Today I discuss with you the importance of creating an evening routine, and top tips on how to do it. With babies (including Lil Bub when he starts to get older), we can see that creating an evening routine is important in helping to get them into regular sleep patterns.
It’s the same thing with us as adults— having a regular routine signals to our bodies that it’s time to start chilling out and moving towards bedtime, reinforcing regularity and making it easier for us to fall asleep, resulting in a higher quality of sleep.
Why is quality sleep so important? I call it Peak Beauty sleep in my book Radical Beauty. It’s crucial for our health and beauty, which is why I made it one of my pillars. When we sleep better our skin cells rejuvenate, we look younger and fresher, and our hormones are balanced.
We also tend to make better food choices since the hormones, ghrelin, and leptin, that control appetite and hunger are more balanced with better sleep. And we tend to be in a better mood with less irritability. So in that way, better sleep is important for everyone around you also! :)
An evening routine for babies can involve a bath, lullaby, reading them a book. This regular pattern helps get them into a regular routine for knowing sleepy time is right around the corner. The same is true for us! An evening routine helps to soothe our nervous system and allows us to drift towards better and regular sleep (so key to help avoid the frustrating hours of tossing and turning in bed, which we all know is the worst).
I go into more detail about this whole routine in my book with Deepak Chopra, Radical Beauty. I dedicated a whole chapter to the importance of sleep, there’s a lot of really great information about this important topic.
Tips to Get Better Sleep With Your Evening Routine
Let’s go over a few tips on what we can do for a more peaceful night’s rest.
Create a Consistent Dinner Time
As you’re going into the evening, try to eat dinner at a regular time— that way your body becomes more regulated in all it’s different functions from eating, exercise, and sleep times. This habit will ensure that every area of your life becomes more regulated.
Eating dinner around the same time (every night) is ideal.
Drink an Evening Elixir to Wind Down
It’s always nice to be able to sip on something that is hot and comforting at night. I choose an evening elixir, such as the Nourish Your Nervous System Elixir. I like to have hot hemp milk and I stir in different spices such as cinnamon— something that feels a little warming and nice. You can also use a little bit of saffron or cardamom. These spices are really warming and soothing for us “adult babies”, plus spices are great for skin beauty.
Nourish Your Nervous System Elixir
Unwind and Relax with a Good Book Read
I’m a huge fan of printed books and I love carving out time in the evening to read (even if it’s just a few minutes). It’s important to avoid being overstimulated by what’s on TV, especially right before bed. E-readers, which are electronic, can also over-stimulate us and the blue light can reduce melatonin which is your sleep hormone. So I encourage reading printed books in the evening time.
Reduce any artificial lighting and creating a calm atmosphere. Having good books that you love, that are fun and totally unrelated to work, like novels or spiritual books. Even if you only get to read a few pages— it’s the process of slowing yourself down and getting prepared for a good night’s rest.
I personally love my guru, Paramahansa Yogananda, who writes yogic lessons. Here is a list of some of my other favorite books. Choose whatever you like to read but make sure it’s relaxing and feels good to you.
Take a Shower Before Bed for Deeper Sleep
I often take a quick rinse in the evenings just to feel like I’m washing away the day, and it helps to prepare me for sleep. I energetically imagine that all the stress and everything that happened during the day I’m washing all away.
Calm the Mind with Meditation
Lastly, I always meditate. This is the ultimate way to clear out the day and to get re-centered. A lot of times we don’t fall asleep easily because our minds are still racing. I’ve created guided meditations for you. These Practical Enlightenment Meditations are a great way to unwind, they’re less than 10 minutes and they’re so helpful to get to sleep more quickly.
Meditating while Lil Bub! He’s already sat through thousands of meditations with, while I was pregnant and up until now.
Even if you don’t meditate before bed, I encourage you to focus on the breath. Simply listening to your breath starts to bring you to the present and helps you to not worry about everything that happened (or will happen tomorrow!).
A racing mind is really not conducive to deep sleep. It’s important to establish at least a simple meditation practice to start. Hopefully, the more your body gets used to this evening routine, the more it’s easy to just shut off and start going right into your sleep.
In Closing…
The goal is to get the best beauty sleep you possibly can- your Peak Beauty Sleep- to see your overall health and beauty benefit, more and more.
Thank you to all of my Beauties for such great questions. Remember, I also answer four questions weekly, on my Feel Good Podcast (#askkimberly), and would love to answer yours. Don’t forget to ask any beauty or health questions you’d love me to cover on my Thursday Q&A podcast by entering them on my Ask Kimberly page.
Sending you lots of love.
Spending a day at the beach will also contribute to a good night’s rest. Enjoy being in nature’s magic whenever you can.
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