Taking care of your stress is essential for maintaining good mental health. Setting a consistent bedtime and making time for adequate sleep are key strategies for managing stress, according to the Office of Research on Women’s Health of the National Institutes of Health. This year, some of our most-read articles have highlighted simple additions to your bedtime routine that can help lower stress levels and enhance sleep quality.

Simple Things Added to Your Bedtime Routine Can Make a Big Difference to the Quality of Your Sleep

A consistent bedtime routine in the 60-90 minutes before you lie down to sleep can make a big difference in how quickly you fall asleep and how well you stay asleep. Even minor adjustments to your bedtime routine can improve the quality of your rest. 

5 Ways to Optimize Sleep to Reduce Stress identifies the ways in which you can improve your sleep by maintaining a daily sleep-wake cycle, avoiding stimulants before bedtime, fashioning a restful sleep environment, and getting daily exercise, as well as by embracing your bedtime routine.

Bedtime Rituals for Better Sleep discusses the protected time before you lie down to sleep when you limit your focus to preparing your mind and body for sleep. We offer a list of some of our favorite rituals to add to your routine, ranging from a relaxing bath to reading for pleasure. Your rituals are personal and need to make sense only to you.

What Is a Sleep Diary and Should You Be Keeping One? A sleep diary is a way for you to keep track of the things you do during the day and before you lie down to sleep that might affect your sleep. It also allows you to track your sleep over time. The data you collect can reveal patterns of activities that might be negatively affecting your sleep, as well as track your sleep improvement progress. Most sleep medicine doctors will ask you to keep a sleep diary to assist them in determining the cause of your sleep problems.

Yoga Before Bed with Andrea Marcum gave us the opportunity to partner with author and yoga teacher Andrea Marcum to create a series of yoga poses that you can add to your bedtime routine. Even beginners can follow Andres in short videos of each gentle bedtime pose.

Read Incorporating Tea into Your Bedtime Routine Can Help You Sleep to learn how and why adding decaffeinated tea to your bedtime routine can improve your sleep. It’s a ritual that requires minimal effort and provides maximum benefit.

Breathwork for Better Sleep shares the ways in which the practice of focused breathing can help you to prepare yourself for sleep. We detail the 4-7-8 breathing technique espoused by Dr. Andrew Weil to calm and ease you into sleep.

Ode to Chamomile focuses on the benefits of chamomile. From its appealing scent to its mild, floral flavor, chamomile delights the senses.

The Beauty and Benefits of Lavender in Your Home details the benefits of lavender aromatherapy for relaxation and sleep. We explain why we chose lavender for our aromatherapy sachets.

We wish you a relaxing bedtime routine and a great night’s sleep.

-Team at down etc

About down etc

For over twenty years, down etc has worked with hoteliers and professional housekeepers in hotels around the world to provide pillows and bedding that will offer hotel guests memorably great sleep. Through our retail website, we seek to provide products that will result in the same quality sleep for our customers at home. We believe in the restorative power of a great night’s sleep, whether at home or away.

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