Are you an early riser or a night owl? I feel like I am a night owl by choice, but with 3 small children, I am an early riser by default. Long gone are the days of staying up past midnight and having a smooth recovery the next morning. Things have changed lol.

But if I am being honest? The more I work on my health and vitality, creating habits that build happiness, joy and wealth, the more I realize that I can still rock the night owl thing, I just like it to look different now and I am A ok with that.

I am going to drop 3 evening rhythms I swear by that anyone can do, and then I will drop a couple bonus ones for you too 🙂

1) going to bed before 10 PM. dude, I KNOW the next day if it doesn’t happen. No Netflix binge or really good book is worth me not getting the sleep and having more sanity and energy the next day. The truth is, there’s something to this: it’s important for hormone balance! Cortisol, the primary “stress hormone,” is regulated at midnight. So if you are going to bed late every night, you are never truly get a break from a sympathetic flight/fight stress response. In addition, melatonin, which is a super important hormone for brain, immune and hormone health, begins to rise significantly around 9 p.m., and peaks during the overnight hours before falling to very low levels shortly before dawn. To optimize your melatonin levels, you want to optimize and stay consistent with your sleep wake cycle and circadian rhythm.

I like to help myself with this by switching to blue light blockers at night to help with sleep. You can use the code LINDSAYTUTTLENP for 15% off my favorites! Our circadian rhythms evolved not to see much blue light after sunset. Blue light during the day helps us feel alert, but at night can affect our body’s ability to produce melatonin and get quality sleep.

Dude, my kids already wake me up 10 times a night for this or that, so if anything, I am asleep by 9 PM these days. But I am ok with it! If you are used to burning the midnight oil, you can slowly start inching your way towards this time each night, and I also like melatonin supplements as needed and linked my fave.

2) magnesium ommmmm. Yes, I added the Om because HELLO relaxation and nighttime goodness. This is a must for me, and I have fount it so helpful over the years to help with cramps and twitching, which used to be more of an issue for me from Lyme. MagSoothe from Jigsaw health is my FAVE and I use one packet before bedtime, and I will share a few sips with my kids too. This is a really affordable supplement that is super beneficial for adrenal health, hormone health, muscles and nerves, as well as digestion. And most of us are deficient- especially women! In this chelated magnesium supplement, magnesium and bicarbonate work in tandem to enhance absorption and effectiveness of one another inside your body, helping to create a fantastic mitochondrial cocktail. Another option you have if you prefer not to take this supplement, is to try some magnesium rich snacks. I typically don’t like to snack past 7 pm, BUT there are options! Here are a few magnesium and protein rich snack ideas:

• Banana and almond butter

• Piece of Dark Chocolate (I love Honey Mamas brand especially)

• 1/4 cup oatmeal with chia seeds and collagen

3) Don’t end the night without gratitude. Yes, I may be watching a show or reading a book to wrap up my day, but when I get too tired to keep going, or I just know it’s time for lights out, I switch over to gratitude and visualization work. I allow this to be a time of a few minutes before bed to reflect on all I am grateful for from my day, and I may do a quick visualization to dream about what I want to achieve and do. This has been sooo helpful for me to go into my night in a state of calm and worry free. I especially like doing a body scan meditation; this is what that looks like: I slowly scan my body from head to toe, filling each area with bright white light and send healing intention. You can also some deep breathing work at this time: my favorite is the 4-7-8 method which focuses on inhaling through the nose for four seconds, holding for 7 seconds and exhaling through the mouth for 8 seconds.

Why gratitude at night? Many comprehensive sleep studies have shown that focusing on feelings of gratitude before bed has beneficial healing effects on the body and sleep patterns. Cultivating positive thoughts helped participants with neuromuscular disorders get longer, more refreshing sleep at night.

Ok thats my short and sweet and simple list! Any evening habits you swear by? Let me know on blog comments!