Making Your Evening as Productive as Your Day
I get it. You’ve had a long day at work followed by a busy evening caring for personal commitments, chores, and family obligations. You are ready to fall into bed and catch some sleep. It just feels like there isn’t time to do anything else, especially engage in a nightly routine that is going to take even more time.
While our feelings may feel full, the vast majority of us are engaging in social media and watching TV. In 2020, TV viewership grew to two hours, 49 minutes a day. Social media usage has also grown with the average user spending 58 minutes on Facebook, 40 minutes on YouTube, and 53 minutes on Instagram. Want to know your daily usage? If you use an iPhone, it is as easy as going into Settings > Screen Time to see the breakdown of where you spend your time. Just be sure you are sitting down as you’ll probably be shocked. I know I was!
Evening routines are great for a number of reasons, many of which we covered in the freeing power of routines. Evening routines also have the added benefit of preparing your body for sleep and setting you up for success even before you start your day.
Your evening routine can be whatever you want to make it and however long you want it to be. Some people start theirs the moment they finish work and others count only those activities directly before bed. I have two — my evening routine from the time I get off work until 30 minutes before bedtime and then my bedtime routine. Whatever you choose, remember routines are there to help you will whatever you are trying to achieve — creation of new habits, achieving new goals, reducing stress, practicing better self care, or any combination of these.
Evening Routine Ideas
As I mentioned, I have two routines that shape up my evening into bedtime. The evening routine focuses on working against my goals, family time, dinner, chores, and next day preparations. These can be items like:
- Workout
- Dinner (preparation, eating, and clean up)
- Family time
- Goal actions
- Laundry
- 15 minutes clean up (this shifts daily to different areas of the house)
Bedtime Routine
My bedtime routine is all focused on helping me practice self care and get the best sleep possible.
Self-care can be as much as you want to make it but you should be making sure that you are taking care of yourself physically, mentally, and emotionally. This is an area where I haven’t been great. I typically put on pajamas, brush my teeth, turn on the humidifier, and check my alarm.
After reading some books on good habits and routines, I definitely need to alter my strategies. Right now, falling asleep is hit or miss and staying asleep an even bigger issue. Something has got to change as sleep does so much for you — removing neurotoxins, repairing cells, and consolidating memories — to name a few.
In his book Why We Sleep Matthew Walker Ph.D. talks about the importance of setting yourself up for a successful nights sleep. This includes:
- Turning down your thermostat to be between 62–68 degrees Fahrenheit. We have ours automatically adjust so I just need to drop it another degree or two.
- Remove LED lights from your bedroom as they — like smartphones, TVs and tablets — emit blue light which can interfere with your ability to go to sleep.
- Don’t exercise or drink 2–3 hours before bedtime. Eating too late can slow down your metabolism and cause unnecessary weight gain. Drinking too late can interrupt your sleep due to middle of the night bathroom trips. Alcohol, especially, should be avoided as it prevents your body from getting into a REM cycle — the cycle where your body recovers effectively.
If you’re new here…
We are on a journey to helping you Become the CEO of You so that you can become the best version of yourself. Over the course of the month, we’ll cover knowing yourself, creating goals, adopting mindsets, embracing habits, and practicing self-care. You can find all the posts in our publication Living to Learn. You can also find my random musings on my personal page here.
