How do you wind down at night?

I am usually so tired by then, I don't have trouble falling asleep. I usually go to sleep around 11pm (more or less, depending on if I have everything done for the day), and my alarm goes off at 4:15am.

But I suppose if you really need something to do to "wind down," then try watching TV. If that doesn't work, keep trying other things until you find something that works for you.

I'm one of those people who don't fall alseep easily. I've always been so jealous of those who can just close their eyes and drift off to sleep. My Dad is like that, but I definitely didn't inherit that from him! My brain just doesn't want to quiet down.

I've found some tricks over the last few months that have really been helping me though. (1) I put black out tabs over the little lights on the electronic devices in my bedroom. I find I relax a lot quicker in a pitch black room; (2) I disengage from all electronic devices at least 15 minutes before I go to bed; and (3) before I lay down, I get in a comfortable seated position and slowly breath in and out through the nose for a few minutes. I focus on my shoulders raising slowly towards my ears as I breathe in and then falling slowly back down as I breathe out. I've not perfected meditation in any way, but I guess this my version of it. I've been so shocked at how it really helps to relax you and quiet the mind.

1. *kitten*

Nice one :devil:

Cheap wine and a good book

Bubble bath and incense.

On rare occasions I will take melatonin.

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

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 .

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.

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!

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!

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.

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

Benadryl and a book.

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