Simple Evening Self Care Routine Ideas For Anxiety Before Bed
Finding a self care routine for anxiety before bed has been a major challenge for me. For me, my head hits the pillow and my mind starts to drown in thoughts. For years I slept with a laptop playing a movie just so I had a sound to distract my mind. While this proved to get me to sleep, it’s wasn’t restful sleep.
The past few months have helped me see that creating a self care routine for anxiety is super important – especially a self care night routine. In this post, I’m going to go through how I take care of myself at night including all the self care night activities that make up my evening routine. These ideas are simple and can be used not just at night but as self care strategies for stress.
1) Create a calm space using a scent
I had a lightbulb moment the other day when I realized that the places I feel most calm are the places that smell good! My mind wandered back to stepping into stores or treatment rooms that smelt wonderful and immediately made me feel good. I realized I needed to do the same. This is the first step in my self care routine for anxiety before bed.
The minute I step into my room I start my self care night routine by lighting incense. This is so simple but made SUCH a difference to my sleep. I found a stress incense on eBay and it reminds me of walking into a spa. This automatically calms me as I get ready for bed.
This is a simple night care activity that you can make work for you! Some ideas for your evening routine could be:
- Lighting incense
- Lighting a candle
- Using an essential oils diffuser
- Using essential oils on your pillow or on your skin
- Spraying your pillow with pillow spray
The idea with these self care activities is that they provide a scent that helps our brain to calm down. It’s a proactive routine to help us stop the chattering brain before it starts.Â
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5 Self Care Nightly Routines To Help Stop Anxiety Before Sleep
2) Keep your space clean & neat – find spaces for everything
Another simple idea for your self care night routine is to make sure that the space around you is clear and everything has a place.
I know when everything is organized I feel better and it’s no different at nighttime. When my space is neat, I sleep better. I know that everything is organized and stops me feeling overwhelmed and cluttered both internally and externally. It’s like working on a desk full of mess. That can be stressful! It can be the same in the evenings. When our room is a mess it can be hard to get into that relaxing space we need to be in to have a restful sleep.
Again this is a simple routine but I’ve found it extremely helpful.
Related content: 5 Essential Items To Create A Peaceful Meditation Nook At Home
3) Find something positive to read and wind down
One of the key self care activities to help manage anxiety before bed (and is another self care strategy for stress) is to decide what you’re going to put into your mind by reading something positive!
Often, the evening seems to the time where all of the days’ thoughts come together and overwhelm us! We get stuck in a mix of what did and didn’t get done and then what needs to be done tomorrow. No wonder we don’t sleep!
A big part of our self care routine is to make the decision to choose what goes into our minds. I’ve found reading something positive helps stop me from getting stuck in useless thoughts. It also helps me go to bed with a better perspective.
Some ideas for your self care evening routine could be:
- Reading positive affirmations
- Reading a self help book (You can find some suggestions here)
- Getting a book with positive quotes that you can flip through before bed
4) Use meditation to clear the day and cleanse your body
This self care night activity idea came from a book I’m currently reading called the Power Of Positive Thinking by Norman Vincent Peale.
His suggestion was to practice an evening routine like meditation to help you release all your feelings and experiences from the day.
Below is a great guided meditation to add to your nighttime routine. There are so many available on YouTube. It’s a great way to stop anxiety before bed and is a fantastic evening self care practice.
[arve url=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJBcRZAcTyg” /]
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5) Fall asleep to sleep hypnosis
Sleep hypnosis is one of the most important parts of my self care evening routines. It’s become a simple self care strategy for stress that I can practice before bed.
Sleep hypnosis is different from meditation in that you can fall asleep to it. It practices putting positive affirmations into your unconscious as you sleep. This was a good way for me to replace the falling asleep to a movie habit that I’d created.
If you’re too tired to listen to whole meditation or you get to bed late, this is a great option for your self care night routine for anxiety. You can pop it on and listen to it as you fall asleep!
Below is a sleep hypnosis track one of my favourite YouTube accounts. This is what I use to take care of myself at night. It’s helped me so much in calming my anxiety at night.
[arve url=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hvOgpzRJxJg” /]
These self care evenings routines and activities are a key part of our lives. Deep rest is important for our bodies to be able to function at their best and repair themselves. These self care ideas are simple ways we can reduce stress and anxiety in the evening before bed.
