Night, Night's: Routine to Restful

Let's talk sleep and bedtime routines.

How well do you sleep?

How easy is it for you to get to sleep? What quality of sleep are you getting?

If this is something that is bothering you then this blog might provide some helpful information and tips for a better nights sleep.

Common reasons for poor sleep can include stress, an irregular sleep schedule, unhelpful sleeping habits, mental health disorders like anxiety and depression, physical illnesses and pain. There are also some medications that can disturb sleep. There are also more serious medical and neurological problems that can affect sleep, and specific sleep disorders, if you think you may be suffering from a medical sleep disorder then speaking with you Doctor is imperative.

Generally we should get about 7-9 hours sleep a night, many different things can affect both how we fall asleep and the quality of that sleep. However there are things that can we do to make that process of falling asleep and better quality sleep easier and more tranquil. Starting with own sleep hygiene routines. Sleep hygiene is noticing how our environments and habitats affect our sleep and relaxation and focuses our attention on what habits are helpful to us and how to make our environment more beneficial to our needs and preferences in order to promote a better quality of sleep.

Sleep is essential for our functioning, poor sleep can cause many adverse effects on the mind and body. Sleep deprivation leaves your brain exhausted, so it is unable to perform its duties as well. generally this means it is also more difficult to concentrate on day to day tasks, making connections to the present more difficult and feeling as if you are out of touch to the world around you. The signals your body sends may also be delayed, meaning your coordination can be affected and increasing risks for accidents.

There seems to be plenty of tips about sleep and how to get a restful night sleep but really these are all just tips to try and see what works for you. In reality there isn't really a right way to make sure you get a good night's sleep but there are ways to help your own process become more a habit that is created by you to be beneficial to you.

Some ideas and tips to help, try something new, or create your own bedtime routine. While none of this is a quick fix it could all be helpful in providing insight and supporting you in achieving a restful night, adding some mindfulness and connection to your day to support your night.

Prepare for success, planning to succeed is one of the most helpful factors in getting ourselves into a routine, and ready for sleep and the day ahead. Making sure there are no outstanding practical tasks before beginning our sleep routine means we aren't focused on what we have to do tomorrow and can free up time in the morning to connect to the day ahead. if these are things that can be dealt with before you start your bedtime routine then writing them down can be helpful in acknowledging it and then setting it aside and out of your mind in order to make space to relax.

1. Set a bedtime

Sounds simple but often we self sabotage ourselves and our best intentions. I think we can all relate to the just one more episode trope, and suddenly its 1am, best intentions gone and a poor night's sleep followed by a less than productive day. Having a sleep schedule and sticking to in within a hour either way can support our natural internal rhythms and supports us in creating a routine that helps our sleep and relaxation patterns. Having a 'bedtime' also signals our body that it is sleep time and helps us wind down from the day and get the most from our rest.

2. Journaling

Journaling about your day can be really helpful to unwind and speak open and honestly with yourself. You may find that this method of communication enables you to see patterns in your own behaviour or notice more honestly with yourself how you feel about certain situations, people or environments you have interacted with though your day.

If writing in detail about your day isn't for you, you could try bullet journaling, this method of recording aims to helps you note all of the things that are going on in your life. Thoughts, feelings anything important that will help you keep track of yourself and your needs, wishes and hopes.

If neither of these method appeal you could try the three things method write down, or say out loud three things you liked about the day. These could be as simple as you brushed your teeth, you saw a beautiful rainbow, you received a compliment. The aim here is to look to the positive, we all usually have a tendency to focus on the negative so we are trying to focus our attention on the positive highlighting and refocusing on the positive in our lives that we may miss or disregard during the day.

3. Mindful intentions

Mindfulness practices seem to be everywhere, but what is it, what does it do and how can we incorporate some mindful practice into our busy everyday lives.

Mindfulness is a process of meditation it's intention is to bring our focus and attention to our own awareness, to become aware of what is happening in the present moment. Observing our own thoughts, feelings, emotions and sensations in our bodies as they happen. In noticing these things in an open, accepting and non judgemental way, offering ourselves kindness and curiosity to our feelings and sensations.

One of the easiest ways to incorporate mindfulness into you everyday routines is to be mindful when doing some of the most mundane tasks. Take brushing your teeth, now we all know how to brush our teeth for two minutes, so use these two minutes to connect with yourself, notice the coolness of the water, the minty scent as you place the toothpaste on the bristles. The sensation as the tooth brush connects with your mouth and the taste as it dances around your tongue. Hear the hum and brush across your teeth, the song of the birds outside. Take notice of each sense in turn, giving, touch, taste, sight, smell and sound all a moment of pure awareness.

As you become more accustomed to mindfulness you might find that you want to deepen your practice with other methods and practices such as breathing techniques, guided imagery, and other practices aimed at relaxing the body and mind and with the intention to connection and stress reduction.

More at Making Mindful

4. Self care actions

Self care is another term we often see on social media it is however possibly one of the most important mental health tools we have. Self care is imperative to all mental health work and should be something we all prioritise in our lives, it should be a nonnegotiable essential. Self-care encourages you to maintain a healthy relationship with yourself physically and mentally. It could be eating healthily, going for a walk. or equally it could be binging that series you have been meaning to watch. self care is whatever you need it to be that helps you to reduce stress and supports your mental health.

5. Meditation

In mindfulness meditation, we’re learning how to pay attention to the breath as it goes in and out, and notice when the mind wanders from this task. This practice of returning to the breath builds the muscles of attention and mindfulness.

When we pay attention to our breath, we are learning how to return to, and remain in, the present moment—to anchor ourselves in the here and now on purpose, without judgement.

The idea behind mindfulness seems simple but learning the practice takes patience, remember this is a new skill you are learning.

6. Mantra

A mantra is words or phrase spoken aloud or thought repeatedly for meditation purposes. In repeating the mantra over and over we concentrate on keeping our mind and body focused on the moment, and the words we have chose. Mantra have also evolved to include self-affirming statements that support us to focus our minds and ready us for the day ahead or a restful night sleep. Both of the underlying purpose of mantra and self affirmations are still the same: it is a technique we can learn to help us focus our intentions and calm our minds.

We can break our mantras up into different categories for for different things we want to manifest in our lives. With our mantras we make a choice to think and feel what we are choosing to repeat we are making our choice to think and feel positive. The more we can listen to ourselves and manifest what we are saying the more we will be able to connect to what we want to happen.

7. Sleep hygiene

Sleep hygiene incorporates all the elements we have been reading about so far paying more attention to our sleep hygiene routines is one of the most straightforward ways that you can set yourself up for better sleep. Strong sleep hygiene means thinking about both your bedroom environment and ambience and your waking and restful routines. The aim then is to promote consistent, uninterrupted sleep, through a calming and focusing routine incorporating as many or as few elements of your routine to support you own needs.

Some of the most simple ways to support your own sleep hygiene is to maintain a stable sleep schedule, creating a comfortable, calming environment free of distractions and disruptions. Following a before bedtime routine, healthy habits during the day can also contribute to building a helpful sleep hygiene routine. We can all create a sleep hygiene routine and practices to suit our own needs. There is no right or wrong way in arranging and creating you own routine what is important is the routine and planning time for yourself to wind down and provide yourself the space you need.

8. Detox from your day - worries and concerns

Stress and anxiety is one of the biggest reasons for poor sleep, sometimes if feels like we just can't shut off our mind in order to fall to sleep. Writing down these worries, concerns and anxiety can help up 'put them to bed' in order to get a better nights sleep. While just writing down our worries won't stop them from being worries or concerns it can be immensely helpful to get them from our minds and on to paper, by acknowledging them we can make a plan to deal with them if possible. when we can make a plan we can accept that we have worries and concerns but now is not the time to focus on these now is about sleep and relaxation.

You may find that writing things down isn't helpful for you, instead you may find visual imagery or using your imagination to notice, acknowledge and set aside any ruminations helpful.

9. Progressive muscle relaxation

Progressive muscle relaxation is a method and technique that helps relieve tension in the body by bring our awareness to it and supporting us to release and relax that tension. We use progressive muscle relaxation, to tense a group of muscles as you breathe in, connecting to the feeling of the muscles being clenched and the feeling of that tension in the body. Focusing then on the breath in, the coolness of the breath and the expansion of your lungs as you hold the breath in the body. As the breath leaves the body bringing the awareness to the warmth of the breath and the deflation of the chest and the relaxation of the tensed muscle group until they are totally relaxed and all tension release. It can be helpful to work in groups of muscles and from the top down. Starting with the forehead, eyes, cheeks, jaw and all the way to our toes.

10. Relaxation script A Relaxation script can be anything you find helpful to both relax you mind and body.

You can find many different scripts online a guided meditation or indeed you can write your own, our own script can include visual descriptions, positive affirmations or soft music and signing. You can imaging, record and listen to or even watch a relaxations script. The idea of a relaxation script is to calm and soothe mind and body ready for sleep.