When I was younger, close to every night I would read a book before falling asleep, and I remember getting the best sleep ever. Reading before bed would make everything feel calm and relaxed, which allowed me to truly decompress and ultimately sleepy. Before I began to read at night, I would lay in bed, tossing and turning, waiting to be able to finally fall asleep. I would constantly struggle with falling asleep as my mind would race back and forth between thoughts and I did not know how to make it easier to fall asleep. Now as I have gotten older, there has been more added to that routine, as well as lost, edited, rearranged and shifted.
My nightly routine now includes the pampering of the body and other methods to relax such as a skin routine, meditation, drinking tea, listening to mellow music, reading, knitting and/or staying off electronics at a certain time. It is all about what makes you feel at peace. Doing this can also be a form of self care. Your body knows that you are caring for it, putting you at ease when you perform these routines.
When you take care of yourself before going to bed, you are setting yourself up to have a good night’s sleep, leaving you refreshed, assured, and levelheaded when you wake. The key to perfecting your routine is to see what makes you feel decompressed — and to see how you feel when you wake up the next morning. When I laid in bed endlessly scrolling through my phone, I would not want to get off of it and that prevented me from trying to unwind. Technology, for me at least, puts me in a state of awareness because of the media I consume at such a high volume right before bed, and that makes my mind rapidly wander, rather than calming down. In addition to that, you then go to bed with the last taste as to what you just saw on your phone rather than your own personal thoughts. This conflicts with your body’s want to practically get closure for the day that was lived.
Having a nighttime routine helps you ground yourself and relieves you from the stress that life brings on. It is extremely important to be able to allow your body and mind to fully rest in order to completely recharge for the next day. What helps me is a warm shower, skincare (which does not contain much just washing my face and then moisturizing after), lighting candles, and reading a good book. As of right now, I have been leisurely reading Homo Deus by Yuval Noah Harari and The Talisman by Stephen King and Peter Straub. With a routine, your body knows when it is time to go to bed and rest. Habits are developed and hard to break, so creating one that is healthy and valuable is extremely important and beneficial.
In addition to a routine, getting a sufficient amount of sleep is an important aspect to this as well. Sleep is extremely important and something that should not be disregarded. With a nighttime routine, you will wake up absolutely recovered and energetic from these self care rituals.
So try it out, create your own routine, and remember it is about what you do that makes you feel complete and at peace and why it makes you feel that way. If you don’t know where to start, try playing some relaxing music before bed. Here are songs my roommates and I turn to when it’s time to get ready for bed…
- “2AM” by SZA
- “Pilot Jones” by Frank Ocean
- “Jealous” by Labrinth
- “hope is a dangerous thing for a woman like me to have – but I have it” by Lana Del Ray
- “White Ferrari” by Frank Ocean
- “Japanese Denim” by Daniel Caesar