259. My Nighttime Routine

<p>You hear a lot about <a href= "https://kadavy.net/blog/posts/morning-routines-podcast/">morning routines</a>, but nighttime routines are every bit as important. Your parents probably had a bedtime routine for you, and if you have kids you probably have bedtime routines for them. But we need bedtime routines as adults, too. I follow a specific nighttime routine, and it helps me get to sleep faster, and wake up better-rested.<!--more--></p> <h3>Wind down, and don’t try to force sleep</h3> <p>My nighttime routine follows two overarching principles:</p> <ol> <li>Wind down</li> <li>Don’t try to force sleep</li> </ol> <p><strong>1. Wind down:</strong> Before I started my nighttime routine, I didn’t think about what I was doing before bed. I just went to bed when I was tired. I was treating all hours of the day as equal – following <a href= "https://kadavy.net/mind-management-not-time-management/">time management instead of mind management</a>. Once I started my nighttime routine, I realized “going to bed” starts well before you’re tired. It’s like the difference between crashing a plane and a smooth landing.</p> <p><strong>2. Don’t try to force sleep:</strong> I recently did a sleep study at a lab, and started doing my nighttime routine. But the study was supposed to start before my usual bedtime, and the nurses at the lab wouldn’t let me follow my routine. I didn’t sleep the whole night and the study was a waste. The problem for me was trying to force sleep. I had insomnia as a kid and trying to get to sleep always made me more anxious and less able to sleep. So now I’m careful not to force sleep.</p> <h3>Two phases: wind-down and sleep-time</h3> <p>In the spirit of not trying to force sleep, my nighttime routine follows two phases: wind-down and sleep-time.</p> <p><strong>Wind-down phase:</strong> During the wind-down phase, I want to signal to my body that it can get ready for sleep. Again, I’m not trying to force sleep, just giving my body permission to get sleepy. I’ll get more into how I do that in a bit.</p>