5 beginner keys to a good night routine (FREE)

A good night routine is just as important as a good morning routine and too often gets overlooked. In the same way that structuring your morning brings productivity to the rest of your day, structuring your night leads to more restful sleep so that you can go to sleep faster, sleep deeper, and wake up feeling refreshed. Here are the 5 beginner keys:

#1: ALARM

As much as we all hate the concept of an alarm, its value has stood the test of time for a reason. Setting an alarm (with a relaxing sound) at night primes our brain for sleep and also keeps us accountable in the evenings to avoid bedtime procrastination (an all too common habit for many busy people). This link in our brains between sounds and situations has been supported in many studies (most famously with Pavlov's famous experiment on classical conditioning). The main difference between the morning and night alarm, however, is that the morning alarm results in immediate action whereas the night alarm acts as a smooth transition into getting in a more restful state. After this alarm goes off, it leads us to key #2.

#2: Lighting

Lighting is the ultimate vibe cultivator. Good lighting can set the mood for any situation, including restfulness. Once the alarm goes off, turn of the LED and bright lights. Turn on something dimmer and calmer — yellow, blue, red, or green. This will not disrupt your circadian rhythm as you get ready for bed and help to relieve you of stress, resulting in taking less time to fall asleep.

#3: Shower (morning or night)

Temperature plays a large role in your level of sleepiness. A warmer environment relaxes you. A colder environment wakes you up. That is why a brisk cold morning walk can feel the same as drinking a cup of coffee. If you shower at night, make sure to do so with warm or hot water. This will relax you, and the steam will clear you sinuses so that you can breath freely while sleeping. It is frustrating to fall asleep with a stuffy nose, and a hot shower can easily resolve that. Also, being clean as you sleep in your bed keeps your bed cleaner and helps with acne management. BONUS (for the morning routine article): If you shower in the morning, make sure to do a quick, cold shower. This will get your adrenaline pumping and energize you in a way far differently than coffee can. This strategy can also be used to get a similar pick-me-up alternative to coffee as soon as you wake up when you attempt to give up coffee in the first hour of your day (as discussed in the morning routine article on this website).

#4: DON'T SPILL THE TEA

NO DRAMA BEFORE YOU GO TO SLEEP! . . . Okay, while this is true (ruminating could unfold and leave you restless), I am referring to actual tea. Drinking certain teas before bed can calm you with their herbal properties. Many people swear by chamomile tea, but I have found that this tea does not work for everyone since it is only one herb. An alternative that works for a larger audience? A herbal blend tea. That way, if one herb does not relax you for some reason you have a multitude of other herbs that will likely do the trick. I also find that herbal blends slowly bring you to a calm sleep, whereas chamomile can feel more immediate. This drastic energy shift can put some people off from their calm state.

#5: Meditate

A brief 10-minute meditation before bed can help you close the loop on thoughts that have been running through your head during the day and provide closure to your day. If life is a book, each day is a chapter, and meditation is finishing the last page of every chapter. Let go of issues outside of your control. And if they persist in the morning, meditation lets you solve them in your subconscious dream state while you're sleeping. Meditation will also make you more aware of your breathing, help you relax, and identify if your nose is clogged before your head hits the pillow. An alternative to standard meditation is listening to a 'SleepCast' (I recommend using the Headspace app. It is where the animation above came from. Check out Headspace here). The app has a variety of audio you play in the background as you fall asleep. The settings described are calming and done so in a calming voice. This can be beneficial, especially because you can focus your attention on relaxing instead of the barrage of thoughts running through your mind as you try to sleep.

If this has been valuable and you would like to develop your own individually curated night routine, please reach out to me via this website! And gain access to the advanced keys to a GREAT night routine.