Do you struggle to fall asleep at night? I’ve been there. Most of us have. And that's why having a great evening routine is crucial.
While there's no magic pill, having a solid evening routine will make you fall asleep easier and get better quality sleep most nights.
Follow it consistently, and soon you'll notice that you'll feel calmer and more peaceful as the night wears on, and wake up the next day well-rested and without hitting snooze every 10 minutes.
These habits are easy to stick to and don't take a long time. You can do some of them 30-60 minutes before going to sleep, and the rest depends on how much time to have. Even five minutes can improve your sleep hygiene!
Let's make your bedtime routine fun and easy to stick to!
More...
Why You Need an Evening Routine
As much as we love and insist on making our own rules, us humans need habits and organization to function better.
By having an established evening routine, you stop your brain from worrying about what your next activities are or to keep jumping back to work-related stuff that'll only increase your stress and anxiety levels before bedtime. Even if work makes you feel excited, it won't help you slow down and full asleep.
If your mind is worrying or overworking right before sleeping, it'll activate your sympathetic nervous system that'll lead insomnia.
Insomnia means you won't get quality sleep. Lack of quality sleep means your brain won't be well-rested and therefore you won't be productive. So your work performance that you love thinking about so much before bed, will deteriorate.
Simply put, you need to learn to turn your brain off and unwind, and having a well-established routine is effortless, once the habits develop. You can't just expect to fall asleep if you're still hyper the minutes before it.
Here's the anatomy of a perfect evening routine that you can follow every single night.
1. Get Ready For Tomorrow
Often the reason we can't fall asleep or wake up in the middle of the night is because we're worried we'll forget something, or simply won't wake up early enough to prepare what we need.
If you know that the next day you'll have to rush out of the house, it’s a good idea to prepare your lunch in advance, have your clothes ironed and bag packed.
This idea also works if you're trying to pick up morning exercise as a habit. Imagine that your alarm goes off at 5:00 am, but before going out for a run or hitting the gym, you still need to decide what to wear, find your running shoes, pack your gym bag, find the membership card, prepare a bite to eat.... uufff, I got exhausted just by typing all this!
If you prepare all of this the night before, 1. you can sleep more so you have more energy to exercise, 2. eliminate a bunch of tasks and decisions early in the morning, so you'll be more likely to follow through.
Another great thing I love to prepare at night is a list for the next day. What is it that you absolutely cannot forget? What work do you need to get done? Do you have any appointments? Is it your mom's birthday? Do you need to pick up more milk on the way home?
I don't know about you, but often these are the thoughts that wake me up at night. I call them "oh shit" moments.
By keeping a notepad nearby (or using the Notepad app), I can write everything down that comes to mind. You'll notice that once you start writing the list, more thoughts will occur.
You check off the items on the list throughout the day.
Forgot something? If you wake up, just grab your note, jot it down, and go back to sleep.
2. Avoid Eating an Hour Before Bed
At night, thanks to the circadian rhythm, your metabolism slows down, making it harder to digest food. When your body prepares for sleep, it slows down its functions.
If you eat (especially high-carb goodies), you body needs to work harder to digest, which can lead to weight gain.
A full stomach can interfere with your sleep quality and ability to fall asleep. Eating too close to bedtime can lead to acid reflux, heart burn, indigestion or stomach ache in the middle of the night.
The best idea is to eat 3 hours or more before going to bed.
If you are feeling hungry, try not to reach for the ice cream or chocolate. Have a small portion of complex carbs and quality protein. These foods fill you up more than simple carbs, so you won't feel hungry so soon.
Try a banana, some cheese with crackers, apples with peanut butter, a toast with some avocado and boiled or poached egg, or, the best bedtime snack if you also want to increase your protein input: quark!
3. Stay Away From Your Smartphone
Your electronic devices play huge role in why you're struggling so much to fall asleep.
The blue light that comes from your screen tricks your brain making it think that is daytime, meaning that the production of melatonin is going to be suppressed and make you stay awake longer. The circadian rhythm is, again, to "blame".
Turn off your phone, or put it away an hour before you want to be asleep.
If you absolutely need to use your phone at night, turn on the night mode (here's a guide on how), so you get minimal blue light.
You can also put on your cute blue light blocking glasses, so you don't mess with your natural rhythm so much.
Aside from the blue light emission, reading the news or scrolling down social media will keep you awake, and often even lead to anxiety, which causes insomnia. Unless you absolutely can't afford to miss the latest news, try to keep it out of your bedtime routine. Avoid reading the comment section at least!
I recommend turning on the Do Not Disturb mode (or just muting it). You don't want your friends to wake you up with a random 2 am drunk text or meme.
4. Journal
Instead of getting aroused from social media, try journaling as a way to reflect on your day.
Remember when you were a kid and wrote in your diary as part of your evening routine?
As an adult, you probably won't use your journal the same way, but the habit and result can be similar. You can brain dump everything that bothered you that day, celebrate your victories, mark down memorable events and lessons you learned.
This simple activity helps you de-clutter your brain and gain clarity and perspective. I'll bring peace and help you feel more relaxed.
You can also add a gratitude exercise to your journaling habit to ease anxiety and improve your life satisfaction; and write a list of goals you want to accomplish the next day.
5. Take a Hot Shower or Bath
Even if you only have time for a 2-minute shower, I recommend you add this to your evening routine. Hot water helps your muscles relax. Also, after the shower, your body temperature drops, which promotes the production of melatonin and regulate your circadian rhythm. That is, you'll feel sleepy, and sleep better.
If you have time, treat yourself to a hot bubble bath. Apart from the already mentioned benefits, you'll feel calmer, more relaxed and less anxious. You can even put on candles, read a book while you're here, meditate, listen to music and so on.
6. Turn Your Lights Off
As we mentioned many times throughout this article, bright lights are a big no-no before bedtime.
Turn of all major lights, ideally 30-60 minutes before your bedtime, and only use candles, night lights, bed lights or fairy lights.
Research suggests that using red light in your bedroom can improve your sleep quality, and also your athletic performance.
If you want to make the most of it, invest in light bulbs that you can change the color of with an app / Alexa.
Waking up to natural light is great for you,. However, unless you live in a forest or similar remote area, it's likely that you get light through your window at night.
Be sure to close your curtains and blinds. Experts say that even the small lights from your devices (e.g. wifi router) can negatively impact your sleep.
It's also a good idea to invest in a comfortable sleep mask.
7. Create a Little Ritual You Love
Maybe some of the other points belong here - maybe they don't. For this part of your evening routine, I'd like you to pick something that you truly love doing. Ideally it's something that calms you down, relaxes your muscles and mind - and doesn't involve bright screens and loud noises.
For me, the ritual is:
It's important to add a nice, short ritual that you're excited about doing. This helps you stick to the habit - and hey, why not just do it for the sake of feeling good?
Granted, if you have little kids, you probably won't be able to spend much time in this phase. How about aiming for one minute of relaxing "me time"?
8. Read a Book
Did you need a bedtime story as a kid to fall asleep? Your adult self can benefit from a great story too.
Studies have shown that even just a 6-minute reading session can reduce your stress level better than a cup of tea or listening to music. Reading gives you a little distraction from your everyday struggles and take you to a whole new, interesting world. That is, if you don't read anything too heavy or stressful.
Reading also boosts your creativity and brainpower, and reduces the risk of developing Alzheimer’s.
While reading stimulates our brain, it's very common to doze off while going thought the words. Why? It makes your eyes move rapidly to scan the words, which eventually makes your eye muscles tired.
Also, if you're used to reading before bed, your brain associates your reading habit with sleeping, so the activity will make you feel sleepy. It's simply classical conditioning!
Get your library card out or invest in a Kindle and start reading at least 5 minutes every night!
I recommend you read fiction or a topic you're interested in, but won't keep you up all night. Here's my list of recommended books.
9. Meditate
During meditation, various physiological changes can occur. In a 2015 JAMA Internal Medicine study, 49 adults participated who either got sleep hygiene education or meditated for 6 weeks. The group that meditated, experienced less daytime fatigue and insomnia.
Meditation decreases worry and stress, but also improves your ability to relax. You get better control over your autonomic nervous system, which improves how easily you’re awakened.
Meditation can also reduce your heart rate and blood pressure, and it may activate parts of your brain that control sleep and increase your melatonin level.
If you've never meditated before, don't worry. You can start with focusing on your breath for five minutes or doing a simple body scan. If you want to learn meditation but can't exactly move to a monastery, your best bet is to download the Headspace, Mindfulness or Calm apps.
10. Stick to the Same Bedtime
Having a regular bedtime trains your brain to feel sleepy at night so you'll find it easier to fall asleep. Sleeping 7-9 hours a night and waking up around the same time in the morning will get easier if your bedtime is regular.
Add a reminder to your phone 30-60 minutes before your designated bedtime, and start winding down to sleep, following this list. You don’t have to follow each item on this list. If you're uncertain, give all of them a try, and over time you'll see which ones work for you the best.
Better sleep equals better mood, high levels of productivity, and keeps your immune system boosted. Your circadian rhythm is going to be on track again and you are going to wake up fresher and happier than yesterday.