3 Steps to Creating an Evening Routine That Leads to Good Sleep
If you struggle getting consistently good sleep, you’re not alone. One study found that over two-thirds of adults in the United States struggled with sleep at least once a week, and nearly a quarter had trouble falling asleep or staying asleep most nights.
Sleep, however, is a key part of our overall health, so it should be made a priority. One way to do so is set a routine so the body knows that it’s time for sleep at the same time each night.
Centers Health Care has a three-step plan on how you can set an evening routine to help get to sleep faster.
- What Relaxes You?
You will want to identify what makes you feel most relaxed and helps you wind down the best. That could be taking a hot shower or bath, reading a book, meditating, or writing in a journal. No matter the activity, you want it to be relaxing and an enjoyable way to end your day.
- Create a Schedule
Sleep experts say you should fill the last hour of your day with three relaxing activities that take 20 minutes each. The first segment should be filled with something productive that reduces stress (anything from setting clothes out for the next day or writing in a journal), use the next 20 minutes for hygiene, and the final 20 minutes for a true relaxation activity, which could be reading, meditating, or praying. This routine can train your body to relax and get itself ready for sleep, and doing the same thing every night further establishes that pattern in your system.
- What You Should Avoid
While what won’t work for some people may work for others, in general, there are activities to avoid in the hour before bed.
- Exercising to where your heart rate increases.
- Drinking caffeinated beverages.
- Using blue-light devices (phones, tablets, or even watching TV) because they can trick your system into thinking it’s daytime and stop production of melatonin in the body.
- Keeping the bedroom too hot. We tend to sleep better and deeper in cooler enviornments.
