A Smooth Bedtime Routine for a Successful Morning

Feel Whole Challenge Day 12: Analyze Your Bedtime Routine and Find Ways to Sleep Better

Analyze your bedtime routine for Day 12 of the Feel Whole Challenge, and see how a good night’s rest really impacts your health.

The most important thing to creating a routine that yields successful mornings is recognizing your needs, and those of your family. Before I created a bedtime routine for myself, I was going to bed late and waking up with just enough time to wake up my children and get them ready for school.

I had no time to myself in the mornings, and I was constantly rushed. Most mornings, that left me grouchy and my children fussy. I knew I needed more time to myself in the morning to prepare for the day ahead.

Ask yourself, what is it that your family needs for a successful morning? Perhaps it’s more time to make a healthy breakfast. Or some extra time to exercise before work. Before you map out your new morning routine consider those needs.

Now, there are four elements to creating a bedtime routine for successful mornings:

1. Make your bed every day
2. Go to bed at the same time every night
3. Create an evening ritual
4. Don’t snooze

Here’s why each are important.

Make Your Bed Every Day

This may sound like a given but a lot of us do not make our beds every morning. There are two reasons this is important. Making your bed in the morning gets you ready for the day. It’s that first task that you can check off your to-do list in your mind and we know that completing tasks is a positive feeling. The other reason it’s important to make your bed is so that you’ll have a bed you want to climb into at the end of the day. It’s creating your own little comfy retreat.

Go to Bed at the Same Time Every Night

The biggest element to having an evening routine is to go to bed at a routine time. Going to bed at the same time each night and getting up at the same time each morning creates that pattern that our bodies count on.

Create an Evening Ritual

A successful routine means doing the same thing every day. An important element to a successful bedtime routine is having an evening ritual—things you do to calm your body and mind to prepare for rest.

Before creating an evening ritual, I would put my children to bed, watch a little TV, maybe work on my laptop, then get ready for bed. I never gave my mind a chance to settle, so when I was ready to turn the lights out and go to bed, my mind would race thinking of all the things I didn’t do, need to do, don’t want to do, etc. By creating an evening ritual, my whole body is allowed to prepare for sleep.

To create an evening ritual, consider what helps you to relax and incorporate that into your bedtime routine, doing it each night, in the same sequence.

Here’s an example of my bedtime routine.

• Wash face
• Brush teeth
• Turn on essential oils (lavender to promote restful sleep)
• Turn on a sound machine
• Read 20 minutes
• Lights out

Don’t Hit Snooze in the Morning

Every time I struggle with a wake up, it can be attributed to that pesky snooze button. If you are a habitual snoozer, try placing your alarm across the room, forcing yourself to get up as soon as your alarm goes off, and then resist the urge to climb back in.

The first few days of the new routine may be challenging, but once it’s a habit, you’ll find that you are more rested and more productive.

Writer: Chelsea Coulston Chelsea is an interior designer, blogger and mom of two. She focuses on sharing affordable fashion and decor. She enjoys crafting and frequently tries out different DIY projects to flex her creativity and try something new.