An Easy Nighttime Routine to Change Your Life
Everyone is really into morning routines, with promises of overall wellbeing. While they can help improve your day, we miss out on an important only focusing on mornings; nighttime. A Nighttime routine is vital to improve health, both physical and mental.
If morning routines help set you up for success, nighttime routines will increase overall wellbeing tenfold. Not only will sleep improve, but you’ll also have more energy as soon as you wake up and throughout the rest of the day. Help yourself wake up on the right side of the bed with this easy nighttime routine.
Why Have a Nighttime Routine?
A routine starting in the evening can help you mind prep for bed, as it separates the day from night. It can help fight insomnia and will allow your quality of rest to increase. A lot of important processes happen while you sleep, including body repair and detoxification, so it is important to get quality rest to support the body.
Benefits
Having a night routine is great for mental health. Setting up a series of steps to do at night can help reduce stress, regulate melatonin, and fall asleep faster. It can even help you feel well resting in the morning, providing energy, a boost in concentration, and increased productivity.
An Easy Night Time Routine
Here is a simple nighttime routine sure to change your life for the better. These steps should be added seamlessly into the evening. They are easy to do and will help you
1. Start at Dinner
A nighttime routine can start as early as dinner time. It can start with eating a rich, nutrient-dense meal with healthy carbs, healthy fats, and protein. Meals higher in carbs can even help you get sleepier! Eat mindfully, meaning you don’t watch high-intensity television or anything too stimulating. You want to start to unwind the mind. Clean up afterward for a boost of dopamine from being productive.
2. Sunset Walks
Go for a short 10 to 30-minute walk after your dinner. This can accomplish three things. A short walk after eating helps with digestion. Second, walking is a lovely way to sneak in that daily exercise. Finally and most importantly, walking around this time can expose you to low levels of sun that will regulate your internal clock and prepare you for sleep. It’s like going outside when you wake up, being outside at sunset tells the body and mind it’s time to sleep soon.
3. Dim the Lights
After your walk, you don’t want to come back to harsh lighting. Dim the light to soft yellow lighting, turn off electronics that emit blue light, and start setting the vibe. Dimming the lights will also help continue to regulate your internal clock. The lack of harsh light allows the body to produce melatonin, the sleepytime hormone.
4. Calming Music
In this same vibe, set some calming music to further relax the mind. Playing loud upbeat music will likely hype you up, so music needs to be soft, slow, and not groovy. IAKA, it shouldn’t make you want to dance. Music can have an emotional effect on the mind too, so make sure the music isn’t sad or dramatic. Anything calming and relaxing will work! Try out a Zen playlist.
5. Skincare
Skincare is self-care. Try to use this time to build a skincare routine and do it mindfully. Take deep breaths, give yourself a gua sha massage, use science-backed ingredients, and skincare effectively.
Some skincare can even help soothe with ingredients like oat or chamomile. These are great ways to support the health of the skin while further relaxing you.
6. Warm Drink
A warm drink can help further soothe the body and mind. In fact, studies have found that people who drink a warm beverage before bed have improved quality of sleep and fall asleep faster.
Make sure the drink is not alcoholic, that it has no caffeine, and that it contains soothing ingredients like chamomile.
7. Brain Dump Journal
So, sometimes after a long day, we have a lot of thoughts, a lot of worries, and just a whole mess of things on our minds. A good way to reduce this is to write down all those thoughts. This way, they aren’t trapped in your head, you’re not overthinking them constantly, and you’re not worried about forgetting something important. Anything you write down you can sort through it in the morning. Much of the time, you’ll notice that these end-of-the-day thoughts were from stress, anxiety, or worry.
8. Brush Mindfully
Brush your teeth but do it mindfully! Take the time to be mindful and present in the moment. You’ve written any thought down, you can work through things in the morning, so just relax for these 2 minutes. Plus, check out some other ways to be mindful throughout the day here!
9. Tuck Yourself In
Keep the soft mood and tuck yourself in now. Research shows a cool room of about 65 degrees is beneficial for sleep. It helps to regulate your internal temperature for optimal sleep. Be sure you have a cozy blanket to keep warm.
10. Take Deep Breaths
Now that you’re in bed, you should be set to sleep! Take some deep breaths to help activate the parasympathetic nervous system. This is the system in the body that regulates you, calms you down, and relaxes you.
The Takeaway
A nighttime routine is a great way to boost overall wellness. It helps support quality sleep and even lets you wake up feeling more energized and rested. Best of all, this routine can be added easily, as it is not complex nor does it require a lot of time.
Remember health comes from within, so eat nutritious food, exercise daily, and take care of your mental health. The habits you cultivate become building blocks for health, emotional, mental, and physical. Take care of your gut health too for even more health benefits! Learn everything you need to know about gut microbiota today for free here.
