We've all been in the position where you've been laying in bed for what seems like forever, tossing and turning, and not being able to close your eyes and drift off to sleep. Now on those nights, what were you doing before bed? Were you on your phone while watching a movie and eating popcorn and drinking a soda? Or were you relaxing and doing your night routine and preparing your mind and body for sleep? What you do before bed will either help you or prevent you from falling asleep. Here are my five favorite bedtime habits that I do to help me fall asleep as soon as my head hits the pillow!
1. Turn off all electronics
This is my number one thing that I have a hard time with. While I'm bored and laying in bed trying to fall asleep, I like to scroll through Instagram and catch up on all of my friend's stories on Snapchat and then, when I'm done checking up on everything that I missed in the last ten minutes, that's when I put my phone down. In reality I should be putting my phone down at least 30 minutes before I plan on falling asleep. So turn off your iPad, your Kindle, your tv, phone, whatever the screen in front of you is, turn it off. That right there is going to start to relax your mind because it isn't trying to focus on a tiny screen.
2. Come up with a night routine (and stick to it)
My routine at night, in a perfect world, would go like this...take off my makeup, take down my hair, brush my hair and teeth, wash my face, take out my contacts, take my medicine, change into pjs after showering or taking a bath, and then crawl into bed and fall asleep as soon as my head hits my pillow. Now, what ACTUALLY happens is I shower, I forget to wash my face, I lazily brush my teeth, forget to take my contacts out, and then I fall asleep with makeup still on my face with my TV still on. Making a night routine that fits your lifestyle is super important! Something that helped me stick with it is by writing my routine on my bathroom mirror with a dry erase marker and check marking them off every night!
3. Read!
Reading helps me fall asleep soo fast! It helps relax my mind and helps me concentrate on just one things rather then the five plus things I would be looking at on my phone.
4. Plan the next day
Something that has always helped me feel less panicky about the next day is going over in my head what I will be doing. Being a hair stylist, I look at my schedule for the next day to see what appointments I have and I think about how I'm going to do those services. If I'm off, I think about all of the things I need to do with my day off, whether it be running errands or cleaning up my apartment. I even sometimes will plan what I'm going to wear, because that also helps save time in the morning!
5. Take a bath
Light a few candles, play your favorite album, and just take a bubble bath. The warmth will help calm you and get you sleepy and ready for bed. Taking baths are my go to when I'm having a restless night. Even if you don't have time for a full bathtub experience, take a hot shower and just take deep breaths and I guarentee you'll be ready for bed in no time!
Sleep tight and don't let the bed bugs bite!
