Sleep is one of the most crucial factors for your health. If you don’t get enough sleep, then every system in your body is affected – including your skin. Skin flares become dramatically more likely when you’re sleep-deprived. That’s because sleep – especially deep sleep – is crucial for allowing the body to maintain tissues and repair damage.
Many people struggle to get enough sleep. Some people intend to go to bed at a certain time, but an hour later they find themselves still scrolling social media or watching another episode of a show. Others go to bed at the right time, but then they can’t fall asleep.
In order to get enough high-quality sleep, it’s important to train your nervous system to sleep when it’s time. One evidence-based way to improve your sleep is to develop a bedtime routine. Why are bedtime routines important? How can you create an effective one?
Why do bedtime routines work?
The brain is excellent at learning patterns. Once it detects a pattern and can predict what’s coming next, it will start to anticipate this, shifting its activity accordingly.
If you consistently do the same things before bed, then your brain will learn to associate that routine with going to sleep. Soon, whenever you do your bedtime routine, your brain will begin shifting into sleep mode. Once you get into bed, you’ll be ready to head to sleep. This decreases the chances that you’ll find yourself laying in bed, unable to get to sleep.
While some people associate bedtime routines with children, the same technique is effective for adults as well. Research has shown that adults who consistently implement a bedtime routine fall asleep faster and sleep better than those without a routine. This is a simple but powerful way to help yourself sleep better.
What to include in your bedtime routine
Your bedtime routine should include activities that you find restful and calming. There’s no one “best” bedtime routine – yours will be unique to you. However, there are a few guidelines as to what to include.
Some people choose to start off their bedtime routine with a snack. While eating a large meal close to bedtime can interfere with your sleep, having a small snack can help to keep your blood sugar more stable throughout the night and prevent you from waking up hungry in the middle of the night. If you decide to include this, choose something easy to digest, made up of carbohydrates and a little protein – something like crackers with peanut butter, yogurt with fruit, or whole-grain cereal with milk. (If you’re already making it through the night without feeling hungry, then you may not need to add a snack before bed.)
Some people also like to have a cup of herbal tea as part of their routine. It’s a great idea to choose a particular flavor of herbal tea that you consume only at bedtime – many people choose chamomile or lavender. Whenever you drink this tea, your brain will know that it’s time to shift into sleep mode. Make sure to drink the tea early in your routine, so there will be time for your body to get rid of the excess fluid before sleep. That way, you’re less likely to wake up needing to pee in the middle of the night.
A shower or bath can be an excellent addition to a bedtime routine. Studies have shown that taking a warm shower or bath about an hour before bed helps people to fall asleep more quickly. It’s believed that this occurs through modulating your body temperature. The warm water raises your body temperature, and then it drops afterwards. Your body temperature naturally drops as you get close to bedtime, so the warm shower mimics this natural drop, helping your body shift into sleep mode. To help keep your skin hydrated, it’s a great idea to apply lotion right away after getting out of the bath or shower.
You’ll need to include your regular hygiene activities as well, like brushing your teeth, washing your face, and changing into your pajamas. Of course, you’ve been doing these activities before bed for a long time – they already serve as a sort of mini bedtime routine. Think about where in your new bedtime routine you’d like to include these. After your snack, tea, and/or shower is a great time to do these things.
Choose some relaxing, screen-free activities to include in your bedtime routine as well. Some examples include reading, journaling, drawing, listening to music, or stretching. The best activities are ones that you enjoy. Your bedtime routine should be something that you look forward to, and it should help you to feel happy and satisfied when you finally turn off the light to go to sleep.
What to leave out of your bedtime routine
Although you have a lot of freedom with what specific things you want to include in your bedtime routine, there are also a few things that you should definitely leave out of it.
One of the main ones is alcohol. For centuries, people have been having a “nightcap” – a drink just before bed, which is intended to help them fall asleep. At first, this may seem like a great idea. Alcohol does tend to make you sleepy. The problem is that alcohol significantly reduces the quality of your sleep. Even though you do get to sleep after a drink, that sleep will not be the high-quality restorative sleep that you need. In addition, alcohol tends to wake you up a few hours later, as it’s metabolized. All of this means that the net impact of alcohol on sleep is definitely negative. Although it might seem like a good idea to include a nightcap as part of your nighttime routine, it’s actually important to avoid alcohol close to bedtime – and ideally, you’d want to put at least four hours between drinking and going to bed.
This next one might seem obvious, but it can sneak its way in. Don’t include any caffeine as part of your bedtime routine. This includes dark chocolate – it can actually be a healthy food in moderate amounts, but it does contain caffeine (as well as another similar compound known as theobromine), so it might interfere with your sleep if you make it part of your bedtime routine. If you drink tea as part of your routine, check to make sure that it doesn’t include caffeine – anything that contains black, green, or white tea has caffeine, as well as teas like yerba mate and guarana.
Another important thing to leave out of your bedtime routine is screens. Many people find it relaxing to watch something funny or cute (like the proverbial cat videos), and may be tempted to include this as part of their bedtime routine. However, looking at a screen – whether it’s a TV screen, computer monitor, tablet, or phone – can actually prevent you from falling asleep. This is because the light from screens has been shown to suppress your brain’s production of melatonin, the hormone that triggers you to fall asleep. (Sunlight normally triggers your brain to shift into wakefulness mode rather than sleep mode, and the light from screens is bright enough to mimic sunlight.) Turn off all screens at the beginning of your bedtime routine – set any alarms you need to set at this time, and then don’t look at your screen again until the next morning. Choose non-screen activities for your bedtime routine.
Your lifestyle choices impact your skin health
In Mind Gut Skin Academy, I often talk about the Three Pillars of Skin Health: mindset, gut health, and lifestyle. Your lifestyle choices are absolutely crucial for your skin health. Consistently making healthy choices, like getting enough high-quality sleep, will help you to achieve the best possible health of your skin.
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