Sometimes the difference between having an excellent day at work and otherwise is having a fantastic sleep. This is only usually possible if we have a great night and bedtime routine; at times, the stress of work throughout the week and even life stresses can prevent us from getting the sleep we definitely deserve. However, it is possible to combat poor sleep and general sleep struggles by developing a bedtime routine.
There are many different benefits to having a night or bedtime routine. These include – and are not limited to – helping with relaxation, helping build routine, keeping us mindful of our daily chores, and helps us take care of ourselves overall. Perhaps the most important factor to consider when building a nightly routine is how mindful you want to be – this can often affect how good your sleep is. You don’t want to be struggling to sleep after having overthought; it’s all about finding the perfect balance! Keep reading to find out some of our suggestions to help you create a mindful bedtime routine.
Enjoy preparing dinner
We all know that one of the best ways to relax and quite literally simmer down from life is to cook or to thoroughly prepare a lovely meal. For night and bedtime routines, this is much the same idea. Having a healthy evening routine can be difficult, especially when you don’t have hobbies or much around to do. However, most of us love dinner time. It’s a fantastic time to spend with our friends or family and it is here where we truly reap the benefits of being mindful.
We recommend that you take the time to prepare dinner and be mindful of the process. Preparing and cooking food is a great way to forget daily stresses and worries as you’re directly focusing on the task at hand. Choosing what to have and measuring ingredients and so on are great parts of the mindful cooking process. This is a great way to begin the nightly routine – just remember to not have dinner too late!
Yoga
No matter what type of exercise you prefer, this is another great way to be mindful. We recommend that you try yoga as part of the nightly routine as it is very relaxing and known for its mindful properties. Yoga is also known to help with digestion because the practice involves a lot of movement. You’re stretching muscles you’ve not used in a while which, in turn, increases circulation and healthy digestion.
Research has suggested that yoga is a fantastic way to relax the whole body and wind down for great sleep, night after night. Experts suggest that it helps us relieve stresses and worries as it acts as a release mechanism to rid your body of all mental and physical annoyances before bed. None of us wants to take any of this to bed with us! Some of the core benefits of night time yoga include improving sleep and promoting relaxation. Yoga doesn’t have to be very difficult, and you specifically do not have to be a yogi expert to reap the benefits of the process. Breathe in good vibes for sleeping and breathe out stresses and worries.
Journaling
Another excellent hobby to bring into your bedtime routine is that of journaling. Journaling has been used as a great way to, again, relieve the body of stress and promote relaxation. This is because the process of journaling helps us reflect on what is bothering us and helps increase our creativity levels to come up with ways to combat our issues. We are big lovers of journaling because it is a very mindful process and also allows us to remember what we are thankful for.
This is also a fantastic way to set our plans and goals for the future. Night time is often the ultimate opportunity for us to overthink and worry that we won’t meet all these deadlines. Journaling or keeping a diary is a great coping mechanism to relay all of our stresses onto paper so they’re not cooked up in our heads while we sleep. Getting our thoughts on paper is a very healthy hobby to pick up.
Skin and mouth care
Some of us are very guilty for quickly brushing our teeth and diving into bed to browse our mobile phones for hours on end. This is actually a fairly unhealthy way to get ready for bed closer to the time. We suggest that you should make your bedtime routine as loving and caring as possible. This way, you’re taking care of yourself while equally being mindful. A lot of the time, work and the stresses of everyday life are too much to find time to relax. Have you ever thought about increasing your you-time in the bathroom?
Taking a bath or a shower is a lovely way to wind down and relax. As well as this, we also believe you should take some more time for yourself when doing your night time skin-care routine and oral hygiene. Choose a few more products to add to your routine and your skin will thank you in the future. As well as this, you can also perfect your smile while you sleep. There are possibilities to get night time clear aligners or clear braces to straighten our teeth while we sleep. If you’re interested in adding aligners into your nightly routine, get your night clear braces from alignerco.com.
Opt-in for a book
We all know the drill – turn off our phones and other electronics a couple of hours before bed. What if we don’t want too? Consuming content from different social media platforms is a great way to set ourselves up for a night of bad sleep. Consuming so much content at once can be detrimental to our mental health and even affect the quality of our sleep in the process. As much as we love scrolling every day, experts recommend that we ditch our phones and opt-in for a book instead. Books provide an engaging platform for us to explore another world and engage our imaginations.
There is an allowance for audiobooks too – but it becomes annoying when you wake up and you’ve finished the entire book. Remember to set a sleep timer! Ditching the phones and choosing a book instead will keep us mindful of our sleeping patterns. Reading at night becomes even more beneficial for us as we continue to do it. This is because our minds and bodies soon associate sleeping with reading at night. With this, we become sleepier as a result.
Switch off
So, to switch off at night, we urge you to literally switch off. This includes your phone, T.V., laptops, worries, stresses and all the rest. The difference between having a great sleep and finding yourself continuously staring at the ceiling as the hour’s pass can have a huge effect on us. Especially if we are used to waking up at the same time every morning. Sometimes strict times for going to bed and waking up simply aren’t enough.
This article has composed some of the different factors you can include in your bedtime routine. What will you choose? Here’s to good sleep!
