The importance of a nighttime routine

You may think that bedtime or nightly routines are just for kids, but they aren’t. One of my goals for the year was to establish a better nightly routine that works for me. We talked about this in last week’s episode of our podcast SHEnanigans. I believe that it’s pretty essential to your mental hygiene as well.

Here are a few other benefits of a bedtime routine:

Help You Relax

After a long day, you need to relax, reflect and decompress and it’s hard to do that with a lot of distractions.

Eliminate or reduce sleep problems

For people like me who struggle with insomnia and difficulty getting up – especially as students, entrepreneurs, establishing a bedtime routine can help with this. It helps tell your body it’s time for rest and bed.

Establish consistency

After multiple nights of routine, it ultimately tells your body it’s time to go to sleep as I mentioned. It also helps you create consistency in life and stay on top of your game depending on what you include in yours.

You’re probably wondering, well what can I include in this routine that will do all of this? Well, it’s completely up to you, your needs and family structure. Those things will definitely guide what your routine will be.

Here are some ideas of what you could include in your routine:

• Turn off your electronic devices an hour to two hours before bed
• Practice relaxing exercises such as meditation, yoga and mindful breathing
• Journal using a prayer, goal or personal journal to have a daily brain dump or check in with yourself and goals
• Prepare for the next day by meal prepping and having your clothes picked out
• Complete your skin care regimen and include some moisturizers with chamomile
• Light candles or use an oil diffuser
• Go to bed early, at least by 15 min. This extra time will help you shut down your mind and fall asleep.

Do you have a bedtime routine? If so, what does it included? If not, what are some things you’re thinking about implementing?