Did you know that how you wind down your day is just as important as how you start it. 

 

Think about it, how you end one day has a direct knock on for how you start the next day.

 

If you’re happy to keep numbing yourself until you become unconscious, scrolling social, watching a screen until you fall asleep or telling yourself you need a drink so you can get to sleep, you are never going to wake up feeling refreshed.

 

On the other hand, if you want to feel better about yourself, waking up feeling energised, productive and ready to live life to the full kinda starts at the end of the day.

 

To. put it another way your day begins when you go to bed. 

 

Say what now? Yes, your day begins when you go to bed.

As awesome as it is to have a morning routine to start your waking day right, it’s also super important to have an evening routine to set yourself up for great recovery for the day ahead.

 

Imagine what could happen if you took back control of your evening routine instead of numbing yourself

 

How would your energy, your outlook and your performance improve if you created  a nourishing, calming and relaxing way to unwind at the end of the day?

 

Just because you’ve gotten used to numbing yourself as a way to deal with the stresses of everyday life, doesn’t mean you can’t change your habits and create a routine that works for you.

 

You have to ask yourself if the short term pleasure of your evening habits are worth a shitty sleep and waking up tired and average performance, which is essentially creating long term stress on your body and your mind. 

 

What’s more important to you, short term release or long term health?

 

My personal favourite way to wind down at the end of the day, and this doesn’t mean it’s right for you, but people always ask so, I like to:

 

Plan the next day’s schedule and reflect on how my day went, what went well, what I could improve, what I’m grateful for. I have a planner for this, that I’m quite attached to and refer to throughout the day.

 

I also like to meditate for 20 – 60 minutes. 

 

More often than not I have a nice bubble bath and relax with my kindle and then I read in bed until it’s my optimal sleep time. 

 

I also really like mood lighting and never have the overhead lights on, much preferring lamps, and my latest discovery are the phillips hue lights which you can set to any colour you like, and can be set as a to wake you up by gradually brightening natural sunlight hue, which is a far more pleasant way to wake up than a screeching alarm.

 

And whilst we’re on the subject of light, blue light from screens can disrupt your natural circadian rhythm as it’s known to suppress production of melatonin, the hormone that makes us feel sleepy which is why it’s a bad idea to be glued to light emitting screens before bed, which my kindle does not.

 

As with most things, consistency is key. 

 

Pick a time in the evening to start unwinding that you can stick with each day, switch off your screen, maybe read a book or choose that time to connect with your partner. 

Preferably make it a time that has you in sync with your biology. 

 

Challenge yourself to try something new, change those old habits.

 

 You do not need the behaviours you currently default to, the need is just a story you tell yourself, an excuse for lazy habits, and shitty behaviours because you’re choosing short term pleasure over long term gain.

 

Creating these morning and evening routines isn’t to give you more stuff to do, in fact, exactly the opposite, they’re about creating space in your day for you. 

 

For you to prioritise your mind, body and recovery, the 3 pillars of optimal health.

 

If you’re not focusing on all 3 you’re not maximising your health potential, you are not thriving.

 

So we come back to the question I posed earlier:

 

What’s more important to you, short term release or long term health?

 

If your answer is long term health and you could do with someone to listen, help you with the personalised knowledge you need and of course as the Queen of the Accountability, to put your new found knowledge in practise then schedule your free discovery call today at www.wellnessrevolution.co.nz