How To Improve Your Sleep With These Wellness Rituals

---

If you struggle with getting enough sleep or getting a good sleep, you know how that can wreck havoc in your daily life.

Sleep is very important and plays a significant role in your overall health. When it comes to your wellness, creating a sleep routine should be on your to-do list. If you already have a nighttime routine, great! If not that’s okay because we are going to chat about some wellness rituals you can add into your nighttime routine to improve your sleep. 

Do you struggle with sleep? 

Almost half of all Americans state that they are sleepy during the day and 35% say they get less than 7 hours of sleep per night. 

There are a number of reasons why people struggle with sleep. Some common issues include insomnia, sleep apnea, anxiety, and even your body size. Some people struggle with falling asleep while others struggle to stay asleep. 

If you are one of these people I’m sure you have tried things to change your sleeping habits. Let’s be real, no one likes feeling tired all day. 

The term sleep hygiene is used widely to describe your bedroom environment and sleeping habits! Having better sleep hygiene or sleeping routines should help you improve your sleep and get a better sleep overall. 

If your sleep issues are related to a health condition you should talk to your doctor! 

What is a nighttime routine? 

A nighttime routine is something you do each night before bed that helps you prepare for sleep! 

The routine is usually relaxing and calming. The whole idea is to get your body ready for a night of sleep. In order to do that you need to feel relaxed!

You can also start your nighttime routine as soon as you get home from work! Part of getting ready for sleep is winding down from the day. Having a routine with wellness rituals that you engage in nightly allows your brain to learn when it’s time to relax. 

Your nighttime routine can be as simple or complex as you’d like. It can be multiple steps or even just one thing that gets you in a sleepy mood. Everyone is different and requires different things to feel calm. 

Some people may need a walk around the block to burn any excess energy before bed. Others may need to journal all their thoughts to stop their brain from running all night. Part of sleep hygiene and creating bedtime rituals is knowing yourself and what you need most. 

Wellness rituals for better sleep 

Focusing on wellness and sleep hygiene goes hand in hand. When you take care of yourself and do things to make sure you’re healthy and happy, your sleep will improve too! 

Here are some wellness rituals you can add to your nighttime routine to help improve your sleep:

Stretching 

Stretching before bed is a great way to calm your body down and prepare for sleep. There are a lot of benefits of stretching in general, but stretching at night can really help with stress relief and with overall mobility. Having better mobility and loosened muscles can help you sleep better and wake up less stiff and sore. 

Limit screen time at night 

Staring at a screen all day and night can make it difficult to fall asleep. The blue light from your phone is harmful to your eyes and limits the production of melatonin (that helpful hormone that makes you sleep). 

Depending on what you are looking at on your phone before bed, it could also put you in a sour mood. If you received bad news or someone said something that annoyed you right before bed, it’ll be a lot harder to have a restful sleep. 

Try to put your phone away an hour or more before you head to bed. Add reading into your routine to replace your phone use if needed! 

Eat sleep-inducing foods

You may have asked yourself what are some foods that help improve your sleep. Well, there are actually a few good food options for you to enjoy before bed. 

If you like a snack before bed try almonds! They are a source of melatonin (along with a lot of other good nutrients). They also have a good amount of magnesium which has been shown to help with sleep as well. 

Another food to add to your before-bedtime snack list is kiwis! There was a study showing that eating 2 kiwis an hour before bed helped participants fall asleep faster! 

Have a warm bath 

Who doesn’t like a nice warm bath at the end of the day? I know I do! Having a bath is a good way to wind down from your day. It’s also a great way to get all warm and cozy before you hop into bed. 

Baths tend to make people sleepy because of the warmth. The warm water allows your body’s temperature to drop slightly. The drop in temperature signals that it’s time for sleep! 

Journal 

Spend a few minutes in bed with your journal each night. Write about your day, something good that happened, or spend some time getting out negative feelings or worries. Making sure your brain is not running a mile a minute while trying to sleep will help you fall asleep much faster. 

Create a personalized sleep routine 

Bedroom and sleep health will get personal: We all have nuanced circadian rhythms and unique sleep needs. And the good news is the sleep market is catching on to the fact that sleep is not one-size-fits-all with bedroom innovations that will make it easier to find your best rest. 

Anyone can create a personalized sleep routine with a few basic steps. 

Determine your sleep needs 

Maybe you already know that you have trouble falling asleep or that you wake up 3 times every night. However, sometimes you think your sleep is fine but you are still tired all the time. 

The good news is that there are some really accessible products that you can use to track your sleep and see what’s happening. The most widely known ones would be smartwatches like Fitbit, Apple watches, Samsung watches, and others like that.

There is also a super cool app that doesn’t require a watch to monitor your sleep, it just uses SOUNDS. You can download the Sleep Cycle app on your phone and it will monitor your sleep cycles through sound waves and help you figure out your sleeping needs. 

If your sleeping needs are more serious then a good option is to talk to your doctor! 

Once you have some data on your sleep patterns you will better understand where you need to make some changes. 

Pick a bedtime and a wake-up time 

Ideally, we would all wake up naturally without an alarm clock but unfortunately, work does not usually allow that. Since it’s best if adults get between 7-9 hours of sleep, figure out what time you have to get up and then count backward to figure out your bedtime. 

For example, I wake up at 5 am so my bedtime should be 10 pm at the latest.

Create a bedtime routine 

Now that you know when you need to go to bed, you can create your bedtime routine. This routine could be as simple or complex as you want. 

Maybe you’re realizing that you don’t go to bed early enough which is why you’re tired during the day. You might benefit from a nightly bath to help you sleep sooner since your body will still want to go to sleep later. 

Since starting new routines can be hard at first, consider creating a nighttime routine checklist. That will help you remember the new routine and also tweak things until your routine works for you! 

Use bedroom innovations to help 

You might realize that you need some extra support for your specific sleep needs. No worries! There are so many awesome sleep products out there to help with sleep. 

Try a custom pillow! Pluto Pillow will make you a custom pillow to fit your sleeping needs. If you sleep on your side, stomach, back, or all of the above, they can make a pillow that works for you. 

Get a cooling mattress. If you tend to be a hot sleeper and wake up because of that, there are so many mattresses out there that have cooling technology! 

If you have a hard time falling asleep because your mind is racing or you wake up in the night with a million thoughts, try Dowdow. It’s a sleek wireless device that helps you get to sleep by

encouraging deep breathing. There is a blue light that pulses when you touch it and the idea is to breathe with the light pulses to help you get back to sleep. 

In conclusion 

Everyone person is different and requires different things when it comes to sleep. Ultimately, tons of people don’t get enough sleep every single night and that doesn’t make anyone feel good. You can be one of the people to change that. 

Living a healthy lifestyle during the day, having a wind-down routine each night, and fueling your body with the right foods can have a big impact on your sleep. 

Making sleep a priority will improve your life! If you do have extra sleep needs there are so many amazing sleep products on the market nowadays. Creating your own personalized sleep routine is possible with time and patience (and a little trial and error). 

Do you have a nighttime routine that helps you sleep?