Lockdown Sleep Routine
I posted about my sleep routine here back in August 2019. That post was published the month before I asked my doctor to put me back on antidepressants because I wasn't coping well on my own while I was waiting for some more therapy. A lot has obviously happened between then and now.
I've had more therapy last year and made a great deal of progress overcoming my past trauma. I've spent most of the last year in lockdown and lived with various government restrictions, as has most of the world.
My sleeping habits as a consequence of particularly the last eleven months have taken a hit. I'd got a pretty good grip on my insomnia prior to the initial worldwide lockdown at the end of March last year. Then due to not being as active, and alongside starting my therapy, I wasn't sleeping as well as I had been.
During the first lockdown, (from March 23 to early August when I was called back into work when the non-essential store I work in was reopening) I tried various things to help me sleep better. Two things that have become staples for me are a weighted blanket that I got from Melacomfort. I also bought an essential oil diffuser along with some lavender oil from a local essential health store.
I had been debating for a few years about getting a weighted blanked as I'd heard they helped with anxiety, but there were different makes and different weights and I found it confusing which one to get. Because I didn't know anyone personally who'd used one, I wanted to wait to make a purchase as they're expensive. Then during the initial lockdown, an online friend got one so I got the same brand as she did and while I was undergoing my therapy, I would often use the weighted blanket as I sat on the sofa, taking it back upstairs when it was time for bed. And now I wonder why it took me so long to get one!
My lockdown sleep routine follows similar steps to my previous one, where it starts around tea time. I stop my work, (blog writing, photography, Instagram prepping, or YouTube prepping) at around four or five pm to make my tea and I either watch some YouTube videos or watch a Netflix show. I'm currently obsessed with a Canadain drama series called Heartland, then after eating I wash the pots up and making my overnight oats for the morning before I settle back down to watch either more YouTube or Heartland episodes for a few hours.
At around 8 pm I put a hot water bottle into my bed, sometimes two if it's a colder night! I also put on my PJs at this time and then I have some supper of either a slice of toast or a small bowl of cereal. Changing into my PJs on at this time has helped me to recognise it's nearly bedtime so I start to wind down and relax a bit more.
Then by 9 pm, I'm ready for my milky hot chocolate which I drink while sitting on the sofa and writing in my journal. Depending on how tired I am and how I'm feeling by this time, occasionally I do take my milky hot chocolate and journal upstairs to bed and either journal or read a book in bed while I drink the warming and comforting drink. Either way, whenever I do head up to my bed, I always put on my salt rock lamp and set my diffuser going with some water and a few drops of lavender essential oil in it. The soft light from the salt lamp and the lavender oil both help to relax me more in readiness for lights out.
After I've cleaned my teeth I settle into bed, take my CBD* oil, set up my Calm app sleep story for the night, turn the lamps off and put on my sleep eye mask. I don't usually need this in the winter but I'm finding it helps me to settle down to sleep better during this lockdown.
As with all routines, my sleep one ever-evolving as I tweak it depending on what I need at the time. This one I've been doing for the last few months and has been working really well for me.
*check with your doctor or a healthcare professional before taking this
