Back to School, Back to Sleep: Resetting Family Routines for Healthier Mornings
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For families everywhere, the return of the school year means earlier wake-ups, busier evenings, and more stress on everyone’s sleep schedule—especially kids. After a summer of looser routines and late bedtimes, the shift back to early alarms and structured mornings can be jarring, both biologically and emotionally.
In my own household, this transition is never seamless. Each August, we go through the same ritual: a few weeks of bedtime negotiations, alarms that are slept through, and morning meltdowns—sometimes from the kids, sometimes from the adults. One year, my teenage son insisted he was “totally fine” going to bed at midnight and waking at 6:45, until he fell asleep in his cereal three days in a row. It was a humbling reminder that even when we understand the neuroscience of sleep, implementing it at home can be messy, imperfect, and deeply human.
As a neuroscientist who studies sleep, I see this transition not only as a parenting challenge, but as one that has a scientific basis. Our internal clock—the brain’s suprachiasmatic nucleus which controls circadian rhythms, to be precise—does not adapt overnight. Sudden changes in schedule can easily disrupt sleep architecture, reduce deep and REM sleep, and lead to groggy mornings, inattentiveness at school, and mood swings in both children and adults.
So how can families reset? Here’s what the science (and experience) says works.
1. Start Shifting Bedtimes Now—Not the Night Before
Think of the school year like a flight across time zones. To avoid jet lag, you’d adjust gradually—and the same goes for sleep. Begin moving your child’s bedtime and wake time 15–30 minutes earlier every few days, ideally starting at least a week before school starts. This gives their circadian rhythm time to shift to the new schedule.
2. Dim the Lights and Screens Early
Light is the primary cue for our circadian clock. Bright screens—especially blue light from tablets or phones—can delay melatonin release and push sleep time later. Try dimming household lighting after dinner and enforcing a “no screens” window at least one hour before bed. Given that days are still long at this time of the year, you may have to close shutters to keep light out. Consider replacing screen time with calming activities like reading or listening to soft music.
3. Build a Wind-Down Ritual That Sticks
Rituals matter. They create behavioral cues that signal the brain it’s time for sleep. Even young children benefit from routines that include the same steps each night—brushing teeth, storytime, lights out. For teens, anchoring bedtime to a series of calming actions (like journaling or stretching) can be especially effective in curbing late-night doom-scrolling or anxiety spirals.
4. Watch for Stress and Sleep Resistance
Back-to-school often triggers anxiety that can be derived from social stress, academic pressure, and emotional uncertainty. These factors can spike cortisol and interfere with sleep onset. Be alert for signs of stress in your child—especially in teens—and validate those feelings while offering simple techniques like breathing exercises or short guided meditations to help them decompress.
5. Prioritize Your Own Sleep Hygiene, Too
Children take cues from their parents. Modeling healthy sleep habits—turning off devices early, sticking to consistent bedtimes, reading a book, and most importantly simply respecting the need for good sleep—helps reinforce those behaviors. And frankly, you’ll need the extra rest. Mornings don’t get easier by staying up late catching up on email.
Why It Matters
Getting enough restorative sleep—especially deep and REM sleep—is critical for learning, emotional regulation, and immune function. In children, insufficient sleep has been linked to lower academic performance, increased risk of depression, and even metabolic issues later in life¹. Adults aren’t exempt either: poor sleep impairs executive function and makes the morning routine exponentially more difficult.
Final Thoughts
The start of the school year is a natural point to reset routines. Treat it like a system reboot: not just for bedtimes, but for family health more broadly. Sleep is foundational. When kids (and parents) are well-rested, everything else—from math homework to morning carpool—feels just a little bit easier.
¹ Shochat, T. et al. (2014). “Sleep patterns, sleep hygiene, and daytime functioning in adolescents.” Sleep Med Rev, 18(6), 554–570.
² Owens, J.A. et al. (2017). “Insufficient sleep in adolescents: Recommendations from the American Academy of Sleep Medicine.” J Clin Sleep Med, 13(5), 785–787.