Night Routine: 15 Proven Tips to Get Highest Quality Sleep
Aside from the morning, there is another part of the day that is extremely important. Today I will share with you my night routine and little practices that make my life and sleep better.
After a stressful and hectic day, most of us just want to chill out, open a pack of chips, put deep-fried food in the microwave, drink a beer, and watch a few episodes of the latest Netflix series. This may sound tempting, but it’s also a productivity killer. Bad evening habits and lack of a nighttime routine can impair the productivity of the next day and worsen the quality of sleep. The significance of winding down is more important than we would like to think. Therefore, establishing good habits can make all the difference in how our next morning starts.
My Nighttime Routine
My nighttime routine starts around 5pm. Around that time, I finish with the last meal of the day and start preparing for the exercise. I train 4 times per week, and on days when I exercise, it’s usually for 60 minutes.
Following exercise, I stretch my body and take a cold shower.
I aim to go to bed around 8 or 9pm, ready to wind down. I usually talk with my wife about our lives and we have daily assessments each day to see if we’re going in the right direction, analyze what was good and what was not that day, and so on. This is also time to play with pets. We don’t watch TV series or movies on weekdays, so this special lounge time is reserved for Saturday night or Sunday afternoon when we gather with friends or family and watch it together so we can share that experience with others, and then talk about it afterward (if we watch a documentary).
Sometimes we work until 9 or 10pm but I don’t recommend it. It’s harder to have your own business than work for someone because you want to spend more than 8 hours doing it. Sometimes best ideas come to you at night or before bed, and you don’t want to lose them.
This is also the time to prepare a list of MITs (most important tasks) for the next day, so when I wake up I don’t have to think about what I need to do.
I try to get 6 to 7 quality hours of sleep per night.
Each person’s nighttime routine will be different. There is no one recipe, and you need to find yours. Your nighttime routine can last 10 minutes or 6 hours. You choose what to do to wind down from the stress of daily life.
I believe that having a good nighttime routine can make an enormous difference for the most important part of your day – your morning.
15 Proven Tips to Get Highest Quality Sleep
1. Reduce Fluid Intake
- In order to get the highest quality sleep possible, 60 to 90 minutes before bed reduce intake of all liquids.
2. Avoid Large Meals, Alcohol, and Caffeine Before Bed
- Avoid large meals before bed. Instead, if you’re hungry, opt for a light snack with carbs, protein, and good fat. Some examples may include yogurt, eggs, kiwi, oatmeal, nuts, banana, protein powder, etc. However, try to keep it light and under 200 calories.
- Is a recommendation to avoid drinking alcohol because it will impair sleep quality. There is evidence that alcohol consumption disrupts sleep, particularly the period of rapid eye movement (REM).
- Alcohol may aid with sleep onset due to its sedative properties, allowing you to fall asleep faster. However, people who drink before bed often experience disruptions later in their sleep cycle as liver enzymes metabolize alcohol.
- To ensure baby-like sleep, avoid caffeine in the late afternoon. For most people, it takes 4 to 6 hours to metabolize half of their caffeine consumption. If you drink a cup of coffee containing 100mg of caffeine at 10am (one 8-ounce cup), you will have as much as 25mg of caffeine in your system when you lay down at 10pm. So, if you have your next coffee around 4pm, you can count to have around 100mg of caffeine in your system at 10pm. However, the amount of time varies depending on your weight, age, and overall health.
3. Be Consistent
- Try to go to bed every night around the same time, including weekends (if possible).
- Wake up at the same time each morning. This can help set your circadian rhythm so you can naturally fall asleep at the same time each night and wake up at the same time each day.
4. Dark, Cool and Electronic Free
- Keep your bedroom dark, quiet and cool. Sleep foundation recommends the best temperature for the most comfortable sleep is approximately 18.3°C (65°F), but you can’t go wrong with a temperature between 15.6°C to 19.4°C (60 to 67°F), according to most doctors.
- Remove electronic devices from the room because they emit blue light that can disrupt melatonin production (hormone that makes us sleepy). The amount of melatonin in our bodies starts increasing in the evening and peaks in the middle of the night, letting us know it’s time to sleep.
- Unplug from all social media, TV series, movies, emails, etc. Set Airplane or Do Not Disturb mode for your computer, tablet, and smartphone, and don’t touch them anymore.
5. Move Your Body
- Being physically active during the day can help you fall asleep more easily at night. Regular exercise can improve memory and thinking skills, and increase time spent in deep sleep – the most physically restorative sleep phase. However, try not to exercise at least 1-2 hours before sleep to get the best shut-eye.
6. Beware of Daytime Naps
- Daytime naps count in total sleep time. If you really need them, try not to nap past 2pm and keep them under 20 minutes.
7. Read A Book or Try Journaling
- We all know the benefits of reading, but did you know that a good book before bed can reduce stress levels by a whopping 68%? When reading a good book, your mind is distracted from daily stresses and worries that cause tension. Reading also allows your muscles to relax and slows down your breathing, leaving you calmer and more ready for sleep.
- A journal provides a safe place to drop all that is weighing your mind. All the worries, problems, stressful situations, anxious thoughts, etc. of the day.
8. Meditate
- Meditation can help you relax physically and mentally. Mindfulness meditation, in particular, may help to release stress and tension and prepare you for a good night’s sleep. All those slow, deep breaths cue your body to slow down and relax.
9. Prepare Your Outfit for The Next Day
- Save some valuable time and willpower and choose your outfit the night before. This simple action will eliminate stress in the morning and make you ready faster. If you practice minimalism or have a uniform, it will be even easier. Discrete colors and timeless design are always in fashion.
- If you exercise in the morning, preparing gym clothes the night before can be a powerful motivator and eliminate laziness + you’ll have less time for excuses.
10. Create A Bedtime Ritual
- Create a bathroom routine that suits you best (pamper yourself as you wish).
- Connect with your loved ones, whether it’s your partner or kids. You can read to them, draw each other, laugh, talk about your dreams and goals, share highlights from your day, cuddle, and so on. Besides strengthening your bond and creating memories together, it’s an amazing activity that puts you in a better mood and prepares you for bed.
11. Make Time for Sex
- Research suggests that having an orgasm before sleep can aid and improve your sleep because it triggers oxytocin release (aka the love hormone). Kissing and cuddling do the same.
- However, you don’t need a partner to add sex to your nighttime routine. Solo orgasms are perfectly fine to relax and make yourself sleepy.
12. Dim The Lights and Try Aromatherapy
- By now you probably know that blue light is bad before sleep. Avoid all electronics, but also bright lights as this can signal your body that it’s not yet time for sleep. Turn a dimmer a few hours before going to bed, or consider replacing light bulbs with ones that produce warm light like red, yellow, orange, or amber.
- Use a few drops of essential oil in a diffuser or on a pillow (lavender, chamomile, bergamot, valerian, sandalwood, and jasmine oils are considered calming fragrances that can promote restful sleep).
13. Make A To-Do List for The Next Day
- I use MIT (most important tasks) technique where I list the 3 most important tasks for the next day. Making a paper To-Do list day before can help you relax and prepare for better productivity the next morning. A good To-Do list can free your mind from running through a mental version of it, thus helping you sleep more peacefully.
14. Change into Night Clothes
- Your work clothes prepare your mind for activities during the day. Leisure or sportswear does the same. That’s why is important to have night clothes that can shift your mind toward relaxation. Choose comfortable clothes based on personal style.
15. Set Alarm
- The single best thing anyone can do for a calm, healthy sleep is to choose a time in the morning to wake up. See tip 3: Be consistent.
Final Words
Create a personalized nighttime routine that will help you get better sleep, allowing you to wake up refreshed and ready to tackle the day.
Remember: Perfect morning starts the day before.
If you have any tips or tricks for better sleep, share them with me in the comments below.
Cheers!
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