AD Gifted | Did you know that in the UK alone 1 in 3 adults don’t get as much sleep as they should? Sleep is such an important of your wellbeing and health, yet it is often over-looked, poor sleep can lead to genuine health problems. As someone with diagnosed insomnia I know this all too well.

The pandemic might have given you more time to sleep but you might have found that actually the quality of your sleep has depleted or is poor. Financial concerns, loneliness, stress or anxiety can all be factors into why your quality of sleep is poor. Here’s where having a decent night time routine can help you. So today I’ll be talking you through 10 ways to improve your night time routine and hopefully improving your quality of sleep.

Prepare For The Next Day

If you’re like me the morning is a very stressful time, and preparing things in the evening leaves you a few extra minutes for a coffee and time to wake up. How you prepare for the next day depends on what type of person you are, but here are some of the tasks I do as part of bed time routine:

• Journaling – Journalling helps me have healthy habits, I personal journal about gratitude, finance and daily habits.
• Creating a to-do list – Prepping your work load for tomorrow will stop you subconsciously thinking about it during your sleep. This is not only great for organisation but can help you not lie awake thinking about tasks. A win win if you ask me.
• Get your clothes/bag ready for work – Knowing where everything is helps me so much in the morning. It stops me from stressing why laying in bed.

Prepare Your Bed With A Decent Bedding

A comfortable bed can lead to better quality sleep. You’re going to want to change your bedding regularly, and make your bed in the day so it’s ready for when you get to it in the evening.

Make sure you have seasonal appropriate bedding, something that is gorgeous and lightweight, that you can add layers to or remove layers to when the weather is warmer or colder.

Recently I was sent a gorgeous set of bedding from the lovely Portfolio. If you’ve not heard of the brand before, Portfolio Home are top designers and manufacture of textiles in the UK, and have sold too many incredible retailers since 1975. Including the Wayfair. Portfolio have 1000s of designs so there is literally a design for everyone, and they don’t just supply beddings.

I picked out of the Moroccan Ochre bedding which is honestly such a beautiful high quality set of bedding. It came really well packaged – washed really well, and looks beautiful on the bed. The sheets are gorgeous shade of ochre/mustard and the design is so pretty. A lot of my new house interior design is mustard, navy or gold so I found these fit perfectly.

I was genuinely very shocked by the high quality of the sheets for the price. There are so many gorgeous designs I have my eyes on including the Daisy ochre, which is the perfect summer duvet cover. I couldn’t recommend Portfolio more.

Start Winding Down

You honestly don’t want to leave your winding down until just before you go to bed. Set healthy boundaries with electronics and work, and make sure to take the time to relax before you actually get into bed. You might find reading a good habit for winding down.

Ditch Caffeine

Having any form of caffeine up to 6 hours before you bed time can disrupt your sleeping. You’re better off having something calming to drink like a cup of peppermint or camomile tea if you fancy a cuppa before bed. If you’ve been having trouble sleeping consider cutting caffeine completely after lunch time to see if it helps.

Listen To Some Relaxing Music

Calming music and music without lyrics has been known to help with relaxing people. But it can also help with hormones that will ultimately help you sleep. You’ll want to avoid anything upbeat or with lots of lyrics as this will keep your mind active and won’t help you.

Create An Evening Beauty Routine

In the evening you should always spend 2 minutes cleaning your teeth. I don’t think that this is something that I need to go into detail with. Before you get down to brushing your teeth you might want to have beauty regime for your skin.

If you find showering everyday boring, why not mix it up and have an evening bath. Baths two hours before bed and have been know to have calming and relaxing affects, preparing you for a good night sleep. If your bathroom has harsh lights you might consider using candle light instead.

Face masks and face scrubs can be a great way to pamper your skin too. It’s always recommended that you clean your ears, having Cleaner Ears can have massive health benefits.

Try Aromatherapy

Aromatherapy is a great way to wind down in the evening. Lavender, clary sage and cedarwood can promote healthy sleep. The best ways to essentials oils can be:

• Rub some essential oils on your pillow
• Add some drops of essential oil into your evening bath
• Have diffuser in your bedroom
• Rub some essentials oils into skin (1-2 drops max), shoulders, wrists and and necks.

Alternatively you could research the editor’s choice for delta 8, if you are wanting to experiment with THC products to help you calm down for the evening. By doing the right research, you can find out the correct amount of THC to consume that gives you the perfect night sleep. 

Avoid Drastic Changes To Your Sleeping Behaviour

When it comes to night time routine, you should avoid any big changes. You should always try to stick to the same bed-time and sleep routine or stay within a 1 hour window of it. Ideally you’ll want to be sleeping between 7-9 hours per night! Any more then that is over sleeping and you should try to avoid doing it.

A big tip that has always helped me is that after 20 minutes of lying in bed, if you aren’t asleep you should get up. Avoid looking at any screens or anything bright, and try a relaxing activity like reading a book. Then get back into bed when you are tired.

I love to know what you do as part of your bed time routine let me know in the comments.

If you enjoyed this post check out my How to Keep Your Body and Mind Healthy This Year