Reviewed by: Erica An, BNutr&Diet
The evenings can be a tough time for many people, as easing into the end of the day and unwinding before bed can often encourage unhelpful patterns to resurface or sabotage after a productive day through lack of structure.
So how do you avoid sabotage? Routine
Treating your evenings with as much importance as your lead up to this time can be vital in a smooth nighttime practice. Take time to plan your evenings and follow your own processes.
9 Simple steps to streamline your evening:
Avoid Randomness:
Veering away from the rabbit hole of nonsensical action can be huge in making your evenings productive towards your goals.
Falling into the trap of random TV, unnecessary phone calls and menial tasks can chew into time otherwise spent on supporting constructive behaviour.
Set Ambience:
Get out what’s on your mind and remove negativity. Tidying your space and doing your best to release anything that is on your mind by journaling or dealing with something that is weighing heavy on you, is a good way to introduce more zen.
Plan Ahead:
Have the next day diarised, put out your clothes and having your food ready to pack can save last minute dramas or bad decisions the following day.
Don’t Eat Late:
Sipping on herbal tea can be a nice way to chill out and many have benefits that promote good quality sleep.
Brushing your teeth after dinner can help to fend off old snacking habits and picking at things as you wind down!
Unplug:
Leave your technology alone at least an hour before shut eye and put your phone a good distance from your bed.
The blue light emitted from screens can tamper with our body’s ability to release sleep inducing melatonin, which controls your internal clock (circadian rhythm). This means we are not necessarily maximising first, our ability to fall asleep or even worse, we miss out on deep sleep due to the stimulus.
There are lots of Apps to intuitively remove blue light from screens by your time zone, but a better practice is to leave them alone altogether before bed.
Soothing Hobbies:
Spending some time on something that makes you happy can set you up for a positive mental space. Hobbies such as reading, knitting, colouring in or chatting to a friend can be a nice way to unwind.
Gratitude + Affirmations:
Taking the time to reflect on things to be grateful for and positive affirmations leads to emotional wellbeing and positive brain chemistry.
Writing down a few things to be grateful for and repeating some encouraging dialogue switches the mood to calm and harmonious.
Meditation:
Unplugging from the outer world and plugging into you is a lovely way to leave worries on the sideline and anchor yourself in a happy headspace.
As little as 5 minutes can still be helpful and there are many different ways to do this. For example, being quiet, having a nice bath or simply resting with soft music ( if possible! ) are other ways to mimic a meditative state.
Read Goals:
Top achievers like to look at their goals and remind themselves of what it is they are focused on.
This can act as affirmations too and if used properly, be helpful for sticking to your intentions through repetition.
Also Read: Calories In Tim Tams (and all your favourite bikkies)
