Your Perfect Night-time Routine Is Probably Ruining Your Sleep
The internet has somehow turned going to bed into a productivity project.
No screens after 8pm.
Blue-light glasses.
Meditation.
Stretching.
Journalling.
Breathwork.
A perfect room temperature.
Ten pages of a book.
And absolutely no deviation from the routine.
By the time you’ve completed your 47-step sleep protocol, you’re stressed about whether you’re relaxed enough to sleep.
Maybe we’ve made sleep too complicated.
You probably don’t need a better sleep routine
You need one you can actually follow.
Because the best night routine isn’t the most scientifically optimised, aesthetically pleasing or disciplined.
It’s the one you’ll still do on a Wednesday night when dinner ran late, the kids won’t go to bed and you’re exhausted.
For most people, that means doing less.
Not more.
Stop trying to “win” at sleep
Sleep is one of the few things you can’t force yourself to do.
Yet somehow bedtime has become another performance metric.
Did I get eight hours?
Did I hit enough deep sleep?
Did I stop eating early enough?
Did I get off my phone soon enough?
Did I do my breathing exercises?
Did I ruin everything by watching Netflix?
Your evening doesn’t need to become another test you can fail.
Instead, give yourself a few simple signals that the day is ending.
We like three.
1. Close the day
Ever get into bed and suddenly remember every email, appointment and unfinished job from the past week?
Before trying to relax, give your day an ending.
Pick one small action that tells your brain work is finished.
That could be:
- Writing tomorrow’s three priorities
- Putting your laptop away
- Packing tomorrow’s bag
- Clearing your desk
- Tidying the kitchen
- Laying out tomorrow’s clothes
Think of it as:
Close the tabs in your brain before closing your eyes.
You don’t need twenty minutes.
Sometimes two minutes is enough.
2. Do something you actually find relaxing
This sounds obvious.
But somewhere along the way, relaxing became strangely competitive.
You don’t need to meditate because someone on Instagram meditates.
You don’t need to journal if you hate journalling.
And you definitely don’t need to spend 30 minutes doing breathwork while secretly wondering when it will be over.
Choose something that actually makes your evening feel slower.
Maybe that’s:
- A warm shower
- Reading
- Stretching
- Music
- Skincare
- Sitting outside
- Talking with your partner
- Making an evening drink
There is no prize for choosing the most impressive option.
3. Give yourself one obvious bedtime cue
Your final step should be almost embarrassingly simple.
Something that means:
We’re done. It’s bedtime.
Maybe you:
- Put on an eye mask
- Read 10 pages
- Put your phone on charge
- Make the same evening drink
- Brush your teeth
- Take five slow breaths
- Turn off the downstairs lights
The ritual itself doesn’t need to be magical.
It just needs to be easy enough to repeat.
And here’s the important part: make your routine shorter
This is where most sleep advice gets it backwards.
People create an elaborate 45-minute routine because it feels like they’re taking sleep seriously.
Then real life happens.
You get home late.
The kids are awake.
Dinner takes forever.
You’re travelling.
You’re tired.
So instead of one perfect routine, create three.
The luxury version
When you have time:
Plan tomorrow → shower → stretch → evening drink → read
The normal-life version
What you’ll actually do most nights:
Put work away → shower → evening drink → bed
The “I cannot be bothered” version
When everything has gone sideways:
Brush teeth → phone down → bed
Yes, that still counts.
Consistency doesn’t mean doing everything perfectly.
It means making the habit easy enough that you don’t abandon it entirely.
The best sleep routine might be the boring one
There will always be another sleep hack.
Another device.
Another tracker.
Another optimisation.
Another influencer telling you the exact minute you should stop looking at your phone.
Try them if they work for you.
But before you turn sleep into another part of your life that needs constant optimisation, try something much simpler:
Close the day. Slow down. Go to bed.
Do roughly the same thing tomorrow.
That may be all the routine you need.
Need a final cue? Make it Sleep.
If a nightly drink fits naturally into your routine, Chief Sleep can become part of your evening wind-down.
Chief Sleep helps reduce time to fall asleep, supports deep sleep and relaxation, and helps relieve symptoms of stress and mild anxiety.
Simply mix one scoop with hot or cold water around 30 minutes before bed and make it part of your nightly routine.
Close the day. Downshift. Sleep. Repeat.
Always read the label and follow the directions for use. Adults only. Not recommended for use by pregnant or lactating women. If symptoms persist, talk to your health professional.
By Chief Nutrition