How to Create a Bedtime Routine for Adults: Your Guide to Better Sleep

The world is getting busier and faster, and it’s easy to slip into the trap of sleepless nights. Hustle culture glorifies productivity, but the rat race often makes a good night’s sleep feel like a Herculean task. The truth is, without quality sleep, your mind and body hit a wall: you’re less sharp, less healthy, and far from the best version of yourself.

That’s why today we’re talking about how to create a calming bedtime routine that helps you fall asleep faster, sleep deeper, and feel energized and rested the next morning.

What is a good bedtime routine for adults? 

A good bedtime routine for adults is a set of pre-sleep activities that help you relax, wind down, and get your mind and body ready for sleep. Such a routine promotes healthy sleep, is consistent, relaxation-focused, and mindful of your body’s needs. 

It helps you improve sleep quality and make sure you consistently follow sleep hygiene rules like opting for reading instead of Tik-Tok scrolling, keeping your room dark and quiet, avoiding stimulants in the evening, etc. 

What does a calming bedtime routine include?

A calming bedtime routine includes activities that signal your mind and body that it’s time to wind down and prepare for sleep. Sure, such activities might vary from person to person (for instance, not everyone is a fan of books — some might opt for a podcast), but they all are relaxing for your body and calming for your mind. 

Examples of sleep-good activities might include:

• Reading a printed book
• Listening to calming music
• Taking a warm bath
• Mindfulness practices (meditation, yoga, etc.)
• Journaling

Why does the nighttime routine for adults matter? 

A nighttime routine for adults matters because it restores your physical and mental health when it's good, and harms both when it's bad. 

Here are the benefits you get if you invest your time and energy into a consistent evening routine with good sleep hygiene.

Helps you ease anxiety and fall asleep faster

If you’ve ever spent the night lying awake, staring at the ceiling, you know how frustrating it can be. 

Calming bedtime rituals help you quit those racing thoughts, slow down your heart rate, lower blood pressure, and relax muscles. And when your mind doesn’t worry, you fall asleep easier and sleep better. 

Promotes deep sleep 

Healthy sleep isn’t just about quantity; it’s about quality. During a deep sleep phase, your brain organizes memories, repairs tissues, and recharges your body. 

A calming sleep routine helps you reach and maintain those precious stages of sleep that are deep and restorative. 

Helps your body regulate circadian rhythms 

A circadian rhythm is your body’s 24-hour internal clock that signals when it’s time to fall asleep or wake up. 

Meanwhile, a consistent bedtime routine helps this clock stay in sync as such a routine offers predictable cues for when it’s time to go to sleep. 

A regular sleep-wake cycle improves your cardiovascular health, boosts your immune system, and makes sure your focus, memory, and problem-solving skills are at the top. 

How to create a good bedtime routine for adults

First, you’ll have to analyze your evening habits. Because guess what? Most (or some if you’re lucky) of those habits aren’t healthy and you’ll have to substitute them with calming activities that improve sleep quality. Journaling your evening habits and activities for a week or two will definitely help you see the whole picture and where you need to make sleep hygiene changes.

So, what are some calming activities to include in a bedtime routine? Let’s find out. 

But first…

… Start your calming evening routine a few hours before bed

Want a hack? Set a bedtime alarm that will remind you it’s time to start your relaxing evening activities. It will also help you go to sleep earlier because you’ll start preparing for bed on time. Studies on students show that even when they make a bedtime plan, they often stay up later than planned (about 46 minutes later on average). So, you get the idea 😉. 

Here’s how to set yourself up for success and ensure you finally get enough sleep:

• Avoid stimulants. Caffeine, energy drinks, and even sugary drinks can keep your heart racing and worsen your difficulty falling asleep. Oh, and try to avoid alcohol consumption;
• Get a balanced meal. Heavy, greasy food disrupts digestion and might cause late-night heaviness and stomachache. Therefore, aim for a light snack that satisfies you but doesn’t make you bloated at the same time;
• Lower your body temperature. A warm shower or bath helps your core cool down afterward, which signals the body it’s time to sleep. In fact, one study of 2,252 adults (average age ~69) found that those who took a warm bath before bed woke up less during the night and reported better sleep quality;
• Write a to-do list. Jot down tasks for tomorrow to reduce overthinking. 

Now let’s move on to how to create a calming evening routine with mindfulness activities. 

Incorporate mindful bedtime routines for good consistent sleep

Mindfulness practices can help you ease anxiety, release lingering stress, and prepare your body for a restorative night’s sleep. 

Even a few minutes of practicing mindfulness activities like mindful meditation, stretching, deep breathing, progressive muscle relaxation, and yoga (its lighter forms) can give your body a signal that it’s time to relax. 

They calm down your amygdala, the brain’s threat detection area, and lower cortisol, stress hormone, levels. This helps you relax, wind down, and drift off into a peaceful night's sleep.

For instance, one study tested Yoga Nidra, which is a guided relaxation practice, on adults who had sleep problems. Participants either lay quietly or practiced Yoga Nidra for 30 minutes. While the practice didn’t change brain waves linked to relaxation (alpha power), it slowed breathing, and remarkably, 89% of participants fell asleep during Yoga Nidra! 

😴 How else do these practices help with sleep health? 

• Help you release mental tension
• Make you feel tired in a good, relaxed way, hence improving your body’s transition into sleep
• Support consistent sleep hygiene and reinforce your body’s natural circadian rhythms
• Help you better manage daily stress and self-regulate emotionally

🌱 If you’re a novice in meditation and yoga, apps like Insight Timer or Calm can help. They offer guided meditations and Yoga Nidra practices, all coupled with deep breathing exercises. You can also track your mood with apps like Liven to see whether these healthy habits help you feel more balanced. 

Other mindful wind-down activities you might want to consider include: 

• Bedtime writing. Jot down worries or tomorrow’s tasks so your mind feels lighter;
• Gratitude journaling. Write down 3 things that happened to you during the day and which you’re grateful for;
• Sipping herbal tea —- chamomile, lavender, or lemon balm work great;
• Listening to calming instrumental music or nature sounds;
• Reading a physical book. A good alternative if you’re trying to reduce your screen time.

⚽ We advise you to skip vigorous evening exercise as it might overstimulate your nervous system and contribute to insomnia. 

Get your personalized well-being management plan!Take a quick quiz

Change your relationship with electronic devices

Screens are sneaky saboteurs when it comes to sleep hygiene. Phones, tablets, and laptops disrupt your natural sleep rhythms as the blue light they emit blocks melatonin production, your sleep hormone. Yeap, forget about good sleep quality if you’ve already got technology in your bedroom (unless that technology is a white noise machine).

Studies show that using a screen in the 30 minutes before sleep is linked to:

• Going to bed later
• Sleeping less than seven hours
• Feeling sleepier during the day

Having a gym session in the morning? Forget it. Another study shows that poor phone habits and sleep delay hurt both sleep and motivation to be active. 

Fortunately, a few sleep-friendly habits can help you avoid being sluggish and groggy in the morning because you’ve been doomscrolling half a night.

Reduce the blue light

Step away from bright screens at least an hour before bed and dim bright overhead lights. Why? Because this high-energy light tricks your brain into thinking it’s daytime and, as we’ve just mentioned, suppresses melatonin production. As a result, you toss and turn and can’t stop thinking about that cliff-hanger in your favorite show. 

You can use night mode or blue light filters on devices in the evening to reduce harmful wavelength and switch to warmer lighting in your home. Still, even with dimmer lighting, stay away from stimulating social media, news, and shows/films as they all activate your brain. 

Create tech-free zones in your home

When you keep tech devices out of your sleep zone, you actually help your brain associate the room with relaxation and recovery, not stimulation. You can keep your phone and laptop in the bedroom, just NOT in the close vicinity of your bed. 

⏰ However, if this compromise doesn’t sound too good for a restful sleep, you can leave your phone to charge in another room and use the good old alarm clock instead. As they say, desperate times call for desperate measures…

A few more tips:

• Turn all notifications. That little “ding” and glowing screen will definitely disrupt your nighttime routine;
• Set a screen time curfew. Decide on a specific time each evening when all screens go off to make your wind-down routine consistent.

Turn on some calming music 

Music has a powerful effect on mood and physiology. Calm, relaxing music and ambient sounds, including soft instrumental tracks and sounds of nature, can slow your breathing, lower heart rate, and ease tension.

When you dedicate even a few minutes to listening to gentle music, you help your mind and body transition into sleep smoothly. 

Create a sleep-friendly environment

Even if you create a perfect nighttime routine, the wrong surroundings can keep you from falling asleep fast and getting more sleep that you need.

A well-designed bedroom can promote sleep and make it easier to settle into deep rest.

Here are a few adjustments in your sleep environment that might help. 

Start with furniture and decor

Minimal furniture or simple, uncluttered spaces, soothing colors, and cozy bedding help reduce mental noise. You can also add blackout curtains to block outside light and create a dark, restful space. 

Continue with temperature

As you prepare for going to bed, your body temperature naturally drops. This signals your brain that it’s time to rest. A cooler room (around 67°F or 19°C) makes it easier to drift off and stay asleep. 

Another tip here is to use breathable cotton or linen sheets to stay cool.

Finish with scents 

A calming scent like lavender, chamomile, or sandalwood can reduce stress and help with falling asleep faster. 

🌼 Tips for using relaxing scents at bedtime:

• Try lavender essential oil in a diffuser for its natural calming properties
• Spray a chamomile or sandalwood mist lightly on your pillow
• Place a sachet of dried herbs near your bed to promote sleep naturally

Think of good night’s sleep as self-care

The philosophy of self-care and slow living starts with having enough sleep, ideally from seven to nine hours each night. 

The hustle culture won’t agree with us here, but, honestly, a good sleep is the best act of self-care that you can have. Think about it: your body restores, your mind clears, and your mood stabilizes while you sleep. Sounds like magic, right? 

But for that to happen, you need a good sleep hygiene routine full of activities that can feel relaxing and purposeful at the same time. Self-care activities like journaling your thoughts, taking a bath, trying mindfulness meditation, or reading can ease your mind and prepare your body for quality sleep.

And when you couple a better bedtime routine with a soothing sleep environment, you can solve sleep problems and improve your overall well-being with time — and that, my friend, is the heart of self-care.

😔➡️😊 A better sleep routine can help, but if sleep problems and morning fatigue persist, consider talking to a health professional to uncover the root cause.

Final thoughts 

It’s not only about how much sleep you get, but also about its quality. A consistent wind-down routine, a calm sleep environment, and mindful habits before your head hits the pillow all work together to promote sweet dreams and lasting well-being.

Again,if you continue experiencing trouble sleeping despite your best efforts, please don’t ignore it. Sometimes, deeper issues hide under the cover of insomnia, restless nights, and nightmares. So, a professional mental health specialist can help you identify the root cause and create a plan for treatment. 

We all need help from others from time to time — no need to feel ashamed 🤗. 

You’ve got this! 💚

References

Pu et al. (2025). Failing to plan: Bedtime planning, bedtime procrastination, and objective sleep in university students. Sleep Medicine, 132, 106556. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sleep.2025.106556

Schrempft et al. (2024). Associations between bedtime media use and sleep outcomes in an adult population-based cohort. Sleep Medicine, 121, 226–235. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sleep.2024.06.029

Sharpe et al. (2023). A closer look at yoga nidra: Early randomized sleep lab investigations. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 166, 111169. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpsychores.2023.111169

Tai et al. (2025). Association between before-bedtime hot-tub bathing and sleep quality in real-life settings among community-dwelling older adults. Sleep Health. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sleh.2025.07.008

Zhou et al. (2025). Cross-lagged analysis of mobile phone addiction, bedtime procrastination, and exercise self-efficacy among university students. Journal of Exercise Science & Fitness, 23(4), 333–340. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesf.2025.07.003