Happy first blog post of March! March was named after the Roman god of war, Mars. At the end of each war, we strive for peace so, the focus of March is peace and calmness. This could be calming anxiety, creating inner peace, eating foods that calm the skin, resolving conflicts in your life, ect... This blog post will be about creating a calming bedtime routine. Bedtime routines can help you fall asleep faster, stay asleep longer, feel refreshed in the morning, and give yourself time to take care of you. Sleep is one of the most important things in life. It affects almost everything in your life from your physical to your mental state which means the rest of your life will be improved when your sleep is improved. That is why a calming bedtime routine is crucial for living a healthy, balanced lifestyle. This blog post will give you steps to creating your own personal calming bedtime routine with options for you to try out and see how they work for you.
4 SIMPLE (and flexible) STEPS TO CREATING A CALMING BEDTIME ROUTINE
1. Put your phone down: A screen keeps your mind active for the next few hours. Being on your phone before going to sleep will hinder your ability to calm down and fall asleep. Putting your phone down an hour before bed will help your brain calm down and be ready to go to sleep. You can set an alarm on your phone that tells you to put your phone down. Example: Set your alarm for 9pm, that's when you will put your phone down, and begin your bedtime routine so that you will be asleep by 10pm.
2. Do something that make you feel calm: This might be read a chapter of your book, journaling, yoga, or meditating. Finding a night activity that makes you calm down from the day activities will help you fall asleep. You can spend half an hour doing your activity before moving on to step 3 OR you can switch the order and do step 3 and then do your activity (step 2).
3. Take care of yourself: Go brush your teeth, wash your face, take your vitamins, drink that last cup of water for the day, take a shower, ect... Give yourself 20-30 minutes to take care of yourself, whatever that may be for you. Again, this one is switch-able with step 2, just do the order that you prefer. You can even try both orders out and see which one makes your routine more calming for you.
4. Go to bed early and let yourself have 8-10 hours of rest every night: As a young women or teen girl, studies show that you need to sleep between 8-10 hours to preform your best during the day and get the best amount of sleep. Calculate the amount you sleep currently during the week and see if you are making it to that amount or not. Sometimes we feel like we are getting the correct amount of sleep, but we might miss one or two hours each day and when you total those together, you are behind by a few hours.
Those are 4 steps to create a calming bedtime routine. Each of our bedtime routines will look a bit different so try different things out and see what is the most calming and helpful for you. We all have different things that make us calm and fall asleep best so each bedtime routine will look a bit different. Here are two examples of a bedtime routine to get you started.
EXAMPLE ONE OF A CALMING BEDTIME ROUTINE:
Put your phone down at 10pm.
Read the last chapter of your book.
Take a bath, brush your teeth, and change into pjs.
Go to sleep at 11pm and wake up at 8am for school.
EXAMPLE TWO OF A CALMING BEDTIME ROUTINE:
Stop watching TV at 9pm.
Use your phone for a 30-minute podcast (but don't scroll on it, just listen to the podcast).
Put your phone away at 9:30pm so you can be asleep by 10:30pm
Take your vitamins, brush your teeth, wash your face, and change into pjs.
Go to sleep at 10:30pm or early if you can!
Hope that is a helpful blog post to help you and your sleep patterns. Remember that sleep is one of the most important things in life. An inadequate amount of sleep can throw a wrench in your overall life. Have fun creating your own personal calming bedtime routine and try to find the best one for you! Happy Thursday everyone and again, happy peaceful/calming March!
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