Sleep experts reveal the pre-bedtime rituals they follow (and a few things they would never do)
Despite our best-laid plans, evenings can often be swallowed up by work emails, household chores and scrolling like mad on smartphones. Before you know it, it's 11pm and you've achieved none of the wholesome activities you were hoping to fit in before bed.
A wind-down routine spent worrying about admin or doomscrolling is hardly conducive to a good night's sleep, so setting yourself some better guidelines pre-bedtime could help to boost that all important slumber.
We spoke to sleep experts about how they prepare themselves for bed each evening – here three sleep gurus talk through their nightly routines, revealing some practical (and actually enjoyable ways) to get yourself ready for a good night's sleep.
Dr Allie Hare, consultant in sleep medicine and co-founder of Grace Sleep
I avoid 'sleepmaxxing' like the plague
'I don't do anything complex immediately before bed. I do see a lot of people who have a long list of all the things they feel they 'need' to do before bed in order to 'optimise' their sleep. The 'sleepmaxxing' trend [popular on social media, where people adopt elaborate routines to maximise sleep] horrifies me! A simple winding down routine to enable me to put the day to bed before I go to bed is all I focus on. For me, this includes switching off from work mode by closing down emails and stopping any work projects at least 30 and ideally 60 minutes before bed, and doing something relaxing. I like to read a couple of chapters of a book: I alternate fiction and non-fiction, or listen to a podcast.'
I use Be Present to control my screentime
'Although the impact of blue light on sleep is perhaps less clear-cut than we initially thought, I still try to avoid using my phone just before sleep. This is because it is so difficult to stop scrolling – even sleep experts struggle with the magic of the algorithm sucking them in! I recently downloaded an app called Be Present which turns off my social media after a predetermined number of hours usage in the day and turns off my phone almost entirely (save alarms and urgent calls) between 10pm and 7.30am. This also means my mornings are much more productive.'
I target my daytime towards a good nighttime
'Instead of a complicated evening routine, I manage my day to day life to ensure good sleep quality. I focus on morning bright light exposure (my walk for my commute) and caffeine (a great alerting agent and also good for cardiovascular and microbiome health, but I don't drink it after lunchtime), regular exercise (I focus on weight training over cardio; this has been shown to improve sleep quality and I really notice I sleep better after I have exercised), and a healthy balanced diet focused on feeding my microbiome (also increasingly recognised as key to good sleep and, of course, overall health). I also have a regular bed and wake time, as it is important for training your circadian rhythm. I avoid alcohol in the week.
'Complicated bedtime routines can lead to people thinking they need to do all of these things in order to be able to sleep well. This can increase anxiety and pressure around sleep: if I can't follow my routine exactly, I won't sleep. This can become a self-fulfilling prophecy. Sleep does not tend to respond well to efforts to 'control' it. Much better to focus on your daytime health habits and simple steps to relax before bedtime.'
James Wilson, aka The Sleep Geek
I watch MAFS and other lighthearted TV
'Before my youngest child goes to bed, we will watch something light on TV. At the moment Stacey Solomon is a big favourite and is the right mix of light heartedness and repetitiveness. Later, with my older kids and wife, we'll watch more television. At the moment it is Married At First Sight Australia, as it is trashy, allows my brain to switch off and makes me feel better about myself (because no matter how bad my day might have been, at least I am not on national TV admitting I can't pull in the outside world.)'
I have a 'falling asleep' window, rather than a strict bedtime
'My sleep type is slightly more early type, so I target to fall asleep between 9.30pm and 11pm. However, I only go to bed when I actually feel sleepy, and that is really important to sleeping well. If I have been working late, watching a football game or had a late meal I will go to bed later.'
I don't put off chores until last thing before bed
'By 9pm I will make sure I am ready for bed: PJs on, check all the doors, put stuff in the dishwasher, kids' lunches done and teeth brushed. This means if I feel sleepy before my targeted sleep time, say 9.30pm rather than 10.30pm, then I can go straight to bed. There's no having to sort the dishwasher out, lock the doors or brush my teeth, which will have the effect of waking me up. This is the one thing most people get wrong about their ritual.'
Dr Lindsay Browning is a sleep expert at TroubleSleeping.co.uk
I time my exercise carefully
'I try to exercise regularly. I love my Peloton. If I haven't managed to do a workout in the morning before I start work, then I might do one in the early evening before dinner. However, I try to make sure that I don't do any vigorous exercise within 90 minutes of bedtime, to avoid the raise in body temperature from the workout negatively affecting my sleep.'
I don't lean into my owlish tendencies
'I make sure that I stop working at least an hour before bed – ideally two hours before. I am naturally an evening person (an owl chronotype) so this takes some consistent planning and willpower. Working too close to bedtime, can mean you are still too stressed to sleep easily.'
I leave the right length window between eating and bedtime
'I will eat my main meal at around 7pm, which means I will have finished eating my dinner around two to three hours before my planned bedtime. Eating a large meal too close to bedtime can disrupt sleep by causing indigestion. I rarely drink alcohol, but if I did have a glass of wine with dinner, I probably wouldn't sleep as well, as alcohol disrupts REM sleep.'
I purposefully make my devices less appealing
'At 7pm, my phone and iPad auto-enable night mode, which reduces the brightness of my screens and helps shift the light from the blue frequency spectrum to the soft warmer tones, helping minimise any disruption to my melatonin production at bedtime.'
I have a consistent routine (including tea!)
'Thirty minutes before my planned bedtime, I will make a hot cup of Clipper Sleep Time tea, which I take upstairs, get into my pyjamas, wash my face and teeth and get into bed half an hour before my planned bedtime to read a book or do a Peloton meditation in bed. This consistent pre-bedtime routine helps my brain and body know that sleep is coming. When it's time for sleep (around 10/10:30pm) I will spray my pillow with a lavender pillow spray, make sure that my alarm is set for the morning, and put my phone on do not disturb next to the bed.'
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