Night Owl to Night Knight: Conquering Insomnia with Good Habits

Ever find yourself wrestling with the sheets instead of resting in peaceful slumber? Let's face it, Insomnia's the unwanted guest that's overstayed its welcome, and it's time to show it the door. Step into my nighttime nook where I share a treasure trove of snooze-inducing habits that are anything but a snooze-fest. This episode isn't just about catching Z's; it's about crafting that perfect evening routine to send you blissfully into dreamland. So, if you've been on the hunt for a sleep revolution, you're in the right spot. Let's swap out ceiling-staring for star-snoozing with strategies that'll have you waking up feeling like you've won the lottery—of sleep, that is.

Join me as I lead you through the twilight maze of setting the perfect sleep scene. We're cutting through the static of late-night snacking myths and shining a dim light on why your phone might be the frenemy of your dreams. We'll explore the zen of a cool, dark room and why your mattress might just be the unsung hero of your health. Plus, get the lowdown on tuning out the world with the simple magic of blackout curtains and earplugs. And if you're thinking this is all standard sleep talk, think again. We're tossing out the rulebook and getting personal—because your ideal evening routine is as unique as your favorite pajamas. No sheep-counting here, just real, laugh-out-loud banter and nuggets of nocturnal wisdom to help you embrace the night and wake up ready to take on the day.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:45

Hello, welcome back to another episode of Talk Mode. Do you ever feel like you're wrestling a grizzly bear in your dreams? Yeah, me neither, except when I'm battling Insomnia. You know, tossing, turning, counting sheep, staring at the ceiling like it's gonna say something back to you. It's long, let's be real man. Sleep deprivation is no joke. It messes with your mood, your focus, your whole entire vibe. But what we're gonna do today is we're gonna talk about conquering the night with the power of the epic evening routine. Now, forget about counting sheep. Let's talk about counting down some good habits that have you snoozing soundly in no time. But before we dive in, let's acknowledge the elephant in pajamas. Everyone is different. What works for me may not work for you, and we all have slightly different things that we're used to or we enjoy. That we're gonna carry on doing. Let's be honest, yeah, so no one's expecting anyone to be perfect, but we gotta put a conscious effort in to try and combat this Insomnia. I talked to you about this last week when we talked about our morning routine. Today we're gonna try and hit on the evening routine and that will help the other end of the day. So let's get our sleep hygiene on point.

Speaker 1: 2:14

Habit one Dim the fucking lights, man. Turns out our brains are like vampires, man. They hate bright lights. So you wanna ditch the screens at least an hour before bedtime. Now look again. Like I said, this is straight away. It alludes to the problem, right? This isn't for everyone, I know. Historically, for me, I've often fell asleep with the TV on. You know it's just a lie. The comfort is whatever it is. You just watching something, you binge watching and you fall asleep. I definitely encourage you to try and ditch that habit. Or ditch the phone, ditch the TV and try and just like read a book or take a bath, listen to some calm music and let your body know that it's time to wind down and not just stay on and binge watch the whole thing. Yeah, trust me, it bloody helps.

Speaker 1: 3:10

Habit two Move your body, but not too much. So exercise is freaking great, yeah, but don't do like a freaking full on hit workout or full on amped up workout, because that's just gonna increase your heartbeat. But what you could do is maybe some stretches or a little bit of yoga or just take a little walk and that'll tie you out without leaving you feeling all wired up. Yeah, but that tie will bring you out and gets your body to know I'm tired, now I'm gonna lie down, take a nap wherever. So get your body into a right sort of frame. I was gonna say get your body into a frame of mind, but that's your mind, not your body. You know what I mean. It just tie you out a little bit, right?

Speaker 1: 3:58

The next habit is taming your inner chef again, but not too much. Now. We all know the golden rule, right, don't eat before bed. It's gonna wake you up. But the truth is a light, healthy snack can actually help you sleep a little bit better. Just avoid any greasy foods or any sugary treats that are gonna like either get you hyper and then, on the other side, keep your digestive system busy all night, which might keep you awake.

Speaker 1: 4:28

Yeah, then, habit number four you want to create a great sleeping environment. Alright, so your bedroom should be your sleep haven, not just filled with a whole load of clutter and distractions. Make sure that the environment is cool. So, even in the winter, crack a little bit of a window open, get some fresh air in there, make sure it's dark and if you're following my tips about not watching TV and stuff, then you want to make sure it's cool, quiet. Now you want to spend a little bit of money here. If you can, I'd invest in some blackout curtains, maybe some earplugs, if you know you got other people you're living with that are a bit noisy, or your neighbors are noisy, and make sure you got a comfy mattress there. Your future self would thank you for that.

Speaker 1: 5:21

Then, habit number five, I say, is relax your mind. Yeah, we talked about this with our morning routine, but it also applies on this end of your day meditation, journaling, deep breathing, whatever, whatever kind of mindfulness habits you have. I'd use them at this point. Yeah, this is your weapon against your normal stress and worry that might keep you awake during bedtime. Yeah, so spend some time clearing out your thoughts from the day and focusing on just the moment is a good way to. Just when you write it down, it takes all that stress you had in the day and take it out and put it, put it onto paper, and then that hopefully clears your mind and allows you to have a calm mind, which leads to a calm body and then hopefully leads to a calm sleep. Another thing I say as part of that maybe we didn't have it for number five, or you can make it habit number six. Up to you how you do that. I also take them up.

Speaker 1: 6:19

Take that moment for reflecting on the day. Write down things you were grateful for today, good things and positive things that happen. Being in that positive mindset will just feel better and you'll be calmer and go to sleep nicely. So it could be as simple as yo. I've seen someone today. They smile at me, I smile at them. That just felt nice. You know, or you know, the drive to work had no traffic. You know, or I don't know, I just had a really nice meal for lunch. I know it could be little things, tiny things, but just put in those positive things in your head and finding those things that you're grateful for today will allow your mind to just be positive and then that helps you sleep.

Speaker 1: 7:01

As a bonus tip I'm going to say don't hit snooze. Yeah, we talked about this last week a little bit on the morning routine episode, but it's tempting to hit the snooze once you get that extra few minutes, but what it does is throws off your sleep cycle. So you know, you know that feeling right when you wake up and you look at the time and you're like, oh damn, my alarm's not for another five minutes. 10 minutes, bloody hell I can sleep. And then you force yourself to try and get those 10 minutes in because you feel like you're losing something. If you don't, that's like the worst thing you can do, because that you waking up 10 minutes before your alarm is your body saying yo, you're doing well right now. This is your routine. This is the time we normally wake up less wake up and instead of taking that as a positive, we sit there in bed like, oh no, no, I can get another 10 minutes, I've got enough time. Now. That's not what you should do. You want to. At that point, you want to just get out of bed, even if it's just for a few minutes, to signal your body that it's time to wake up. If you don't, it just leaves you feeling groggy.

Speaker 1: 8:04

Now remember creating an evening routine is a journey, man. It's not a sprint, so same as your morning routine. You need to be patient, need to experiment with all the different tips and find out what works best for you, because you know everyone's different, as I mentioned at the top of it, and before you know it, you'll be sleeping like a baby man, unless you actually have a baby. In that case, I can't help you. Good luck, right? So are you ready to conquer the night? What I want you to do, man, is try this out. Try out a sleep routine, you know. Try a few different ones, experiment, see what works for you, and share your sleep struggles and evening routine tips down in the comments below. Remember a good night's sleep is the foundation for a kick ass day, and until next time, I want you to sleep tight, dream big, take care. Good night.