Do You Have a Bedtime Ritual?
When Alexandra and I get together, the conversation naturally (and frequently) goes like this…
Food, psychology, health, exercise, beauty, ayurveda, sex, stress, and sleep. (Oh, and astrology.) Those are like the basic-cable channels we flip between: once we get to sleep, we go back to food. Cycle, repeat, cycle, repeat.
I’m of the mind that feeling your best really requires a combination of all of these things, but if I had to pick a single one as the most important of all, I’d pick sleep.
The data on the importance of sleep is incontrovertible: We need it, we need it consistently, and there are specific things—like a routine, black-out blinds, white noise, cool climes—that optimize it. In the absence of good sleep, science says we are at the mercy of cascading hormones that trigger food cravings, cause irritability, lack of focus, emotional fluctuations, and sap our energy—making it harder to do all those other things we know help us feel our best.
A few years ago, I realized I’m one of those 8-hour people. I need my 8 hours, and a disruption of more than a couple days tends to result in undesirable consequences like bad skin and an even worse mood. As such, I try as best I can to be consistent—without forsaking things like, you know, enjoying myself.
I’m not a crazy person about it, but it does take discipline and rigor to keep it up because as anyone who loves a good time knows: there’s always more fun to be had, always one more hour of Housewives, one more chapter to read, one more glass to raise, one more hour of conversation to indulge in.
So in order to keep my sleep consistent, I seem to have, over time, created a bed-time ritual. There are like five things I do every night, and they’re kind of corny and a little embarrassing, but suffice to say somehow, without even noticing it, I’ve created a ritual that totally works! I guess it’s my way of telling my brain: There’s time for activity, and there’s time for sleep. This is the latter.
Some of the things I do every night: I power down all my electronics and turn off the power strip connected to my internet and my giant television; I turn on my fan (even in the winter—homegirl likes her white noise!); I drink some water; I send nice thoughts in my head to people I love or to people who need it.
So now I ask you: What is your non-negotiable-if-you-had-to-pick-just-one-ticket-to-health habit?
And when it comes to sleep: Do YOU have a bedtime ritual?
Sleep is mine too! I am 23 and while most of my friends thrive on late nights out, I MUST get my sleep. I prefer feeling healthy in the morning over staying up late. I also absolutely cannot drink coffee no matter how much I love it because of my high sensitivity to it. It makes me feel drunk, and not in a good way! So as long as I sleep enough and stay away from coffee, I’m set!
Awesome post! Sleep is soooo important, physiologically, emotionally, just all-around. My bedtime ritual includes some good hamstring stretches and taking a few moments to thank the universe for my family, then some reading until I just cannot keep my eyes open a second longer. About a year ago I realized that for the first time in probably 10 years I was sleeping through the night. First it was my son being little enough to wake up at least once in the night, then it was my very old dog waking me up to 5 times a night. With all those years, it took me about two weeks of actually sleeping well to realize why I felt different. And what a difference! So, sleep is major, but…
My standard one-ticket answer would be yoga. I do it every day. It changed my life when I started it several years ago. But even if I’m doing yoga, if I don’t eat well I just don’t feel well.
For me I think the true one-ticket-to-health is eating vegan/raw/gluten-free. I need only 6-7 hours of sleep (and it’s good quality) when I’m eating well. My skin is better. My digestive system actually works. I rarely get sick, and if I do it’s minor compared to before. My hormones are less crazy. My body is generally more capable and my mind more at peace.
I think everyone needs a basic eat well/exercise/sleep well routine to live our best life. The details can be different for each of us.
I do, I do, I think about what will i do the next day and what happened today or one bar of chocolate :)
I totally have started doing this and it has helped me fall asleep almost instantly. I power off all my electronics, and I actually turn off as many lights as I possibly can. I obviously do the brush teeth, wash face, take out contacts thing, but then I let myself just relax in bed, not trying to sleep, but just relaxing in the quiet before officially going to bed. It’s like powering down for the night.
Also Carynn I feel you on the coffee/caffeine thing. I drink warm lemon water in the morning though, which does work great!
I love your list! :)
Mine ritual is reasonably new, but I am loving pouring a nice hot cup of peppermint tea and then reading my book in bed for 20 mins or so.
Like you, I am another 8-hour-a-night girl, and this week I am struggling as I’ve been having late nights.
An early night is def on the cards for me tonight!
Sleep is so central to feeling good!
I have always gotten made fun of by past roommates for my bedtime ritual. Must have: electronics off, shower, Badger lip balm, tall glass of water by my bed, fan, peppermint foot cream, and tissues. I enjoy my comforts and sleep a lot better when I follow that routine.
I love sleep. It could be just the fact that I am a teen, but I have my own little ritual of eating something, showering, yoga/stretches, and then crawling into bed. I love my routine because it gets me all relaxed and de-stressed before crawling into bed for a good 8 hours :)
Actually, until I had my son, I never had a bedtime routine in my life. Everyone told me I would have worse sleep patterns until he was two, especially if I co-slept. Liars. Co-sleeping has been the best thing for my sleep, period. Bedtime is enforced, since I have to go to bed with my son to nurse him to sleep. To help facilitate that, we started doing things to wind down, like playing soft music, and rocking a few minutes. Next thing you know, there’s a whole routine worked out. I started doing things like brushing my teeth and washing my face in front of him to set an example. Then I started doing his, and now we put away our toys, and power down the house, too.
Besides the enforced bedtime, there’s a lot of benefits to co-sleeping while nursing, such as less segmented sleep, and co-sleeping even if you don’t does wonderful things for a child’s trust and confidence and even gender identity security later in life. Getting better sleep does wonderful things all over. I’ve never had better skin, my metabolism is still in high gear even though I’m not nursing as much (9 months later and I’ve lost two sizes off my pre-pregnancy size 8), my mental clarity and energy levels are far better than I would have expected as a new mom.
One ticket answer:
For mothers of small children, co-sleep! Do it!
All others, joy. Be happy. My beloved found pictures of me that are almost 15 years old and was awed. “Woman, you just don’t age.” Happiness is a choice. Make it!
I’m a 7 hour girl. Which is why my new 10:30 bedtime has backfired… Waking up naturally at 5:30 just isn’t any fun at all. Apparently I should meditate, but instead I just lie in bed, fall back asleep, and wake up 90 minutes later feeling very… tired! But anyway: My bedtime ritual is pjs, teeth brush/floss, refill water glass, crawl into bed and read. I am super routine-oriented. It’s just funny to do this when I’ve had one cocktail too many. I have to go back a few pages the next night :)