Most adults don’t have any bedtime rituals. The traditional procedure of going to bed for them is the following:
- Turn off the TV.
- Go To Bed.
That’s it. Mostly, they do nothing else. You don’t make use of anything that helps you fall asleep better before you go to bed. And you absolutely miss the benefits of having bedtime rituals.
In this article, we’ll take a look at 5 powerful bedtime rituals for adults that you can start using today. If you feel like you have problems falling asleep every day, you’re in the right spot. Having bedtime rituals will help you improve your sleep quality a lot if you use them correctly.
We will take a look at
- Why You Need To Have A Bedtime Ritual
- 5 Powerful Bedtime Rituals for Adults
- 1. The Power of Not Using Your Phone
- 2. Natural Sleep Remedies You Can’t Ignore
- 3. Read A Book Until Your Eyes Shut
- 4. Complete Darkness: Block Off All The Light
- 5. The Power Of An Evening-Routine
Why You Need To Have A Bedtime Ritual
You simply can’t afford not to have one. Think about what you are doing currently. Most likely you spend the evening sitting in front of some kind of screen (your TV, your computer or your smartphone). When you need to go to bed you are tempted to watch just one more episode of your favorite series or check out just a few more posts. Oftentimes you spend way too much time with these things and go to bed too late which reduces your sleep time.
You don’t take any actions that improve your sleep. All you do is repeat the same sleep-preventing activities over and over every day.
Bedtime Rituals Improve Your Sleep Drastically
A solid bedtime ritual would change your sleep quality completely. A good bedtime ritual is an activity that helps you to fall asleep. It’s like an investment in your sleep quality you do every day. And on top of that, bedtime rituals are very enjoyable.
A bedtime ritual that improves your sleep quality will make you a happier and more energized person. If you stick to it, you will notice significant differences after only 1-2 weeks.
You can’t afford not to have a bedtime ritual.
If you don’t have a bedtime ritual yet, you are missing out. Your sleep quality will be a lot better if you finally make use of one. There’s no reasonable argument against having a bedtime ritual. It doesn’t even cost you a penny.
Okay, that’s enough talking. Let’s find about the 5 powerful bedtime rituals you can (or should) make use of.
NOTE: You don’t need to do every bedtime ritual that is listed here. Using only one of them will also benefit you a lot. However, the more you do, the better. If you are completely new to bedtime rituals, you might start with one and stick to it until it becomes a habit. Then, you can add another ritual as you like.
5 Powerful Bedtime Rituals for Adults
Here are 5 of the most powerful and effective bedtime rituals for adults. Remember: A bedtime ritual will only help you if you use it. Pick one of them and stick to it for a week. Take a look at your results. You will be surprised.
They are:
- Set Aside Your Electronics.
- Make use of Natural Sleep Remedies
- Read a Book
- Block Off All The Light In Your Bedroom
- Make Up Your Own Evening Routine
Let’s just start with the first one.
1. The Power of Not Using Your Phone
Phones are very dangerous when it comes to falling asleep. Your phone distracts you like nothing else. You always feel tempted to check the notifications and basically everyone in today’s world has a problem with his phone. We simply overuse them.
But at night, before you go to bed, you usually don’t benefit from using your phone. Nothing new happens. Or more precise: nothing happens that you need to know during your sleep time.
Aside from being a distraction, your phone’s bright display will trick your brain into thinking it’s still daytime. When your brain thinks, it’s daytime, it stops producing melatonin. Melatonin is the most important sleep hormone. When your brain produces melatonin, your body becomes tired and you’ll fall asleep. Because your phone blocks your melatonin production you absolutely need to avoid it at night. As long as you use your phone in the evening and night, you won’t become tired. Maybe you’ve already experienced yourself that when you are on your phone you are able to stay awake much longer.
Your phone blocks melatonin. Avoid it before going to bed.
As a bedtime ritual, I recommend to stop using electronics 30 minutes before you go to bed. But an hour would be even more beneficial.
Here’s what happens when you stop using electronics
When you stop using your phone before going to bed you’ll achieve two things:
- You can calm down.
- Your brain starts producing sleep-hormones.
You calm down because you are not being distracted by anyone and anything anymore. When you stop using your phone, your mind can rest. Which is a big relaxation in today’s world. There’s always something that distracts your brain. When you set aside your phone before going to bed, you’ll have some time to calm down and unwind.
During the time you unwind, your brain starts the melatonin production. You become more and more tired. Avoid all kinds of electronics with bright displays.
NOTE: There’s one exception to it: ebook readers. They have illuminated displays, but you can adjust the brightness to be perfectly suitable for the nighttime. Additionally, you can shut down all other light sources because you don’t need a lamp to read on most ebook readers. We’ll talk more about that in the “Read A Book”-section.
2. Natural Sleep Remedies You Can’t Ignore
When it comes to falling asleep better, here’s something most people overlook: Natural Sleep Remedies. I’m not talking about fancy esoteric herbs that work only because of the placebo effect. No, I’m talking about real science-backed sleep remedies. These involve different kinds of nuts, teas, herbs, and dairy products.
Most of them have a sleep-inducing effect because they contain tryptophan, an amino acid that improves serotonin production. Serotonin is the hormone that makes you feel lucky and regulates your mood. It has a relaxing and calming effect. Additionally, serotonin is responsible for regulating melatonin levels. So, tryptophan makes sure that your melatonin is on a healthy level. Tryptophan is known as the most important amino acid for sleeping.
You can make use of it as a bedtime ritual.
I’ve written a complete list with explanations of 47 Natural Sleep Remedies You Have To Know. I’m sure you will find at least 3 of them in your house right now.
Here are some natural sleep remedies and sleep aids that contain tryptophan or other sleep-inducing substances that will improve your sleep quality:
- Tart Cherry Juice (has a lot of tryptophan)
- Almonds (are also rich in tryptophan)
- Chamomile Tea (it’s not exactly known how it works but 10 out of 12 people sleep better after drinking it according to this study)
- Valerian (A herb that increases GABA concentration in your body, which is a chemical that relaxes you and improves your sleep)
- Kiwi Fruit (a study has shown that they decrease your fall-asleep time up to 40% when you eat them 1-2 hours before going to bed on a regular basis)
Treat Yourself with one of these Sleep Remedies Before Bedtime
All of these sleep aids are great to use before going to bed. Most of them work best if you consume them 1-2 hours before you want to sleep.
You can even mix them up and make yourself a nice sleep booster shake.
Here’s a quick recipe: Take two kiwis and peel them. Put them in a mixer with 50 ml of tart cherry juice and a dozen almonds. Mix them up. Here you go, you have a nice and extremely effective bedtime shake, that’s packed with tryptophan and other sleep-inducing contents, lots of minerals and healthy fats.
By including natural sleep aids in your bedtime ritual, you significantly improve your melatonin levels. Also, they will help you unwind. The sleep remedies I listed are all backed up by studies with stunning results. Use them as your secret sleep weapon.
3. Read A Book Until Your Eyes Shut
When it comes to evening rituals, reading a book until your eyes shut is one of the best you can do. By reading a book you do so many things that improve your sleep at the same time.
The first and foremost is, that you avoid bright screens.
Reading Books Enhances Your Melatonin Production
You can read in a dark room with a dim light. The pages of the books don’t reflect too much light so your brain can start producing melatonin.
Reading Books Calms You Down
When you read at night, you calm down. You can let your mind wander. Typically, I found that reading fiction is best to fall asleep. But most of the time I still read books where I learn something. Even though I need to think about what I read, I slowly become tired. The reason you get so tired even though you read something that requires your thinking is that your mind rests on just one topic. By reading a book, you focus on just one thing.
Reading a book effectively eliminates distractions and your mind can rest.
By Reading, You Reduce Strain On Your Eyes
Mostly, when our eyes focus on something, it’s a screen. Your TV, your phone, a tablet or anything else. Staring at a screen for a long time strains your eyes. I found that when I spend hours looking at a computer my vision becomes blurry. A bad sign.
Books are not illuminated. The light they reflect is gentle. Even if you use an ebook reader for reading at night, you can set a gentle and calm light.
PRO TIP: When you read ebooks to fall asleep, use a paper-screen ebook reader. Not only does its display imitate the look of a real book, but you can also turn off all the lights and still read. When you are lying in your dark bedroom with all lights turned off and you read an ebook, you will notice that you get tired much faster and your eyes shut automatically.
4. Complete Darkness: Block Off All The Light
This tip goes hand in hand with reading a book. Make it part of your evening to darken your bedroom as effectively as possible. Do not just turn off the lights. Also, close the door and make sure that absolutely no light passes your window. You often underestimate the impact of light on your sleep. Even the slightest illumination during sleep decreases your sleep quality significantly. Remember what you learned about melatonin. Light is its biggest enemy.
After talking to several people, everyone told me that sleeping in a pitch-black room at night was a complete game-changer. I can promise you:
You will sleep like a baby when your room is pitch-black.
Here’s the most important part of it: Your room must be pitch-black. That means your bedroom must be so dark you shouldn’t even be able to see your own hand.
A great evening ritual to boost your sleep is: Darken your room.
If you feel like your room is still too bright at night and you don’t know which steps to take to darken it completely, here’s a guide you need to take a look at: How To Darken Your Bedroom Window For Sleep
After reading this, you’ll know exactly what to do in order to light-proof your room at night.
5. The Power Of An Evening-Routine (Combined Bedtime Rituals)
Here’s the ultimate tip I can give you. What if you don’t just use single bedtime rituals in no particular order. Have you ever thought about what happens when you combine different bedtime rituals in the right order every evening?
A combination of bedtime rituals is called an evening routine. You can build one of your own by picking your favorite bedtime rituals and combining them in a way you like and think is best for you.
If you want to get rid of all the guesswork involved, I’ve created Natural Sleep – a step-by-step evening routine and sleep improvement program that you can follow every evening. Check it out! It’s absolutely worth it (I use these exact strategies every day and managed to cure my insomnia).
It’s the last step you need to take in order to increase your sleep quality and fall asleep faster every day. When you take this program, you’ll know exactly what to do each evening and each morning. You’ll know how to design your evening so you can optimize your sleep and you’ll learn what to do every morning to wake up faster and feel energized and fit.
You can check out Natural Sleep here.
5 Powerful Bedtime Rituals for Adults – The Outline
Now you know about 5 extremely effective and powerful bedtime rituals for adults. I hope you gained some insights. Always remember what you’ve learned in this guide:
As an adult, you can’t afford not to have bedtime rituals. They are game-changers when it comes to your sleep quality. Most people don’t make use of them. You now have the exact tools and strategies to make up your own bedtime rituals.
If you make use of the bedtime rituals in this guide, even if it’s just one, I promise you that your sleep quality will improve. A lot. After you’ve made that evening ritual a habit, add another one. And then another one.
Soon, you’ll have a complete evening routine you can follow every single night. Having one will be a tremendous change in your lifestyle, health, and happiness. These bedtime rituals for adults unleash their full potential only if you stick to them over a long period of time. So, make sure that the first bedtime ritual you pick is something you enjoy to do. Only if it’s something you enjoy (let’s say you love to drink a chamomile tea in the evening), you can stick to it long-term.
Pick an evening ritual you like and keep it. Don’t give up. I know your sleep quality will change!
If you want to read more about sleep improvement, check out all the other guides on this page! Also, feel free to share your opinion and your personal experience with bedtime rituals in the comments. I’ll be happy to read about them!