Second Cup: Get ready for bed before bedtime

Make it easier to get enough sleep

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.
Good Morning. This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.
Today's tip is to get ready for bed a while
before you actually intend to go to sleep. This makes
it much easier to get into bed on time. It's

(00:25):
a truism of time management that everything takes longer than
you think it will. This is doubly true with things
that occur when you're tired, such as getting ready for bed,
and sadly, the more tired you are, the easier it
is to delay what will actually solve the problem, namely
going to sleep. This problem became clear to me a

(00:47):
few years ago when my husband was traveling a lot
and my then toddler aged fourth child was popping up
at five am every morning. I made sure that my
eldest child was in bed with the lights out around PM. Now,
theoretically this meant that I could be in bed at
ten pm, and in general I do fine with seven
hours of sleep, but night after night I would find

(01:09):
it almost if possible to be asleep before ten thirty, somehow,
taking out my contacts, brushing my teeth, washing my face,
getting my pajamas on, and so forth. Would stretch out,
probably because I'd look at my phone while setting my alarm,
or look at the mess in my bedroom and start
picking it up. It's hard to do anything in a

(01:29):
focused and efficient manner when you're tired, and this includes
getting ready for bed. Then I discovered that I didn't
actually have to wait until right before bed to get
ready for bed. I could change into my pajamas and
switch my contacts for my glasses earlier in the evening.
Since I was completely ready to sleep, I could walk

(01:49):
into my bedroom at PM and read for ten minutes
without feeling like I was battling the clock. The lights
could go off by ten PM, and my morning self
would wake up, thanking my past self's ingenuity. All would
be good, well, except for the screaming toddler part. Now
that I've got a newborn again, I've been reminded of

(02:11):
the wisdom of this habit. When the baby falls asleep,
it's good for me to go to sleep too. If
I'm all ready for bed, this is a much quicker process. Now,
maybe you don't have young kids, but anyone can fall
into the trap of delaying bed because getting ready for
bed sounds like a lot of effort. Turning off the
TV and going upstairs takes energy. Hitting next in the

(02:35):
Netflix queue does not. So if you feel like you
have zero energy, which many of us do at night,
guess which is more likely to happen. Now. I'm not
saying that if you're all ready for bed that watching
another show won't still be tempting. But if all you
have to do is slide under the covers, well, that
lowers the energy requirement significantly, and on the margin, that

(02:59):
just my tip the balance. So tonight, choose some time
when you're not completely exhausted to get ready for bed.
Then when the exhaustion does hit, you can go to
sleep close to immediately, and with any luck, you'll wake
up bright and chipper and ready to do great things
before breakfast. In the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks for listening,

(03:24):
and here's to making the most of our time. Hey, everybody,
I'd love to hear from you. You can send me
your tips, your questions, or anything else. Just connect with
me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at Before Breakfast Pod

(03:44):
that's B the number four, then Breakfast p o D.
You can also shoot me an email at Before Breakfast
Podcast at iHeart Media dot com that before Breakfast is
spelled out with all the letters. Thanks so much, I
look forward to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is a

(04:07):
production of I heart Radio. For more podcasts from I
heart Radio, visit the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.