Nightly routine for ultimate productivity

 

A while back I uploaded a post on “How to become a morning person” including a few tricks for a deep and healthy sleep. You all seemed to love it, which I am super happy about. Since then though a few things have changed in my nightly routine. So today, I am sharing with you the new and improved nightly routine for ultimate productivity. 

 

 

I’ve heard this crazy rumor lately that drinking lots of water is supposed to be good for you. Just kidding, I know it’s a thing. 😉 In all honesty, though, I have really been trying to drink more water throughout the day. Somehow, this has always been an issue for me, as I am just not a big fan of flavorless drinks (aka water). So it really takes some effort. One of the steps I have been taking is drinking a big glass of water before going to bed. 

 

Besides hitting my daily “water-intake-goal” I feel as though the water helps cleanse my body throughout the night. A study from 2014 has also shown that people with a high fluid intake show an increase in calmness, satisfaction, and positive emotions. Therefore I am telling myself that I will wake up happier if I had my water before bed. Power of the mind people 😉 

 

In the colder seasons, I usually switch from water to tea. I have become a real Yogi tea fanatic lately. Have you tried their flavor “Heartwarming”? It’s a game changer. 

 

 

I have actually jumped on the bandwagon with this product after binge-watching a bunch of YouTube videos by Nicki Phillippi. She is very much into organic oils and all of their benefits – and apparently very convincing about it. So I ordered the Tenswall 400ml Aroma Diffuser and bunch of different oils off of Amazon and thought I’d give it a shot. To this day I have not regretted that purchase one bit. 

 

I am not an expert on this so I won’t go into grand detail. However, there are different oils for different purposes: getting over a cold, feeling more energized, falling asleep etc. You can diffuse these oils in lots of different ways like candles, sticks and a million other. With the diffuser, you just plug it into an outlet, put some water and a few drops of your chosen oil in. The Tenswall lets me set a timer to diffuse either one, three or six hours at a time. I also love that it has a bunch of different LED light settings I can set it on – depending on my mood. 

 

But let’s get back to the routine: Usually, around an hour before my bedtime I put some lavender oil in my diffuser and set it for three hours. The lavender helps calm my nerves and ultimately makes me fall asleep super easy. I am absolutely obsessed. 

 

 

I have been raving about this in my original nighttime routine post and am still going strong. Sleep meditation to this day is my absolute go to for a deep and fully relaxed sleep. My forever-love in this area will be the guided meditations by Glenn Harrold. Basically, it’s a voice guiding you through all the right motions of falling asleep easily. Taking deep breaths, feeling each body part get heavier… you know the gist. In my case, this usually does the trick and I am off to dreamland in no time. Another, very important feature is what happens after you have drifted off though. Once you are asleep, the voice will continue to talk and give you positive affirmations. And although you can’t hear it (duh, you’re asleep) they will resonate in your subconscious. This has helped me immensely at my job. I now remain much calmer and more collected in difficult and stressful situations. I also don’t doubt myself and my decisions way less.

 

Since the last post, I have also fallen in love with another handy app: Calm. You’ve probably all heard about this wonderful app. There is so much rave and obviously a thousand great reviews about like this one by theblissfulmind. I won’t need to go into detail about all the benefits. However, I want to tell you about one feature that I have been using loads lately. It’s called “Sleep stories”. They are, as the name implies, stories to fall asleep too – for grown-ups. And they definitely do the trick. In the past, I have sometimes tried falling asleep to an audiobook. As you would imagine, the next day it was always a struggle finding the right spot, where I had drifted off the night before. These stories are timed at 30 min max., which makes them perfect for dozing off. 

 

 

I live in a big city where noise is pretty much unavoidable. But even if you live in a big household, share a flat or have a noisy partner sharing your bed: This tip is game-changing. 

 

A few years ago I have found this gem on the site of my shopping dreams (Amazon!). It’s a headphone band. I believe it’s originally used for sports like running or jogging. Well, I used it for my nightly meditations. The headphones are flat and sewn into the band, making it easy to sleep on your side. If dragged over the eyes, the headband also doubles as a sleeping mask. I mean, it doesn’t get much better than that, does it?!?

 

 

Especially when I have a lot on my plate at work or in my personal life I can not seem to turn my head off at nighttime. To the point where I can lie awake for hours just thinking, planning and creating head-lists. One thing that has helped me loads during those nights has actually been pretty straightforward. I keep a pen and some paper next to my bed. Now, if a certain to-do or idea pops into my head (because somehow they always do at 10 o clock at night), I immediately write them down. Before, I obviously tried to remember them until morning. No wonder my poor brain wasn’t able to shut down. This way I know it won’t be forgotten and drift to dreamland in peace.