Sleep well!

SLEEP IS ESSENTIAL. Especially for children, as growth hormones are active during the night. A good night’s rest strengthens the immune system, helps solidify what has been learned and process emotional experiences. Physical development is supported. But falling asleep isn’t always easy for children – their days are filled with impressions, adventures, emotions, and stimuli – more than ever before.

Bedtime rituals have proven effective for generations to gently wind down the day. “It’s important to support children in finding calm before bed,” emphasizes Maria Christina Gabriel, Marketing Consultant DACH at Calm.

A bedtime ritual might include listening to bedtime stories, music, ambient soundscapes, or short imagination journeys. Newborn sleep, in particular, follows its own logic – the hum of a clothes dryer or a running hairdryer has lulled many babies to sleep.

FAMILIAR STORIES

“What works varies from person to person – that applies to both children and adults. It often depends on how the day went and what kind of input is helpful to transition into rest,” says Gabriel. For children, familiar bedtime stories work well. Repetition creates trust and a sense of safety. Even for grown-ups, this can be a soothing solution. What helped in childhood can also bring calm in adulthood.

Adults often enter a spiral of overthinking in bed – that’s when shifting focus to listening can help. This is where Calm comes in. The app was launched in 2012 as a meditation app. “With our growing community, we noticed that many users were relying on our meditations to help them fall asleep. Even though our meditations are wonderful and we now offer sleep-specific content, in the beginning, we didn’t have anything designed specifically for sleep,” explains Gabriel.

Today, Calm produces audio content including meditations, mindfulness exercises, breathing programs, relaxing sounds, and sleep stories – all designed to help manage stress, anxiety, and insomnia. Adults can access hundreds of bedtime stories, sleep music, meditation classes, nature sounds, videos, multi-day programs, and masterclasses. For children, the Calm Kids section offers stories like “Luna’s Raindrop Journey,” “The Song of the Sunbird,” and “Cassiopeia’s Adventures.” Beloved characters like Peppa Pig, Poppy, and Peter Pan also guide young listeners. The content is tailored to different age groups.

SOUND SETTINGS

Creating relaxation and releasing tension depends on many factors – the story itself, the tone of the narrator’s voice, even the pace of their speech. Ideally, the end of the story goes unnoticed – because the listener has already drifted off. Spoken word isn’t always necessary: the rhythmic clatter of a train, gentle ocean waves, or soft rain are favorite background sounds for children and adults alike when it comes to relaxation.

In recent years, especially due to the pandemic and its aftereffects, many have become more aware of the importance of mental health, finding me-time, and creating moments of calm for themselves. And yet, we’re often caught up in the chaos of everyday life. Mindfulness can be integrated in small ways – from morning rituals for a good start to short breaks with soothing sounds while crafting or baking in the afternoon. In this regard, children are often role models: they can lose themselves completely in simple activities like drawing or collecting chestnuts. Adults can take inspiration from this natural mindfulness, slow down the pace, savor the moment, and find their own anchors of calm.