If you read self-help and improvement books, you’ve probably read that successful people wake up at 5 AM. You’ve probably tried that as an effort to become a more productive person. However, not everyone likes being wired to wake up at a specific time every day for the rest of their lives.
If you find that you are lethargic and moody when you wake up, maybe what you need is a better nighttime routine, not waking up to an annoying alarm tone at 5 AM every day. Ditch the early alarm and focus on getting better sleep to have more productive mornings.
The Importance of a Nighttime Routine
When you want to build muscle, it is counterproductive to perform lifting exercises every day. Rest is a vital part of improving your physique. This is just how the body is wired.
And sleep is the most natural way for the body to reset. So if you want to be a more productive person, tiring yourself until the wee hours of the morning is a bad idea. If you bury yourself in work and allot no time for rest, you are not paving the way to success. You are digging yourself a hole to huge hospital bills.
If you don’t have a nighttime routine, it’s time to change a few things in your schedule. Follow a routine every night to ensure that your body gets the rest it deserves and needs. Focus not only on getting long hours of sleep but also on the quality of rest. That said, here are a few things to add to your routine for a better morning:
Write Your To-Dos for the Next Morning
Before you sleep, allot time to sort the priorities you need to get to the next day. A good morning is one where you don’t panic and stress about your day. Uncertainty makes you panic and get stressed. You can avoid these emotionally taxing routines by becoming more organized.
List down all the things you need to accomplish the next day. And then, sort them out according to priority. You can put your mind at ease by determining which tasks you need to handle urgently. If you can push these tasks back to a later date, do so.
Tidy Up
Cleaning up is a simple but beneficial thing you can do before you sleep. Put away the dirty laundry and the mess in your room before you tuck yourself in bed. When you wake up to a clutter-free space in the morning, the sense of order gives you a boost.
Put Yourself in a Relaxed Mode
You cannot sleep when your mind is agitated. When you can’t sleep despite lying in bed for a good few minutes, picking up your phone won’t help. The blue light from the screen impedes your body’s production of melatonin. It is the hormone that regulates your sleep-wake cycle. To get better sleep and to fall asleep quicker, your body needs to be in a relaxed state. You can achieve this by doing the following:
- Take a Warm Shower: If cold showers wake you up in the morning, do the opposite at night. Long warm showers relax your body. It also helps if you use bath products with calming scents like chamomile or lavender.
- Get a Massage: If your body still feels tense and sore after the shower, getting a massage will help ease the muscle tension. Massages are known to reduce cortisol, the stress hormone. Massages also raise the serotonin and dopamine in your body, which can help you relax. Of course, you can’t always call for a home service massage every night. That is a hassle. You can invest in a massage chair instead and use it anytime you feel like you need to relax.
- Listen to Calming Music: People have different tastes in music. What you think is calming might not be the same for other people. If you don’t have a sleep playlist yet, you should consider making one. Explore music that soothes you. Try listening to saxophone covers, piano instrumentals, or natural sounds like the pattering of the rain.
- Drink Tea or Supplements: You can also try drinking tea to help calm your body before going to sleep. Try chamomile tea or warm milk. If you can’t naturally get your melatonin for some reason, there is nothing wrong with taking melatonin supplements. Consult your doctor so they can recommend the proper dose for your needs.
It might take some time for you to fix a badly messed-up sleep schedule. However, there is no better time to do it than now. Start practicing these simple tips to help you get a proper night routine.
