Peaceful Sleep: Establishing A New Bedtime Routine.

I've had quite a bit of success with the bedtime routine I established after attending the Thrive conference last week in NYC. Long, restful sleeps. Lots of dream activity.

It's been awesome!

What's my routine? Well this is the one I've been using:

• 9pm: Tidy the apartment. Wipe down counter tops. Make sure dishes are washed or in the dishwasher. Pick up strewn objects. This takes about 10 minutes.
• 9:15pm Hot bath with lavender oil. I soak for about 15 minutes.
• 9:30pm: Last stretch of technology. Send goodnight emails to anyone I want to catch up with after the day. Final posts on Facebook and Pinterest. Takes about 20 to 30 minutes.
• 10pm: Put away screens. This includes smartphones, tablets, computers and television (unless it is Sunday night, and Sili Valley is on, of course!). All items are docked for charging. I do still keep my phone near my bed, but it goes into "Sleep Mode."
• 10pm: Read or write. I venture away from even eReaders with this. I read a physical book in bed. And when it comes to writing, I make notes and log my thoughts in a journal. I usually do this for about 30 to 60 minutes. I also keep a carafe of water next to my bed.
• 11pm: Lights out. On goes my sleeping mask, to give me complete darkness. I will have usually sprayed my pillows with a spritz of perfume. And off to sleep I (hopefully) go. If my mind is really distracted, I sometimes will put on a White Noise app that I have on my phone.

Typically, I've been waking up before my alarm. Usually around 6:30am. So it's about seven and a half hours of sleep that I am getting, which has been great!

It will be interesting to see how easy it is to follow this same routine when I am traveling. Once I do get acclimated to being about seven hours ahead, it shouldn't be too difficult. I hope. I was really sleep deprived on my last leg through Europe.