Relax before you go to bed

Wind down before you go to bed. Your sleep is all about the day before, and in particular the evening before. If you’ve had a very balanced day where you‘ve done exercise and you you’ve had plenty of breaks and periods where you have calmed down a bit, and eaten quite well – not heavily and not too late, with not too much alcohol, then you should sleep well.

Calm down in the evening

It’s really important that you calm down for at least one and a half hours before you go to bed. There are lots of ways you can do this and they will be ways that are unique to you. There are some things that are generally agreed. First, don’t get too involved in Social Media – don’t start scrolling through your phone and replying to messages, and don’t snack on anything or drink anything for at least hour or so before you go to bed. If you do, your body will need to process the food or drink and you will either not get to sleep right away, or you will wake up in the night and need to go to the toilet. Also, the quality of your sleep will not be good and your body will not be fully restored.

Ways to calm down

• Music
Try listening to music that calms you. The type of music that calms is different for everyone, but you probably know already what music makes you feel good in a calm way.
• Television or film
Watch television or stream a film if it’s something that relaxes you or makes you laugh – not one that gets you all worked up or makes you feel negative or upset.
• Reading
Some people find reading very relaxing. Best not to read in bed, however, as this requires keeping a fairly bright light on, and it’s best to dim the lights before going to bed.
• Hobby
You could do some hobby that you enjoy doing – something that really involves you and gets you in the zone, for example crafts, singing, crosswords, playing a card game (physical cards better than phone apps) – not anything that is too stressful. Anything that you love doing. Consider taking up a new hobby if you can’t think of anything!
• Light stretches

You could consider doing some light stretching, such as Yoga, Shiatsu, Qi Gong.

• Meditation

If you have done meditation before you could take this up again.  If you are new to it, find out about it and give it a go!

What to do for this step

Try something from each of the ways to calm down.  If you have a fitness watch, check your stress level before and after.  Find out what relaxes you the most and do at least one of these things every night just before going to bed.

• Music – Choose some music that you know you really love and get into a comfortable chair  and just listen to it for half an hour.  Don’t try to do anything else at the same time.
• Television or film – Try to limit your viewing to not more than a couple of hours, and make sure that you get up every half hour or so and move.
• Reading – Choose a book and read for half an hour.  Check how many pages you have read and set yourself a nightly target of that number of pages.
• Hobby – Choose from the things you like doing that really relax you and do it for half an hour.
• Light stretches – Do a few stretches for about 20 minutes.  Don’t do anything too vigorous or stimulaing.
• Meditation – You don’t have to sit cross legged! You can just sit comfortably in a chair and close your eyes.  Set a timer for 10 minutes to start with and build up gradually.