For a Stress Free Morning, Start the Night Before

A lot of experts tell us that we should schedule our day first thing in the morning. We are told to build a morning habit to decrease stress during the day.

These experts tell you to lay out your clothes and to put your alarm clock out of reach. They tell you to create incentives to get yourself to move in the morning. They tell you to eat smart and start drinking water first thing in the morning.

However, to start this process, we must start the night before. I believe that if you want to beat stress, the best time to start the day isn't first thing in the morning. Instead, let's start our morning the night before!

Just before getting ready for bed, set up coffee, prepare your lunches, and have your clothes laid out for the day.

In addition, have any clothes set out for young children. Have their backpacks or diaper bags packed and lunches ready to put in their bags in the morning. Encourage them to do as much of this preparation on their own. Make it a game that even the youngest child could enjoy.

Know where your keys are and have them ready to go. Have everything you’re taking with you in the car or by the door to be put in the car, so you don’t forget anything.

If nothing else, these few suggestions will have you amazed at how much stress will be eliminated from your morning, but it doesn't have to end here. There's more you can do to make tomorrow even better!

The experts also tell us to get up 30 minutes earlier to create our to-do lists and set up priorities. They tell us that we should determine what is the most important thing that we need to do that day and do that first.

Why wait until morning?

A quick glance over your goals before bed offers you a chance to determine which tasks you can do the following day to take at least a baby-step toward those goals.

They tell you to review and schedule your calendar in the morning.

I used to try to do that. However, it cut into my writing time. I wanted to reserve my mornings for writing. Keeping up with my schedule cut into that time therefore, I found that I could look over my schedule and my calendar before going to bed.

while looking over my schedule, I determine if there is anything I need to take with me from home for an activity on my schedule. Do I have a dentist's appointment? If so, I am sure to pack a toothbrush and toothpaste in my bag. Do I plan to drop off old clothes at a donation box? I put those in the trunk of the car the night before, so I don’t forget them.

I don’t have any young children in the home any longer, but if I did and my child had instrument practice the next day, I would make sure the instrument is near the door along with any sheet music my child needed.

Studies show that creating the habit of a sleep routine. By going to bed at the same time each night, we get better rest and will feel less stressed the following day. By doing as I suggest here, you are well on your way to getting a better night's sleep. To get an even better night’s sleep Here are a few things that I do.

• I avoid drinking water at least 2 hours before bedtime so that I won’t have to wake up so many times in the middle of the night.
• My sleep time must not be wasted time. It is precious! Schedule 7-8 hours of sleep time.
• I avoid being overstimulated before sleep. I don't watch the late-night news, I don’t drink alcohol, and I end my coffee consumption earlier in the day, (If you smoke, don't smoke within an hour of sleep. I even avoid arguments with my spouse in order to get rest!
• I follow a bedtime routine in the same way, every day. I get my clothes laid out for the morning and take a warm comforting bath (try adding 10-15 drops of essential oils of rose, chamomile, sandalwood, or lavender to my bath) and whatever other evening skincare I am doing at that time. I then even get into comfortable sleeping clothes (or not, nude is supposed to be more sleep-promoting than pajamas), and brush my teeth.
• I don't have electronics near my bed nor do I watch TV in bed. I keep my phone on a stand on the other side of the room from my bed. This will not only ensure that I sleep better, but because I’ll have to get up to turn it off, I'm less likely to hit the snooze button in the morning!
• The room that I sleep in is cool, dark, and quiet.
• Now, as I'm getting into bed, I put a notepad beside my bed. I determine a question to ask my subconscious mind to solve (it works best when the conscious mind is asleep). If I can’t think of anything else, I use the question: “What can I do to improve tomorrow?” In the morning, if something comes to mind as I awaken, I write it down on the notepad at the side of my bed.
• Once I'm in bed, I start thinking about everything that I'm grateful for. As I name something, I take a deep breath and relax.
• Next, I do some relaxation exercises to help me sleep. What I like to do is to lay on my back (you could try on your side if you can’t lie on your back). Now I focus my attention on my feet and will them to relax. Now I move up my body willing each body part to relax and take long slow deep breaths as I focus on each body part. I focus on up to my torso. Now I work down my arms and back up my neck. When I reach my head, I do the same for my jaw, my tongue, my teeth, my nose (one nostril at a time) each eye, one at a time, and up to the top of my head. Often, I don’t finish before I am fast asleep.

If you handle your evening routine the way that I do, you can rest in the fact that you too have prepared for tomorrow and have done the best you can tonight to make tomorrow an even better day than today!