Bedtime

Child Asleep (The Rosebud) by Thomas Sully (1841)

Bedtime (also called putting to bed or tucking in) is a ritual part of parenting to help children feel more secure[1] and become accustomed to a more rigid schedule of sleep than they might prefer. The ritual of bedtime is aimed at facilitating the transition from wakefulness to sleep.[2] It may involve bedtime stories, children's songs, nursery rhymes, bed-making and getting children to change into nightwear. In some religious households, prayers are said shortly before going to bed.[3] Sleep training may be part of the bedtime ritual for babies and toddlers.[4]

In adult use, the term means simply "time for bed", similar to curfew, as in "It's past my bedtime". Some people are accustomed to drinking a nightcap or herbal tea at bedtime. Sleeping coaches are also used to help individuals reach their bedtime goals.[5] Researchers studying sleep are finding patterns revealing that cell phone use at night disturbs going to sleep at one's bedtime and achieving a good night's sleep.[6]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference scoresbyBedtime was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Hale, Lauren; Berger, Lawrence M.; LeBourgeois, Monique K.; Brooks-Gunn, Jeanne (2009). "Social and Demographic Predictors of Preschoolersʼ Bedtime Routines". Journal of Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrics. 30 (5): 394–402. doi:10.1097/dbp.0b013e3181ba0e64. PMC 2793084. PMID 19745760.
  3. ^ A Scottish prayer: "I am going now into the sleep, / Be it that I in health shall wake; / If death be to me in deathly sleep, / Be it that in thine own arm's keep, / O God of grace, to new life I wake; / O be it in thy dear arm's keep, / O God of grace, that I shall awake!" (from Poems of the Western Highlanders, 1900; in The Oxford Book of Prayer, general editor: George Appleton. Oxford University Press; no. 325 at p. 101)
  4. ^ "Sleep Training Truths: What Science Can (And Can't) Tell Us About Crying it Out". NPR. July 15, 2019.
  5. ^ Ingrama, Mindellb, Puzinod, Walterse (2018). "A Survey of Practicing Sleep Coaches". Behavioral Sleep Medicine. 16 (13): 272–281. doi:10.1080/15402002.2016.1188394. PMID 27362893. S2CID 205887518.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  6. ^ Weir, Kristen (2017). "(Dis)Connected". Monitor on Psychology. 1 (43): 42.