7 Practices for a Great Night Of Sleep
The optimal bedtime routine.
Last night, I couldn’t fall asleep.
I was tossing and turning for hours, which is odd for me considering I wrote a whole book on sleep. But it got me thinking about my bedtime routine. Bedtime routines are key to a good night of sleep. And mine has been slipping.
Which led me to the conclusion of what the absolute best bedtime routine is.
The Absolute Best Bedtime Routine
Okay, here it is:
The absolute best bedtime routine is: The one you can actually stick to.
Yeah, it’s great to have an elaborate bedtime routine that sets you up for an amazing night of sleep.
But if you can only follow that a few nights a week, it’s not going to be very helpful. And then your routine will probably go out the window on those other nights.
The key is to have an easy routine that you can stick to every single night. No matter what. No matter if you’re traveling, if you’re up later than usual, if it’s winter, if it’s summer.
The key is actually doing your routine.
But, I will cover some good things to include in your bedtime routine to optimize your sleep.
Practices to Include in Your Bedtime Routine
1. Avoid Screens
An obvious one that we’ve all heard, but worth reiterating nonetheless.
Screens emit blue light which is detrimental to sleep quality. Even using night mode on your devices only sees a tiny improvement on the overall effect screens can have.
You’re better off avoiding screens altogether. I’ve noticed on my digital detox days that I have the most incredible nights of sleep. I haven’t used a screen all day, I spent the evening winding down without any bright, stimulating lights, and my sleep quality is like no other time.
When the blue light sensors in our eyes detect blue light, it sends a message to our brain to stop producing melatonin and to start producing cortisol, our stress hormone. This is a huge issue when we are trying to get our bodies ready for bed. Melatonin is essentially the driver of sleep, and good quality sleep relies on the adequate production of melatonin.
The best guideline is to avoid all screens after sunset. Using screens before the sun goes down is fine, as we’ll be getting blue light from the sun anyway. But once the sun is set, ensure that you at least have your night mode on and wear some blue light blocking glasses as well.
But your best bet is to avoid screens altogether. Find a soft, red/orange lamp and read a book, play a game with your family, meditate, pat the dog, whatever you want to do that will help you wind down for sleep without the use of a screen.
2. Avoid Overhead Lights
Overhead lights mimic the sun, and when your body thinks the sun is up, you’ll be more alert and awake.
If you need light, use warm-colored lamps and/or candles. Think about what our ancestors would have experienced — the soft warm glow of the fire they were sitting around. Emulating this as much as possible will be highly beneficial for your sleep.
As with screens, avoid overhead lights once the sun is down. You need to signal to your body that it’s evening and it’s time to wind down for sleep. You don’t want to be turning off the overhead lights right before you get into bed:
“We evolved to get a rush of energy… when the sun began to set. This was very helpful to our ancestors…. [They] got a fresh rush of energy just as the light waned so they could safely get back to their tribe and finish the things they needed to do that day. But now we control the light. We decide when sunset happens. So if we keep bright lights switched on right until the moment we decide to go to sleep, or we watch TV on our phones in bed, when we switch them off we accidentally trigger a physical process — our bodies think this sudden waning of the light is the arrival of sunset, so they release a rush of fresh energy to help you get back to your cave.” — Johann Hari, Stolen Focus
3. Have a hot shower or bath
For quality sleep, we want our core temperature to drop a little bit. Having a hot shower or bath leads to your blood moving toward your extremities, which results in a lowered core temperature, ideal for sleep.
This helpful article explains this process:
“Soaking in a warm bath will raise your body temperature, and exiting will more rapidly cool it down, thus instigating the production of melatonin, and better preparing you for sleep.”
If possible, try to have a warm bath or shower before bed. If you normally shower at a different time of day, just have a quick warm rinse. You don’t need to be in the shower for a long period of time.
4. Avoid food at least 2 hours before bed
The issue with eating close to bedtime is that digesting food takes time and energy. Your body will drop all its pre-bed activities to digest this late-night snack, and therefore your body won’t be fully prepared for sleep when the time comes. The body will be digesting late into the night, taking resources away from other vital nighttime tasks such as muscle recovery and memory consolidation.
Dr. Satchin Panda, the author of The Circadian Code, has a wealth of knowledge on this topic. I will let him explain more:
“We should have our last meal at least 2 to 4 hours before going to bed to ensure that the body is able to cool down…. The same food that would have taken a couple of hours to digest at 6:00pm takes longer to digest at 8:00 because you are outside of that optimal 10-hour window…. Eating late at night is by far the worst choice you can make, and it will totally defeat any benefits you achieved throughout the day. First, snacking late at night disrupts the digestive clock: you reignite your metabolism in your gut, liver, and throughout your body. In this sense, you are literally waking the body when it is meant to be slowing down, cooling down, and getting ready for sleep.”
5. Drink tea mindfully
This is something you might already have in your routine, which makes it even easier. You can use anything — hot chocolate, juice, wine, soda, even a snack. The point is to consume it mindfully, if only for a few minutes.
I highly recommend listening to some coffee and tea meditations. You won’t have to listen to these every time you have a cup of tea, but the foundations they will teach you can be implemented.
Thich Nhat Hanh explains this well:
“Something as simple and ordinary as drinking a cup of tea can bring us great joy and help us feel our connection to the Earth. The way we drink our tea can transform our lives if we truly devote our attention to it. Sometimes we hurry through our daily tasks, looking forward to the time when we can stop and have a cup of tea. But then when we’re finally sitting with the cup in our hands, our mind is still running off into the future and we can’t enjoy what we’re doing; we lose the pleasure of drinking our tea. We need to keep our awareness alive and value each moment of our daily life…. Drinking a cup of tea is a pleasure we can give ourselves every day. To enjoy our tea, we have to be fully present and know clearly and deeply that we are drinking tea.”
Pay attention to the tea. Feel the warmth of the mug, enjoy the aroma, watch the steam, savor the taste. Use the tea as a cue to be mindful, and to check in with your body and mind.
Every time I have a cup of tea or coffee, I pause. I feel the warmth between my hands. I watch the steam rising. I breathe in the aroma. My first few sips are slow and purposeful.
Then, I return to drinking normally. This doesn’t have to be a long process. Even a minute or two of mindfulness before you start drinking will reap massive benefits.
6. Journal
Journaling is powerful at any time of day. I do most of my journaling in the morning to plan, but also do a brief session at the end of the day to reflect and consider what’s been on my mind throughout the day.
This is the perfect opportunity to sit in stillness and pay attention to your mind and body. What are your thoughts doing? How does your body feel? What emotions are you experiencing? Write them down.
This will help you to not only be mindful of how you are feeling before you go to sleep, but will likely also help you sleep better, because any pressing thoughts or ideas will be down on a piece of paper and not running around in your mind.
There are many forms of journaling you can do, but it’s often helpful to review your day — the things you did, your successes, the challenges you faced, the thoughts you had. And then to plan for the day ahead — what do you need to get done tomorrow?
I like to rapid log (a bullet journal technique) my day — I have half-hour blocks of time and I write what I did in each of them. I find it helpful to see where my time went each day and to be able to look back on my days and see what I did. Then I write my top 3 wins of the day, one thing I am grateful for, one thing I am looking forward to tomorrow, and the one thing I need to get done tomorrow. I then have a space for free-form journaling where I can write about anything that’s been on my mind that day.
This was an important exercise for the Stoics, who would sit down at the end of each day and analyze their actions and thoughts, and think about how they could be better the next day. The evening is the perfect time to consider where you went wrong, and also to recognize what you did well.
Epictetus said,
“Allow not sleep to close your wearied eyes,
Until you have reckoned up each daytime deed:
“Where did I go wrong? What did I do? And what duty’s left undone?”
From first to last review your acts and then
Reprove yourself for wretched [or cowardly] acts, but rejoice in those done well.”
— Discourses, 3.10.2–3
7. Tidy your sleep space
A calm space will lead to a calm mind.
Now is the perfect time to tidy up your sleep space and make sure it reflects the stillness needed for a good night of sleep. Having a space where you feel safe and comfortable is vital. Ideally, you want a clutter-free, plain room, with nothing except the essentials in it. Make sure your nightstand is clear. Have something that makes you feel safe nearby — whether a photo of a loved one, a particular blanket or pillow, or anything else that is comforting.
These mindless tasks are a great way to help switch your mind off and wind down for sleep. You can also get your clothes out for the following day, pack your bag, make your lunch, or do whatever else will make things easier on yourself in the morning. You’ll be able to go to sleep knowing that everything is in order and ready for the next day.
There is no one optimal routine, no matter what people tell you.
The best routine is the one you can stick to every single night. This will be different for everybody. But it’s crucial to find something that is both sustainable and effective for you and your unique situation.
Make an effort to create a bedtime routine, and you are guaranteed to improve your quality of sleep.
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