I am going, to be honest, and tell you that at this moment my evening routine is not so great. A lot of things happened the last couple of weeks and I’ve been not taking care of myself. A while ago I was also really focused on improving my sleep. I was terrible at falling asleep and barely slept for a few hours every single night. I did manage to improve my sleep, although I still have bad nights.
But if you want to sleep better, you have to change your evening routine. Because you may be doing things in the evening that aren’t helping you to fall asleep. But don’t worry! I give you a few tips for a relaxing evening routine. And hopefully, after using these tips you will sleep better again.
7 tips for a relaxing evening routine
No screens
There are so many reasons why you shouldn’t look at screens in the evening too much. The most important reason to put your phones down at night is the blue light. There are many kinds of research about this and they all say the same thing, too much blue light in the evening is not great for your sleep quality. Even when you think it is not affecting you, there is still a chance that it is affecting you but you just don’t notice. If you look at screens in the evening and you wake up tired the next morning, try to use no screens in the evening (after 6-8 PM) for a week and see what happens. There are so many other things you can do at night like reading, taking care of yourself, going out for a walk or just talking with someone.
From being active to passive
I don’t know if you ever noticed, but when you are being active you will feel less tired. If I am walking around too much in the evening, I find it harder to fall asleep fast. Your body needs to go from being active to passive. This doesn’t mean you have to go to bed early. But doing everything very slowly and mindfully can help. And of course, thinking too much can keep you awake, so do things that are easy for your brain.
Journal/ Gratitude list
If you are not using screens in the evening and you have to slow down, you need simple hobbies. A great easy hobby could be journaling and writing gratitude lists. Journaling is great because you can write down all of your thoughts, which means you will overthink less and you will fall asleep faster. I do this when I am not able to fall asleep. I just write everything down and after that, I feel so much better and I fall asleep pretty fast.
Writing gratitude lists are great because it will help you to focus more on the positive side of life and one day you can read everything you wrote down and see all of the amazing things that happened to you.
Meditating
This might not be a thing for everyone. I am going, to be honest, and say I like meditating but I am not always in the mood for it. It is not my favourite thing to do. But I understand it can help you to calm yourself down and quiet the voice in your head. If you like meditating, do it in the evening because it can help you to fall asleep. They even say that it does not matter when you do this. So if you meditate in the morning it will benefit you and your sleep. If you are like me or when you are not a big fan of meditating, there are options. You can do some breathing exercises. Most of the people are breathing super shallow and too fast. If you breathe slowly, you will get energy during the day but it lowers your heart rate too and that will help you to fall asleep faster. But there are other options too like visualizing your dreams if you are into manifesting and the Law of Attraction.
Reading
This is my favourite and best tip because reading really helps me to relax and fall asleep fast and I sleep better when I read before bedtime. I go to bed early, because that is my favourite reading spot and I get comfortable and read for one or two hours every single night. First of all, this is a great tip if your TBR list is way too long. I know my list of books I want to read is super long. This way I read more books which is great. And maybe this is just me but reading makes me very sleepy. So for me, this is the perfect way to fall asleep.
Self-care moment
Before my reading session, I take care of myself. I put on my PJ’s and clean my face with micellar water but I really take the moment for this. When it is colder in the evening I make a hot water bottle that I will bring to bed to keep myself warm and cosy. The warmth also helps to make me sleepy. But I think we need a moment for ourselves at the beginning of the day and the end of the day and this is how I do it. And I also take one magnesium pill every night, this helps me to relax and I really notice a difference!
No exciting or scary movies/series
If you really want to watch something on Netflix, I would recommend something cosy like Gilmore Girls or Friends. I would not recommend watching something scary in the evening. This can make your heart rate higher and you want to lower your heart rate. But there are tons of great movies and series you can watch on Netflix. One of my recommendations would be (besides Friends and Gilmore girls) a nature documentary. I completely relax when I watch a documentary about life in the ocean. It is very comforting too.
I hope these tips will help you and let me know in the comments if you have more tips for other people who find it hard to fall asleep.
Photo by Lux Graves on Unsplash