4th January – bedtime routine
Have a bedtime routine (go to bed!)
When you are tired in the evening, listen to your body and go to bed. It sounds so simple, doesn’t it? But we distract ourselves from going to bed, without even meaning to. I often think to myself “right, I’m going to have an early night tonight”, but it’s often followed by “I’ll go to bed right after I’ve done…” and then something gets in the way. It might be getting the washing out of the machine, or stacking the dishwasher, or picking up that odd sock off the floor, but then that needs putting away, and on the way I find a pair of shoes left lying around, and a jacket slung over a chair that needs hanging up. And whilst I’m doing that I remember that one of the kids needs a form filling in that can’t wait any longer and I’ve forgotten the dinner money so I just log on to quickly do that too, and when I log on I find an important work email that just can’t wait… and before I know it it is over an hour later and my early night has turned into another late one.
Tonight is another good example, I come home from work from a long day on-call, I am absolutely shattered. What my body and brain need is to wind down and to go to sleep. But what I actually do is turn the TV on and watch episodes of a boxset to “relax” and scroll through social media. An episode or two later I’m not any more relaxed and I’m even more tired and I’ll try to go to bed but it’ll take a while to nod off.
On a good day I do have a routine: time to wind down, have a warm drink, do a mindfulness practice, maybe even read for a bit if I’m having a really good day. But somehow, it’s more difficult to do on those days when I’m more tired and more busy.
So, right now this moment (it’s 21:30), I am going to put this into practice. The more often we practice good habits, the more likely they are to stick.
Good bedtime routine habits:
🌙Dim lights in the evening
🌙Avoid screens for at least an hour (ideally 90mins) before bed
🌙Go to bed at the same time each evening
🌙Warm bath before bed
🌙avoid alcohol in the 2hrs before bed
🌙Room temperature comfortable for sleeping
🌙keep the bedroom for sleep & sex only – no phone/tv/tablet etc
Wishing you all a good night’s sleep, Zzzzz…
