Hello Everyone!
A couple of weeks ago a told you all about my summer morning routine that I have been implementing throughout my holidays, so I thought it would be fitting to tell you all about my night routine as well! I mentioned in my Summer Morning Routine that my routines do tend to change a little here and there depending on what i have to do that day and will change throughout the year as Iearn more about what works best for me. The same applies to my night routine too, but overall, my night routines do tend to be a little more linear than my morning routines. I have been using different versions of this night routine for several years now and while it does differ with every season and whether or not I’m in school, the basic principle has stayed the same.
My aim of my night routine is to help me relax before bed in order to get a good nights sleep and also to make sure I end the day on a high, so that I’m not carrying any bad thoughts or emotions into the next day. Before I get started, I just wanted to mention that there will be a YouTube video to go with this post, so if you want to hear about my night routine in a more visable format, you can watch it here. (Channel: Samantha Drage)
With that said, let’s get into it!
Generally speaking, my night routine starts about 6pm; however, this can vary depending on what I’ve been doing that day as I may not get home until later some days. I try to turn my big PC off at 6pm, although I’m not always successful at that. I am allowed to keep my laptop open if I want in order to write blog posts or work on my WIP’s, but I like to turn off video games, mindless youtube video watching and internet surfing at 6pm.
I also like to turn my main light off and put on my various lamps and moodlighting around the room because it creates a much cosier atmosphere and helps my brain switch from work to chill mode. I also try to impliment the lighting thing in other aspects of my life; I don’t turn the main light on in the morning until after my morning routine and when I’m ready to start the day. Sometimes I turn all the lights off in order to really focus on my computer work too, so if you’re having trouble focusing then I highly suggest trying to change up the lighting, but make sure you stick with it at a certain time of day or when you’re doing certain tasks, so your brain recognises the shift.
This is usually the time I would put my Pajamas on too (if I’m not already in them that is), brush my teeth, wash my face etc. I also tend to take the opportunity to post on Instagram around now as well if I haven’t already done it that day and I might scroll through my feed a bit and comment on some other people’s photos too!
This can all take me anywhere from 10-40 minutes depending on whether I chose to do anything on my laptop and how sucked into the Instagram wormhole I get, but it’s safe to say that I’m always done with this part by about 6:45, which is when the real fun happens!
From about 6:45 until 8 is my designated reading time. Reading is really important to me (so much so I have a whole separate blog dedicated to it: http://books.samanthadrage.co.uk), so I made the effort years ago to implement it into my day to day life. It works best for me to read in the evenings as a way to unwind, relax and escape to another world for an hour or so. Reading is also a great way for me to calm my anxiety before bed and it makes me happy, which puts me in a good mood before bed and helps me forget about the days frustrations.
If you read my morning routine, then you will know I do yoga every morning and I have also recently started doing it every night as well. Yoga helps me from both a physical and a mental point of view, which is why I have made the effort to do it more often in my day to day life. I, like so many people, have a lot of back pain and general aches that accumulate throughout the day, so being able to stretch it all out at the end of the day makes getting to sleep easier because no one likes being uncomfortable because their legs ache do they? I also find it really calming, so it helps a lot with my anxiety, but on top of that, I also feel like it is a way for me to physically release the days frustrations. I don’t know if that makes sense, but I feel like I just let all of the negative thoughts, emotions and frustrations out while I’m stretching, which leaves my head clear when I go to sleep and sets me up for a fresh start tomorrow.
One of the last things I do is tidy up the last few things lying around my room and get any things I need for tomorrow read, so that I am all set when I wake up in the morning. Then I take my tablets (2 sleeping tablets and The Pill in case you were wondering) and curl up to go to sleep, which usually ends up being at about 8:30. I know that might seem quite early to a lot of you, but it can take me a while to get to sleep and I do get up early, so it is important that I leave myself enough time in order to get the sleep I need as it is essential that I get enough of it.
And that was my night routine! I take bed-time quite seriously and I have a lot of things I make sure I do every night in order to maximise the amount of sleep I get and make sure tomorrow is going to be even better. Sleep is really important to me as someone with autism because I simply cannot function if I don’t get enough! If you’d like me to do a whole post (or a whole video) about sleep and why it is important to me as someone with Autism, then just tell me down below because I would be more than happy to do so!
I hope you’ve all been getting enough sleep lately and are doing well! Feel free to tell me what you like to do before bed down below too and I will talk to you all soon!
Over and Out