Nighttime Routine

FullSizeRender 2 Today’s post is all about going to bed better & waking up refreshed. It was created in partnership with Better Homes & Gardens & Quaker® Overnight Oats

So here we go:
My nighttime routine with Quaker® Overnight Oats Having a great day usually starts with having a great breakfast and a great bedtime routine; two things that I’ve been guilty of not prioritizing in the past. Recently inspired by the Better Homes & Gardens 30-Night Challenge, I worked really hard these past few weeks to create more healthy habits and it has really done wonders for my quality of life and work in general!

I still have a long way to go, but I wanted to take a chance to show my nighttime routine to you so you can see some of the steps I’ve taken the night before (and sometimes the morning of) to have a more successful day.

Outfit & Meal Prep

So my night starts with a little outfit and meal prep. I take to my now rainbow-colored closet and decide what I’m going to wear the next day, this usually depends on what I have going on – some days I work out and work from my office most of the day so I’ll just hang out in loungewear or a comfy dress and other days I have meetings on meetings squished between meetings.

After my outfit is prepped and ready to go, I get my oats a-soaking by opening up Quaker® Overnight Oats and filling the cup with my favorite milk. This product makes it super easy to cold-steep your oats overnight and wake up ready to eat, all you have to do is pour milk to the line drawn in the cup and stick that sucker in the fridge overnight.

Morning IG post

Most mornings are a good time for me to post on Instagram – usually, before 8 am does really well for me because most people wake up and look at the phones first thing. So before I go to bed, I like to plan out what I’m going to post in the morning including editing the photo and the caption before saving it to my drafts, this gives me more time to spend eating breakfast or relaxing in the AM and leaves me with less stress before I sleep.

Get Clean

So after I’m all prepped for the night, I wash my face & moisturize to help me wake up #flawless. Sometimes I’ll do a mask or treatment but I like to keep it simple. I also drink a giant glass of water about an hour before I go to bed – this helps me stay hydrated, does wonders for my skin but most importantly serves as a mini alarm clock because I have to wake up in the morning because my bladder is full lol!

Turn it off

One of the pro tips I got from the Better Homes & Gardens slideshow, this is my biggest issue with falling asleep at night so happy to know it’s not just me! I spend almost all day looking at my computer or phone, so my brain is just wired and not ready to go to sleep. I used to try and fall asleep watching TV because you guys know I LOVE TV especially at night, but that would keep me up for hours – especially if I was watching something spooky, which I kind of love. Now I have to be really diligent about turning everything off an hour before I go to sleep and not bringing my computer into the bedroom. I even do things like setting my alarms on my both my phone and iPad outside of the bedroom and set up my podcast beforehand so that I don’t need to use my devices in the bedroom. Finally, I’ll turn them on night mode so they’re on do not disturb and the screen is less bright.

For the record, this is my goto routine for weekdays but sometimes on the weekends, I’ll treat myself to TV before bed – but I’ve found I perform a lot better the next day when I keep things powered down.

Hair Wrap

Now I’ll usually start a podcast, and sync up my wireless headphones. I live with my boyfriend, Paris but we have different sleep schedules – while he needs 8-10 hours, that leaves me groggy and causes me to oversleep. For me, that 5-7 range is better, so I like to use my wireless headphones to listen to podcasts or even watch TV when he’s already asleep and I’m still prepping for bed. I only wash my hair once every three days, so I have to wrap it in a bandana or curlers when I sleep to help cut down on my morning prep process. I’ll turn my wireless headphones on super loud and wear them around my neck at first so I can wrap my hair, then I’ll turn them down and put them on my ears.

Socks on

I’ve learned I sleep so much better when the house is colder and I’m wearing socks. I think this is a tip I picked up on the internet but have really become obsessed with. Now when I don’t sleep with socks, I sleep less soundly and wake up groggy – the socks help me get a cozy, uninterrupted night sleep.

Light Mask

While I’m still listening to my podcast (I’m really into my favorite murder right now because I like kind of scary funny things) I set my iPad across the room, plug my phone in next to me and get into bed. Finally, I start my light mask! Nighttime is the best time to do a little pampering, just like my friends do at Better Homes & Garden. A few months ago I got to try out a light therapy mask which uses light to kill acne bacteria. Although it does help my skin, I’ve also found that it relaxes me and puts me to sleep faster than anything else I’ve tried, so its become a big part of my nightly routine. I close my eyes and turn on the mask, laying there in darkness plus the light from the mask with my eyes closed usually tires me out quick. The mask runs for ten min, but when its done I pop it on my bedside table and am usually asleep in 5 min or less.

A few months ago it would take me hours to fall asleep, and I would often stay up all night stressing about my todo list for the next day or upcoming projects. This process has really helped me go to bed better and wake up feeling great. Aside from having a structured routine, eating breakfast every morning has made some serious changes to my energy level and productivity. I don’t really like breakfast because I don’t eat eggs so most things are off the table, plus I’m always too lazy to make anything in the morning and often don’t have much time – including Quaker® Overnight Oats has taken away all of my “no breakfast” excuses and made it so easy for me to have a yummy breakfast every morning leading me to eat less during the day and be more productive in all aspects of my life. You can learn more about the yummy Quaker® Overnight Oats and flavors here!

I hope you guys liked learning about my nighttime routine and it helped you learn some new things to try! You can really hold yourself accountable by joining in the Better Homes and Gardens® 30-Night Challenge. Let me know if you have any tips about getting to bed better or waking up feeling awesome in the comments below!