Your Guide to a Stress-Reducing Bedtime Routine
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Introduction
Is stress making it difficult for you to get a good night’s sleep? If you answered yes, you’re not alone.
An estimated 30% to 40% of adults in the United States get less sleep than they should. What many people don’t realize is that stress is a significant factor in getting adequate sleep.
This is because it can be difficult for you to rest your mind enough to sleep after the stress of work and family obligations during the day.
Adding fuel to the fire, people often don’t take enough time to properly care for their minds and bodies.
If this sounds familiar, this blog post is for you!
Years ago, before I had a bedtime routine, I had a lot of issues sleeping. I had to take a sleeping pill every night to fall asleep. One of the biggest downsides to doing this was that I often woke up drowsy and groggy.
Getting into a bedtime routine helped me relax my mind so that, eventually, I didn’t need to take anything to help me sleep anymore.
Now I can fall asleep right when I lay down in bed. I also have a more restful sleep and wake up feeling energized!
A bedtime routine is essential to destressing before bed for better sleep.
What is a Bedtime Routine?
A bedtime routine is activities you do each night before bed. Usually, a bedtime routine starts between 30 minutes and 2 hours before you go to bed. The time depends on the activities that are in your bedtime routine as well as your bedtime.
Bedtime routines are different for everyone. They often include calming activities to prepare the mind and body for sleep.
We’ll look at some example bedtime routine activities later in this blog post.
Bedtime Routine and Stress
Besides affecting sleep, stress can have a host of negative impacts on your life, including:
Irritability
Muscles tension
Pain
Headaches
Low energy
Reduced sex drive
Stomach issues
Anger
Feeling overwhelmed
Restlessness
Social withdrawal
Overeating
Undereating
Weight gain
High blood pressure
Not taking care of yourself
This is why it’s essential to do everything you can to help manage stress.
Having a bedtime routine is an effective solution to help you reduce feelings of stress for more restful sleep.
How?
We, as humans, like habits and routines. Bedtime routines help you establish stress-reducing habits before bed that will help your brain recognize when it’s time to sleep.
Bedtime routines also help with the worrisome thoughts that keep you up at night. Stressful thoughts can cause trouble falling asleep and staying asleep.
Following a bedtime routine can keep your mind focused on your relaxing bedtime routine activities. This will help prevent you from thinking about the worries and stressors of the day so that you can relax instead.
Stress-Reducing Bedtime Routine
So, we have looked at why it’s essential to have a bedtime routine to destress for better sleep.
Now, let’s look at some practical tips you can add to your bedtime routine.
These tips are broken out into:
Things you can do to prepare for the next morning.
Things to prepare your sleep environment.
Things that will help you wind down.
Things that will help you drift off to sleep.
Things you can do to prepare for the next morning
Preparing and planning for the next day ahead of time will help you relax at night when it’s time for bed.
This step can help set a positive tone for your entire day!
1. Make a to-do list
Spend a few minutes each night writing a to-do list for the next day. This can help you avoid thinking about everything you need to do the next day when trying to fall asleep. A to-do list can also help you feel more in control of tomorrow before it begins!
You can make your to-do list in the notes on your phone, use an app, or use good old-fashioned pen and paper!
2. Do Morning Tasks the Night Before
What are some of the morning tasks that you could do the night before?
Spending even 15 to 30 minutes each night preparing for the next day can help prevent rushed, stressful mornings. It can also promote a more relaxed and peaceful mind before bedtime.
To prevent the hectic morning rush and reduce bedtime stress, you can do some of the following the night before:
Set up the things you will need for breakfast.
Pack your work or school bag.
Make your lunch.
Load or unload the dishwasher and put away the dishes.
Set out your clothes for the next day.
Gather things, such as your keys, purse, or wallet, in one place.
Set out your workout clothes.
Think of anything that takes time in the morning that you could do the night before!
Things to prepare your sleep environment
Preparing your sleep environment before bed will help your body and mind better adjust to sleeping. Your bedroom should be a welcoming, stress-free place where you can unwind.
1. Aromatherapy
Try diffusing calming essential oils such as lavender, chamomile, or rose.
2. Reduce Clutter
Looking at clutter can generate feelings of stress. This stress can make it more difficult to fall asleep.
It can help to spend a few minutes each day tidying up your bedroom so that items don’t become overwhelming clutter.
3. Banish Electronics from your Bedroom
TV keeps your mind stimulated. This can prevent your body from regulating sleep properly.
Your laptop, phone, and tablet also prevent you from destressing before bed for better sleep.
The motions and lights from electronics keep you awake. They also distract you from doing relaxing activities before bed that will actually help you sleep.
These distractions that can cause stress before bed include:
Working or checking emails
Checking social networks
Surfing the internet
Since using electronics before bed can increase stress, try to ban electronics about an hour before bed.
It can be helpful to put your electronics where you cannot reach them while you’re in bed.
You can also put your phone on silent or airplane mode so you are not disturbed.
I have a do not disturb setting on my iPhone that blocks out unimportant notifications starting at 8:00 each night.
I have it set so that only messages from approved contacts will come through.
If you do use electronics close to bed, blue light blocking glasses are helpful.
Things that will help you wind down
Doing calming and relaxing activities before bed will help your body and mind start to wind down and prepare for a restful sleep.
It’s best to do an activity that helps you wind down before you go to bed, rather than going straight from doing a stressful activity, such as working, right to bed.
Having an evening of calming activities helps you avoid overstimulating your body and mind close to bedtime.
It’s best to have a set time to start your bedtime routine activities. Try starting between 30 minutes to 2 hours before bed. Set a reminder if you need help remembering.
1. Cut off caffeine early
Caffeine can give you jitters and make it difficult to sleep. That’s why it’s important not to have caffeine close to bedtime.
Try cutting out caffeine after lunch so that the caffeine doesn’t disturb your sleep.
2. Yoga
The slow and controlled breathing done in yoga helps you sleep better.
3. Listen to calming music
Playing soft and soothing music before bed can help improve your mood and reduce stress before bedtime. This can help with better sleep.
It’s best to look for music that’s slow and without lyrics.
4. Walking
Going for a walk every day does more than improve your physical health. Walking can help increase the effects of melatonin, a sleep hormone.
5. Stretching
Stretching helps to focus your attention on your body and your breath rather than your stressful day. It can also improve mindfulness. Mindfulness can help reduce stress for better sleep.
6. Journaling
Writing down your thoughts helps you get them out so that you don’t keep thinking about them while trying to sleep. It can also help you think of solutions to things that are worrying you.
You can also write things down that you’re grateful for. Studies show that expressing gratitude promotes peace and helps reduce stress.
7. Schedule Worry Time
Set aside a specific time each day to worry. This will help you address the causes of your worries so that it does not get out of control.
This will also help you not worry about things right before bed, which can affect your sleep.
8. Reading
Reading relaxes your body and mind to help you fall asleep. Reading lets you take your mind off your stressors by thinking about something else.
9. Meditation
Meditating regularly can help you relax both physically and mentally. It can help improve your ability to release the day’s stress and tension. This will help you prepare for restful sleep.
I love the meditations from Circle & Bloom. They have meditations for everything from trying to conceive to reaching your goals!
Things that will help you drift off to sleep
Now that you have prepared for the next day, prepared your sleep environment, and done your wind-down activities, it’s time to drift off to sleep.
1. Visualization
Visualization helps you create peaceful scenes that will help your mind rest. It can also help distract you from worrying about the day ahead.
For example, you could imagine you’re on a beach with the sound of the waves coming up against the shore.
2. Think Positive Thoughts
Worrying while you are lying in bed will increase feelings of stress and keep you awake.
Instead of worrying, try thinking of positive things that happened during the day. You can also think about something that you are looking forward to.
It can also help to think of things that you’re grateful for. This can promote a sense of peace and calmness.
You can also try to repeat a relaxing affirmation in your head, such as “I feel relaxed.”
3. Sleep Sounds
Try listening to white noise. You can even do sleep stories. They have them for adults! Both white noise and sleep stories can lower stress and induce relaxation for better sleep.
Conclusion
Having adequate, quality sleep is crucial for the wellness of your mind and body. But a good night’s sleep can be hard to come by, especially when stressed.
The good news is that there are several things you can do to help reduce stress before bedtime to promote better sleep.
You don’t have to try all the tips mentioned in the blog post all at once.
Start with implementing 1 or 2 of these sleep-promoting activities at a time. If you don’t like something you’ve tried, you can try something else.
Once you have gotten into a routine with 1 or 2 activities that work for you, you can try adding 1 or 2 more activities.
Setting a relaxing bedtime routine will help you melt the day’s stresses away. This will help you fall asleep so that you can tackle the mornings with confidence and energy!
Writing down your bedtime routine activities will help you start and stick to your new stress-busting bedtime habits.
That’s why I want to offer you our FREE printable Bedtime Routine Checklist download!
Check off each activity as you do it every night, and soon you'll be feeling relaxed, rested, and re-energized to start your day!
Download it below and make bedtime easier!
