Activity before sleep

11 Relaxing Activities Before Bed

Modern life can be hectic and full of stress. Relaxing at the end of each day and getting a full night’s sleep is essential in helping you cope with life’s day to day grind. However, the issues that you need sleep to help you to unwind from are often ones that also keep you awake. Luckily there are a few things you can do that will help you to relax and make sleep happen more easily. So, if you’re looking for some relaxing activities before bed that will help you get to sleep then these ten suggestions should come in handy.

It’s important to note that creating the right conditions for sleep at night aren’t as simple as doing one of the activities on this list. There are also things you can avoid as well. Try to avoid caffeine, blue lights from devices, and watching or listening to anything stimulating.

Unwinding before bed isn’t just about the things you can do, but also about the things you should avoid. Once you are avoiding the right things, then look to implement some activities to relax you before bed.

11 relaxing activities before bed

Here’s 11 relaxing activities you can add to your night time routine before bed. For best results, I recommend trying 1 of these activities everyday and incorporating the ones you found to be the most effective into your evening routine.

1. Listen to ASMR

ASMR, or Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response, is a trending and new genre of videos and audio that includes sounds such as whispers and scratching to help stimulate a tingling sensation among people and relax them.

ASMR audio recordings are great for helping you to relax. A good ASMR artist with a soothing tone can really make you feel calm and help ground you emotionally. You can find plenty of ASMR videos on Youtube and you can usually buy audio versions linked from the creator’s webpage.

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It isn’t for everyone, but the recent surge in the amount of ASMR videos and audio is a sign of how effective it is as a relaxing activity before bed. Many of which use it before bed as an activity to prepare them for sleep.

2. Practice meditation

Take some time to practice meditation before going to sleep. Meditation is a great method for resolving negative thoughts and anxieties and it will help put you in a better mind-state for sleep.

If you’ve never tried meditation before, start with a simple breathing and visualization exercise. Generally, the idea is to use meditation to become aware of your thoughts in a non-judgemental way. It’s our judgement of these thoughts at night that leads us to get lost in them and it can keep us up. All the issues, anxieties, and problems from the day or the days ahead don’t need to be analyzed when our head hits the pillow. Instead, meditation offers a way to clear the mind of these thoughts.

To start, you can try some of our guided meditations for sleep or even download our app which contains various guided meditations to help you relax and fall asleep.

3. Listen to sleep hypnosis audio recordings

Sleep hypnosis is a bit like ASMR combined with meditation. It uses audio effects, noises, and music combined with a soothing guided instruction to help you relax at night.

Depending on how “suggestible” a person is, sleep hypnosis works better on some people than others. It’s not a universal solution and there’s very little scientific evidence to support how it actually works.

Still, there is a lot of anecdotal evidence among people who use it nightly as an activity to relax before bed to help them fall asleep.

4. Read a book

Reading a good book at the end of your day is a great way to slow yourself down and get ready for sleep. It also helps distract you from any anxiety you may have left over from your day and puts you in a more passive and receptive mood ready to drift off to dreamland.

You can find plenty of interesting books to read at your local library and if you have a tablet or e-book reader you can also find lots of literature online. Light reading is suggested over more intense technical reading. The last thing you want to do is over stimulate yourself. Fiction is probably the best genre for this. If you need a suggestion, take a look at the best meditation books.

It’s also important to note that you should try to avoid reading off of backlit devices such as a laptop or tablet as the blue light they emit can stimulate you and keep you awake.

5. Listen to some soothing music

Music is a great mood enhancer, so if you want to get yourself into a more relaxed mood some smooth soothing tunes are just the thing to put you there.

Some recommended genres of music are jazz, lofi hip hop beats, chillstep, ambient, classical, and even soft rock. Spotify even has curated playlists just for relaxing at night or falling asleep.

The great thing about relaxing and soothing music is that you can use it in combination with other relaxing activities before bed on this list.

6. Practice muscle relaxation and deep breathing techniques

One of the biggest issues many people have in getting to sleep is where their muscles tense up due to anxiety. This often happens as a response to being worried about getting to sleep, so you end up in a self-fulfilling feedback loop.

The good news is that pretty much anything you have voluntary control over in your body responds to regular practice. Take some time before you go to sleep to try to relax all your muscles in one area of your body at a time.

Start at your feet and end at your head. Practice slow deep breathing as you do this. Over time you will learn to relax your muscles at will which will make it much easier for you to get to sleep when you need to.

Try to gently massage your muscles on your legs, feet, and upper back. Rub these muscles with your thumbs in a circular motion.

Even simple stretches and yoga poses can help put your muscles in a more relaxed state. Poses such as a wide-legged child’s pose, or resting on your back with your legs up against the wall can help relax you and your muscles before bed.

7. Write a journal entry about your day

Take a few minutes before you go to bed to write down the most important things that happened in your day. In addition to helping you to clarify your feelings about the events of your day this will also provide a great reference to help give you an overview of how your life is progressing.

Give yourself the opportunity to vent every night before going to bed. If your thoughts and feelings of the day always surface before you go to sleep, use your journal and pen as an outlet. If you need writing prompts, try a mindfulness journal.

Write about your thoughts and what happened. Try to give yourself some closure every night so that the mind isn’t keeping you up.

8. Write a to-do list for tomorrow

Going to bed worried about tomorrow’s problems won’t help you get to sleep so take the time to write down a to-do list of things you can do to make those problems go away.

Knowing that you’ve at least made a small effort towards bringing those issues under control can help a lot in short-circuiting any anxiety you might have about those problems.

It’s also important to understand what you can control and what you can’t control. Especially in the moment. If you’re up all night worried about the thing you need to do tomorrow, does thinking about it in bed actually solve the problem?

Instead, take time to create a plan of attack for the next day’s problems to help ease the mind of anxieties before bed.

9. Take a warm soothing bath

There’s nothing like a soak in a warm bath to relax your muscles and prepare you for sleep.

Take some time to wash your troubles away before going to bed. You might not be able to take a long bath every day of the week, but taking some time to relax in the tub every now and then is great for de-stressing and relieving any anxiety you may have built up throughout your day.

Even going the extra mile is worth it. Light a few candles. Play some relaxing music. Use a bath bomb or body wash that has a lavender scent.

It might also help to set a timer. If your anxiety is making you feel like you’re rushing the bath or all you can think about is getting out of the tub, set a minimum time. Try at least 15 minutes in the tub and close your eyes and breathe.

10. Take a moment to think about all the positive things in your life

Everyone has some rough moments in their day and the last thing you want to do is take negative thoughts about those moments to bed with you.

Use some of your time before going to sleep to remind yourself of all the positive things that have happened to you throughout your day, and the productive things that you achieved. Tell yourself that almost all problems are fixable, and that any negatives are likely temporary.

You’ve been through rough patches in the past and you’ve gotten through them, so remind yourself of that too.

Practice some gratitude before bed as well. Think about the things and people you’re grateful for. Remind yourself of all the little and big things in your life that you truly appreciate. Creating the proper conditions before bed isn’t always physical. It’s also about creating the right conditions in your mind. If you need some ideas, check out our long gratitude list for things to be grateful for.

11. Play a relaxing game

Video games can be pretty stimulating but today, there are hundreds of video games that are comfy and relaxing. Give yourself a chance to unwind and decompress from the stressors of the day with a anxiety relief game. It doesn’t need to be a video game either. There are plenty of board games and card games you can play that can be very relaxing.

Be careful to not play video games too close before bed time. The blue light from screens can be stimulating and keep you up at night. Some relaxing games can still be stimulating, as well. Try to mix this activity with another relaxing activity before bed.

Good night

Engaging in some relaxing activities before bed can be a great help in getting you to sleep. It’s worth taking the time at the end of your day to put yourself into a more relaxed mood so that sleep happens more naturally. Getting a good night’s sleep is one of the best ways to ensure that you are ready for each new day, so try these suggestions out and see which ones work for you.

If you have any suggestions or have activities you do that help you sleep better at night, feel free to share them below in a comment.

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7 habits before bed

Healthy sleep is important for both physical and mental health, productivity and well-being.

Everything that is done before going to bed affects its quality. There is even a special term “sleep hygiene” - a set of healthy habits that will help improve the ability to fall asleep and get enough sleep.

Create a consistent sleep pattern

Go to bed and wake up at the same time every day, even on weekends and holidays.

Calculate the time to fall asleep based on the fact that you need at least 7 hours of sleep.

Lack of sleep may be a risk factor for cardiovascular disease, and maintaining a regular sleep pattern may help prevent heart disease, as can physical activity, a healthy diet, and other healthy lifestyle factors.

Failure to regularly go to bed and wake up at the same time, respectively, a different amount of sleep each night, may increase the risk of obesity, hypertension, diabetes and other metabolic disorders.

Set an alarm to remind you that it's time to go to bed.

Yes, just before bed. Many people have found it easier to understand with the help of an alarm signal that it is time to sleep.

Choose sleep

If you need to work, prepare for an important event, exam, speech, do not sacrifice sleep, review your daily routine and remove or reduce, not to the detriment of yourself, part of the planned tasks.

It is desirable that your bed is not associated with work, reading, watching programs, the side effect of which may be insomnia or restless sleep, lack of deep sleep.

Another important point is that your back is in a static position for a long time when working half-lying, while reading, which can later lead to headaches, back pain.

Establish a pre-sleep action plan

Do the same bedtime steps day after day, including things like putting on your pajamas, brushing your teeth in the same sequence, this can reinforce the signal in your mind that it's time to sleep.

Treat yourself to a quiet hour before bed

Relax hour, rest hour, give it a name. In the first half of the hour, you can think about tomorrow's plans, and in the second - take a warm shower.

In one study, it was found that young people after taking a warm bath reported "warmth" in their hands and/or feet, while older people were more likely to report "good sleep" or "falling asleep quickly". During the first 3 hours of sleep, body movements after bathing were less frequent in both young and old people. The results show that taking a bath before bed improves the quality of sleep, especially in the elderly.

Ventilate the room before going to bed

Ventilate the room well before going to bed. Fresh air helps you fall asleep quickly.

Keep the room at a comfortable cool

temperature.

Sleeping in a stuffy room can later turn into a headache. It has been proven that the quality of sleep is better for those who sleep with the window open and the door open. Thus, air circulation is created, the level of carbon dioxide in the air decreases, from which sleep becomes more calm and sound.

Dim the lights and put away gadgets

Limit exposure to bright lights in the evening.

Remove electronic devices at least 30 minutes before bedtime. Blue light from tablets, laptops and smartphones interferes with sleep by suppressing the production of melatonin, an important hormone for sleep.

Sleep hygiene is preventive measures, taking which every day in the evenings, you will improve not only sleep, but also health indicators that depend on it, and most likely, you will do without medical measures in case of sleep disturbance.

Good sleep and good health!

Sports before bed - yes or no?

Do you know how it happens? All day you persuade yourself to do a couple of exercises, but something constantly distracts you - work, household chores, delicious food ... You catch yourself only in the late evening, about half an hour before going to bed. Now or never! But laziness is also not asleep yet - she asks a reasonable question: but will physical activity before bedtime be beneficial?

Know yourself… and your biorhythms

A lot really depends on the person. An avid "owl" is unlikely to be inspired by the motto "get up early to have more time," including exercises. No, of course, willpower can be enough for two or three days. But very soon the blanket becomes heavier than any dumbbells - in the morning you simply cannot lift it ...

But in the evening there is a surge of energy! You are finally fully awake, it's now the hardest thing to stop is . You crave action, you are not averse to stretching... And as usual, you consider all "larks" who have long been in cozy warm beds to be eccentrics.

Is it worth torturing yourself by exercising without enthusiasm? Yes, sport is overcoming, but not torture. If your workouts are enjoyable, you are more likely to become regular.

"Pros" of evening training:

With their sedentary lifestyle, many simply do not have time to spend energy (and calories) in a day. Physical work causes pleasant fatigue - an excellent condition for falling asleep quickly.
Sport allows you to get rid of the stress that has accumulated during the day - to “unload your head” a little, loading your muscles.
Experts believe that by the evening the temperature of the human body usually rises, which reduces the likelihood of injury.
In addition, in the evening you most likely will not rush to work or study.
Late training fits perfectly into the lifestyle of a modern person - group classes, courses and entertainment, as a rule, take place in the evenings. This means you don't have to swim against the current.
And there is no need to be afraid that you will begin to fall asleep, as is sometimes the case after “invigorating” morning workouts!

Interesting fact: In Chinese medicine, each time of the day corresponds to the activity of certain organs of the human body. Accordingly, the training effect also differs. For example, to recharge with fresh energy, it makes sense to practice in the morning, and for cleansing and relaxation - in the afternoon.

And yet - what's embarrassing?

Intense exercise leads to an increase in heart rate and breathing. The concentration of stress hormones (cortisol, adrenaline, etc.) rises in the blood, sweat comes out... It is difficult to fall asleep in such a state. And why go to bed if you'll just stare at the ceiling anyway?

The abrupt transition from physical activity to complete immobility places a great strain on the heart. Therefore, if you train in the evening, leave at least an hour and a half to cool down and calm down . The drive home from the gym and a nice shower are good for this.

By the way, not everyone knows that in addition to warming up, there is also such a thing as hitch - that is, light exercises that are designed to help you gradually “slow down” after heavy loads.

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