Create Your Bedtime Routine

Dear Fabulous Traveler,

Lucy is 6 years old. Every night after dinner, she winds down from a busy day by playing quietly with her toys. Her mom gives her a warm bath before she changes into her pajamas and brushes her teeth. Then they settle down to read some bedtime stories before she drifts off to sleep to the sounds of gentle lullabies.

Lucy’s parents have created this bedtime routine with a dependable series of actions that end with her feeling ready to rest. It works because each action creates a chain of habits that cue her body and brain that it's time to sleep.

Imagine that you are a child nestled in soft covers, tucked up in bed by someone you love. You are cocooned from the outside world in a serene, sleepy space. What are the unique steps that your body and brain need to prepare you to feel that safe? Together we’ll create the perfect, personalized bedtime routine made just for you!

Your Bedtime Routine

Your bedtime routine should be a pleasant end to each day. It should lead you through a set of actions that keep your mind focused on winding down. A reliable structure signals that you are safe, and safety is relaxing!

Create a sequence of calming activities for 30-60 minutes before bed, repeated in the same order every night. This routine gives your body and brain consistent cues that it’s time to relax and destress before sleep.

Whatever steps help you to shift from active to restful should be part of your regular nighttime preparations. Always include opportunities to address both physical and mental relaxation.

Prepare your body for bed by stretching, bathing, showering, and changing into sleepwear
Prepare your mind for bed by journaling, meditating, listening to relaxing music, or trying out a Fabulous bedtime story

This Week’s Plan

Your Goal

Every night this week you’ll follow a bedtime routine with predictable repeated actions leading to restful sleep.

Decide now on the exact steps that will make up your unique bedtime routine. Remember, everyone is different, so you might need to adjust your routine to find the best series of actions for you. If you’re hungry before bed, try incorporating a small snack into your plans. If you feel stressed out from the day, you might benefit from a mindfulness activity before sleep.

Is my Room Perfectly Silent?Do it 3 times this week to succeed

Use the same habit as the previous challenge for this: Darker, Cooler, Quieter. For the next three nights, take note of any sounds that wake you up, and think about ways to neutralize them.
I ACCEPT

Your one-time action

Set Your Bedtime.

It’s really important to develop a consistent and regular bedtime that you stick to even on weekends. Irregular sleep patterns can be just as detrimental to your health and mental performance as not getting enough sleep (Philips, Andrew J.K, et al. 2017.)

To set a good bedtime, aim to give yourself between 7-9 hours of sleep and work back from the time you need to wake up. If this seems too early, you can start with a later bedtime and bring it forward in 15-minute intervals over the course of a week until you reach a healthy and achievable goal. Then just begin your bedtime routine 30-60 minutes before you want to fall asleep and commit to keeping that same bedtime every night.

What We Are Doing

You have worked hard to change your environment to promote rest and relaxation, and to implement a predictable and reliable bedtime routine.

Next week you’ll begin to look at common sleep stealers and help eliminate them from your life by disconnecting and unplugging before bed.

Until then, Fabulous Traveler, sleep well.