7 Things Healthy People Do Before Bed

By creating a nightly routine out of these simple steps (you might even be doing some of these already!) you will be sure to notice a change in both your health and happiness.

1. Plan For Tomorrow

One of the keys to maintaining a healthy lifestyle is to always be prepared; you will feel organized and won’t need to stress in the morning. Prepare the exercise gear, what to wear, what to pack in your take away kuch among other things.

2. Switch off Technology One Hour Before Bed

How many of you say goodnight to your loved ones and headed to bed only to spend the next hour laying there checking Facebook and Instagram? Yeah, we’ve all been there. By switching off the technology an hour (or two!) before bed, you have time to wind down without distractions. Not only can the artificial light emitted from phones and computers have a serious effect on your body clock and encourage sleep disorders, but putting the phone away will give you more room for quality time with your loved ones.

3. Keep a Gratitude Journal

A great way to bring further happiness into your life is by actively and regularly expressing gratitude. Studies have shown that keeping a gratitude journal not only increases happiness but reaps other benefits including better sleep and fewer symptoms of illness. By setting a small amount of time aside each night  to jot down some things from your day that you are grateful for will remind you what a blessed life you lead but will also get any negative thoughts out of your mind, making it less likely that you will dwell on issues that can keep you up at night. 

4. Stretch it Out

How many times have leg cramps or a sore back made it difficult for you to get to sleep or woken you up throughout the night? Stretching helps lengthen tendons and muscles and can reduce the frequency and severity of cramps ensuring you get a better nights sleep. Not only stretching the sore muscles helps, but by giving your whole body a good stretch relaxes your muscles and body and releases any built up tension. Your body will feel like it’s melting onto the bed afterwards.

5. Meditate/Pray

We are constantly being bombarded with information via the television, social media, the internet, friends and work- it’s no wonder so many people feel overwhelmed, stressed and anxious! By meditating/praying before bed, you are slowing down your brain activity which results in a deeper and more peaceful sleep.

6. Curl Up With a Good Book

Reading before bed is good for you in so many ways. First of all, it calms the nerves by eliminating excess sound and vision stimulus (exactly the opposite of what you get from watching television!). Reading a good book before you go to sleep helps you escape to another world without the need for dramatic television shows. Aside from reading helping you to wind down and sleep better, it also improves brain function, your memory and the thinking process overall.

7. Get Enough Sleep

One habit you should be committing to every night is to simply make sleep a priority. An easy way to do this is to consistently go to bed at roughly the same time every night. Work out when you need to wake up and count back 8 hours to ensure you get a solid nights sleep. Going to bed late, getting 5 or 6 hours sleep and snoozing your alarm three times in the morning is the worst thing you can do and sets a bad tone for your day. Incorporating the above steps into your nightly routine will help let your body know it’s time to slow down and get you in the right mindset for sleep so you won’t be laying on your back staring at the ceiling for hours.