Raise your hand if your days are a total blur — especially lately (we’re emphatically raising both hands into the air over here.) In all seriousness, life is hectic for many of us, even if we’re at home more than usual. With less of our usual nighttime activities to split up the workday from the evening, healthy evening rituals are more important than ever. A good PM routine helps us refill our cups after a long day, plus it’s a powerful way to set the tone for the coming day.
Even if you’re living that WFH life, resist the urge to let your day and evening run together without some time for healthy evening rituals! By following this 30-minute routine, you’ll be setting yourself up for a much less stressful and more productive tomorrow.
Healthy Evening Rituals Don’t Need to Be Fancy! Try This Approach Tonight
Here’s your exact, minute-by-minute breakdown to try in just 30 minutes.
Minute 0-5 Reflect and Plan
If we could have x-ray vision into our brains, there’s a good chance you’d see a gazillion and one thoughts — ya know like unfinished tasks and random worries.
Get it out of your brain and onto paper! Science suggests that simply putting pen to paper to work through our thoughts and feelings can be quite cathartic.
Before heading to bed, pull out a notepad and reflect.
Here are some ideas of what to jot down:
- How your day went overall
- Things you’re grateful for during your day
- Memorable or funny snippets from your day
- What you didn’t get done (this becomes your to-do list for tomorrow)
- Your #1 priority for the following day
Minute 5-10 Pamper Yourself
What would healthy evening rituals be without a little skincare time? There’s no salon or spa required for this! All you need is five minutes each evening to pamper yourself.
While cleansing, toning, and moisturizing, use this time to practice mindfulness. Notice how your skin feels, the temperature of the water, the texture of the towel, and sounds (or silence) around you.
To really make these minutes packed with self-care, you can use this time to silently repeat any mantras to yourself as you look yourself in the eyes in the mirror (it might feel weird at first, but mantras are powerful!)
Minute 10-20 Stretch It Out
Our bodies do a lot for us during the day and deserve some repair and restoration too. Try out a short but relaxing stretch like this one to unwind from both sitting all day, and to help stretch out any sore muscles from your workout.
And, if you’re often waking up sore or stiff each morning, stretching for a few minutes is a great way to give your body some extra TLC.
Minute 20-25 Meditate
The benefits of meditation are impossible to ignore. Whether you already have a meditation practice or have been meaning to start, taking just a few minutes to meditate at night can help to quiet our racing brains and prep us for a restful night’s sleep.
Skeptical? Studies have shown meditation to improve our internal autonomic nervous system, which can spell the difference between deep sleep and a night of tossing and turning.
Sit in silence or plug into a guided meditation — just a few minutes does the trick!
Need some guided meditation options to get you started? Sign up for free and get access to unlimited FitOn meditations.
- Deepest Sleep Ever with DeAndre Sinette
- Sleep Yoga Nidra with DeAndre Sinette
- Goodnight Meditation with Amanda Gilbert
- Sleep Well with Amanda Gilbert
- Peace Out Bedtime with Amanda Gilbert
Minute 29-30 Visualize Tomorrow
Reserve just the last 60 seconds for a key piece left out of many healthy evening rituals — visualizing how you want tomorrow to go.
Think about it: are you regularly hitting the pillow stressing about your upcoming to-do list? Dreading that alarm clock sound? Anxious about what tomorrow will bring?
It’s time to intentionally flip that. We have a lot more control over our emotions than we think, but it requires being intentional.
Regardless of what lies ahead for you tomorrow, take a moment tonight to visualize your day going smoothly.
See in your mind’s eye how you’ll wake up, restored after a restful sleep, and will meet the day with grace and confidence no matter what it holds.
Don’t skip this step — it’s a powerful one!
Healthy Evening Rituals Are A Vital Part of Your Day!
Don’t let the last few moments you spend awake each day be an afterthought. Whether you’re a night owl or morning person, by taking just 30 minutes to try out this “flow” of PM rituals, you’ll be setting yourself up for the best possible tomorrow.
