{{Short description|Time of transition from wakefulness to sleep}} {{other uses}} {{redirect|Bedtimes|the monthly magazine|BedTimes}} [[File:Child Asleep (The Rosebud) MET DT275484.jpg|thumb|''Child Asleep (The Rosebud)'' by Thomas Sully (1841)]] {{wiktionary}} '''Bedtime''' (also called '''putting to bed''' or '''tucking in''') is a parenting ritual to help children feel more secure<ref name=scoresbyBedtime /> 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.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Hale|first1=Lauren|last2=Berger|first2=Lawrence M.|last3=LeBourgeois|first3=Monique K.|last4=Brooks-Gunn|first4=Jeanne|title=Social and Demographic Predictors of Preschoolersʼ Bedtime Routines|journal=Journal of Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrics|volume=30|issue=5|pages=394–402|doi=10.1097/dbp.0b013e3181ba0e64|pmid=19745760|pmc=2793084|year=2009}}</ref> 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.<ref>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)</ref> Sleep training may be part of the bedtime ritual for babies and toddlers.<ref>{{cite web |title=Sleep Training Truths: What Science Can (And Can't) Tell Us About Crying it Out |url=https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2019/07/15/730339536/sleep-training-truths-what-science-can-and-cant-tell-us-about-crying-it-out |website=NPR |date=July 15, 2019}}</ref>
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.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Ingrama, Mindellb, Puzinod, Walterse |title=A Survey of Practicing Sleep Coaches |journal=Behavioral Sleep Medicine |date=2018 |volume=16 |issue=13|pages=272–281 |doi=10.1080/15402002.2016.1188394|pmid=27362893 |s2cid=205887518 }}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Weir |first1=Kristen |title=(Dis)Connected |journal=Monitor on Psychology |date=2017 |volume=1 |issue=43 |page=42|url=https://www.apa.org/monitor/2017/03/cover-disconnected}}</ref> In colloquial speech, the term simply means 'time to sleep', much like a curfew; for example, 'it's already late'.<ref>{{cite web|access-date=2025-12-29 |publisher=thevivosinstitute.com |title=Nighttime Rituals To Better Sleep |url=https://thevivosinstitute.com/nighttime-rituals-to-better-sleep/}}<!-- auto-translated from Swedish by Module:CS1 translator --></ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.scarymommy.com/shopping/why-the-momcozy-5-dual-mode-smart-baby-monitor-might-just-be-what-modern-parents-need |title=time to sleep |work=|access-date=}}</ref>
==Synonyms== {{Wiktionary|lights out}} In boarding schools and on trips or holidays that involve young people, the equivalent of bedtime is ''lights out'' or ''lights-out'' - this term is also used in prisons, hospitals, in the military, and in sleep research.
==Newspapers== Print newspapers, usually a daily, was "put to bed" when editorial work on the issue had formally ceased, the content was fixed, and printing could begin.
==See also== * Crib talk * Lullaby * Sleep cycle
==References== <references> <ref name=scoresbyBedtime>{{cite web |url=http://www.practicalparent.org.uk/WINNING%20THE%20BEDTIME%20BATTLE.htm |title=Winning the bedtime battle |author=Dr Scoresby |url-status=dead |archive-date=20 August 2000 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20000820051947/http://www.practicalparent.org.uk/WINNING%20THE%20BEDTIME%20BATTLE.htm }}</ref> </references>
{{SleepSeries2}} {{Parenting}}
Category:Parenting Category:Sleep Category:Culture of beds Category:Childhood
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