How to switch off at night is a major problem for high functioning women.
Your body might stop when you get into bed but the wheels in your brain just keep on spinning right?
And since sleep is an essential part of health and wellbeing, being able to relax and get to sleep easily is really important.
Here are my top tips for switching off after a long day.
Wind Down
Wind down with some form of proactive relaxation.
We expect that when we go to bed we’ll suddenly relax and fall asleep.
But we’re usually going at 100 miles an hour right up until we decide it’s time to stop and we don’t give our bodies and brains time to slow down all the way to zero.
Proactive relaxation can be anything from taking a bath or a hot shower, listening to a meditation, writing in a journal, light stretching or popping your legs up the wall – anything to physically signal to your brain that it’s time to transition from the rush of the day into sleep mode.
Disconnect
Disconnect from technology and screens for at least 30 minutes before bed – if not longer.
In fact, after the sun has set it’s best not to expose your eyes to bright artificial light, particularly the blue light emitted from computer screens and mobile devices.
I’m really big on this, I avoid bright overhead lights at home and switch on warm low light lamps instead.
And given that it’s a hard task to avoid the bright light from screens these days, I always use blue light blocking glasses if I’m working or on my phone once it’s dark.
Blocking Blue Light
If you do a google search you might see some skeptical articles about these glasses and whether they reduce eye strain or not. But while the jury may be out on that, it’s not the reason I recommend using them.
It’s because blue light interferes with our natural melatonin production and therefore disrupts our circadian rhythm.
When you think about it, it’s not natural to be exposed to that kind of light after dark, and so it’s no wonder that we find it harder to switch off when we’re staring at those bright screens so often.
This disruption not only makes it harder to fall asleep at night but of course leaves us feeling groggy and tired in the mornings.
You can certainly use night mode or a sunset app to block this light after dark, but if I’m working or creating, (or my guilty pleasure… playing an interior design game on my phone! 😉) – I like to see everything in full colour instead of hiding under that amber glow. I also find some text harder to read, so glasses it is for me.
I get my blue light blocking glasses from EyeBuyDirect as they have a huge range AND you can try them on on their website! Big bonus for me because I don’t like buying things if I’m not really sure what they’re going to look like on!
Plus – they donate a pair of glasses for every pair you buy, to someone who really needs them & of course – I love that.
(These pictures are screen shots from their website!)
Here’s the link to try some on here.
Brain Dump
Finally, there’s nothing like writing things down to help clear your head. A journal on my bedside table is an essential so that I can plan, write to-do lists, or simply “brain dump”.
If it’s out of my brain and on to paper, I subconsciously know that I don’t need to keep thinking over it when I go to sleep.
This naturally makes for an easier time dropping off and you’re also much less likely to wake up at 2am ruminating on things!
Hope that’s helpful (and have fun picking out your glasses! 🤓)
Kelly Moriarty
Join my Facebook group: www.facebook.com/groups/thegreenbodyplan
*This post contains affiliate links – read my full disclosure here.*
kellyannmoriarty.com 