How do you wind down at night?

CassieR6

Thank you all for the awesome suggestions! I will for sure be using some of these soon! Thanks again! :flowerforyou:

canadjineh

Alcohol makes me get up & dance - so no having it in the evening if I'm looking for sleep, lol. I drink a vanilla Sleepytime Tea, use a hotpack on my neck & shoulders, read the paper or a magazine and listen to calming instrumental music (ie: classical/jazz guitar - NOT spa music, lol), then I take my calcium-magnesium supplements, pop in my earplugs (so my DH doesn't wake me with bathroom trips or snoring, etc) and I'm good.

MelsAuntie

Lie down in bed, get comfortable, read until I fall asleep.

onefortyone

Loving the variety in this thread. I ran out of my prescription stuff that was supposed to reduce anxiety at bedtime (can't even spell or pronounce it) and the OTC sleeping pills give me horrible hangover/groggy feelings in the morning, but I'm the worst sleeper ever. My brain doesn't want to shut off, and I get these negative spiraling thoughts and no matter how tired I am, it's impossible to relax and fall asleep in that state.

I like the hot bath idea, when I was younger I used to sleep like a baby after a scalding bath and then moving into my chilly bedroom. I have also found that having the TV on med-low volume helps too - listening to it with my eyes closed seems to block out some of my 'background thoughts' and I fall asleep faster with it on.

TheLadyBane

Reading is usually an awful bedtime routine for me. I've been caught up in a book until dawn way too many times.

I usually do about 15-20 minutes of some gentle, relaxing yoga while playing a video podcast of Tech News Today. Or the Daily Show .

jrline

jogging and/or weight training and then an adult beverage

VibrantAnnette

well this is a big topic for me really as it's been a process to figure out how to wind down. where in prior years I could get away with less than 4 hours of sleep nightly, when it turned 50 this became a huge problem where I had erratic sleep schedule cause I either couldn't fall asleep or stay asleep, and was waking every half hour all night long. that turned into major adrenal exhaustion, impacting all my biology in very bad ways and the doctor required me to abstain from any and all exercise.

there's a wonderful product called "Calm", a drink that does relax you as it's magnesium. kinda like those fizzy vitamin C drinks.
I found this is a fantastic way to help relax at any time of day. Now I know this will also work for those really hectic stressful moments too. It does not make you sleepy.

The beginning of this year I was released to exercise again. I began working out at all times of the day, even at 7pm or 8pm til 9pm. These late night workouts were keeping me up! So now I require self to workout no later than 4pm-5pm for aerobic/strength activity, and I can do relaxing yoga at later hours (nothing stimulating). That made a huge difference in getting to bed at a regular time and sleeping through the night which accelerates rest and recovery (of adrenals and biology).

Then I had to address the hormonal imbalances caused by adrenal exhaustion and aging, which affects all men and women. primary one to help you relax, and also sleep is good balance of serotonin/dopamine/melatonin. I started taking at nighttime: B6, 5HTP, and either GABA or TAURINE, and occasionally Melatonin. Even though hard to sleep, it wasn't the melatonin that was out of wack, it was the serotonin, and most of those vitamins stimulate ability to produce serotonin post sleeping. (after age 40 people lose ability to create melatonin, which helps you sleep and also generates your skins protective tanning capabilities). So I'd recommend reading the book by Dr. Natasha Turner, The Hormone Diet, which can help you figure out your hormone balances and what to do naturally. it's a great reference book too.

L-theanine helps your body calm down (and does not stimulate adrenals the way coffee does). I reduced coffee and increased my green tea by starting green tea at noon. This was huge shift for me as I've had several cups of coffee daily since I was seven years old! Green tea is a miracle beverage.

mathmatt

Things I've found work well. Turn off most lights and get the house pretty dark. Candles or oil lamps are great since they're longer wavelengths of light and help to start the process of melatonin production (think of the sun going down). Along the same lines, f.lux for my computer to do the same thing filtering out the shorter wavelengths but it takes some time to get used to the orange-ish hue to the screen.

Nights where I'm not getting a lot of sleep I'll take a low dose of melatonin and I find it helps some.

I don't watch shows late at night as I find that I'm less tired at the end of the show than I was at the start. I'll typically read in bed using a few candles or an oil lamp but if you try that, be very careful you don't fall asleep with it still burning (all bad).

ghenne04

Unfortunately I don't do this nearly as often as I should - most of the time I crawl into bed way past my bedtime and wake up tired. My favorite things to do at night to wind down are:
1. Tidy up for 5 minutes. It's so much nicer waking up to a clean room, house, whatever, so I don't start the day with stress over mess.
2. Do 15-30 minutes of yoga meant to help me relax (this is a good one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6XqCI7IbvE)
3. Turn off lights around the house.
4. Get into bed with tea and a book.
5. Sleep!

KameHameHaaaa

Benadryl and music.

SeptemberLondon

Alcohol is a bad idea in my experience. It will make you FALL asleep, but your sleep won't be quality sleep. I wake up more tired than if I hadn't slept at all. A workout definitely won't be happening the next morning!

This is what works for me:

Hot Bath with epsom salt, while drinking hot tea. Turn down the lights & don't use any electronics - the stimulation will keep the brain turned on.

If I'm particularly wound up, Benadryl (just one); otherwise I use melatonin and I love it.

What works even better? All of the above, plus getting into bed a bit earlier for a romp with the boyfriend. THAT'S a good night's sleep!

jasonmh630

It depends, really. Some nights, I catch up on some stuff I've DVR'd... Other nights, I work out the stress of the day by firing up the PS4 and playing a game. Every night this week will be spent on the PS4, since I started playing Destiny last night.

askeates

I'm up between 4:30 & 5, and go to bed between 10:30 and 11. Generally I will either watch a little mindless TV show (love Netflix) or listen to some music.

AddieOverhaul

Warm bath and go to bed with a book.

When I drink before bed I will wake up dehydrated and sluggish.

When I drink too much before bed I wake up at 3am with the dries and 'the fear'.

Haha my friend just told me about the expression "the fear". My other friend and I always call it "day-after regret."

To wind down, I usually read or watch Netflix in bed with a heating pad on my lower back. This is mostly because I have a bad back and this helps keep the muscles from getting too tight, but also because apparently, temperature dropping helps you fall asleep. So I raise it with the heating pad and when I turn it off 20 minutes before bed and start to cool off it helps trigger sleepyness. hot baths/showers do the same thing, and I love relaxing in the bath in the evening sometimes. I also have trouble falling and staying asleep. Alcohol definitely makes it worse.

Josalinn

Last night was hot chocolate and some Hearthstone (Blizzard's knockoff of Magic the Gathering, which is a card game that is WAY too expensive for me to get into hardcore)...and chatting with my Love. Long distance sucks...

eta: grammar error

dmarsh1018

bowl, sex, snack, pass out. works for me

Lourdesong

Benadryl and a book.

vamaena

I have the same routine. Usually get up at 5am and go to bed between 9:30-10pm. I like to unwind by reading, crocheting, going for a walk or going to the gym (I always crash after a good workout)

SarcasmIsMyLoveLanguage

I read a book and sometimes drink some hot tea. Oh and I avoid caffeine after 3pm or I will be up all night.

MinnieInMaine

We start watching a movie (in the livingroom) while we have dinner, pause to clean up, then finish watching it and occassionally pause to chat about something. We're usually in bed between 9 and 10pm. If I'm having trouble falling asleep and hubby's already gone to bed, the best option is reading. While I'd rather play on my tablet, sometimes that can wake me up if the game is complex or exciting. Same with watching TV - some shows/movies are boring enough so I fall asleep but some are too exciting or involved.

As others mentioned, it might be good to at least cut down on the drinking if not cut it out completely. While it may help you feel relaxed so you can get to sleep easier, as you've found, you may end up being more restless in the end and get a poor quality of sleep the rest of the night.

I'm a bit sensitive to meds but take something most nights for aches/pains (DOMS) and to help me sleep. I usually avoid Advil as it's like alcohol to me - helps me get to sleep but then I'm wakeful after 4-5 hours. Tylenol is better. If I take a Tylenol PM, I can only do half a dose or I feel hungover the next morning. Most nights I partake in a bite of "medical" brownie - also helps with aches and pains and relaxing but I have to be careful with dosage or it'll also give me a hangover.

ETA: I'm also caffeine sensitive and have to stop drinking it around noon or I'll have a tough time falling asleep and/or not sleep well. The occassional diet Coke is ok since that doesn't have much but no coffee allowed. Something to consider...

You may also want to start journalling to track your sleeping habits for a month or so and see if certain foods, drinks, etc affect our quality of sleep. You never know!