routine, give it a try tonight, and let us know how it works for you! With consistent use, The Power Hour can transform bedtime into a calm and restorative experience for both you and your child.
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