How To Establish A Bedtime Routine You Can Actually Stick To

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On my last visit to see family in Wisconsin, I asked my niece about the little boombox with cat ears by her bed.

“It’s called a Tonie, MaeMae,” she told me with an eye roll surprisingly well-executed for a seven year-old.

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She showed me how she could put different figurines on top that would play music, tell a story, and even engage the listener in mindfulness activities (okay, she didn’t say that last thing; I got it from the brand’s website when I looked it up later).

Adjusting the volume is as easy as a pinch of one of the ears perched on top of the small machine. A spiritual descendant of my own bedtime companion from childhood, Teddy Ruxpin, whose storytelling was controlled through a tape deck jammed into his back.

An integral part of her bedtime routine, my niece chooses a song or story after brushing her teeth and reading books and — as her parents tell me — is fast asleep before the track runs out.

It made me chuckle thinking how similar my own bedtime routine is.

I don’t put on my favorite Disney tracks, but I do religiously turn to episodes of the Acquired podcast before bed with a 30-minute sleep timer that I almost never hear pleasantly reduce the episode in volume to zero because by then I’m already snoozing.

I relayed this to my brother, who told me he does the same thing with the Money Guy Show.

Team SG’s Taylor plays old episodes of Frasier on an iPad.

There’s something both embarrassing and affirming about sharing a bedtime routine with a second grader.

Not surprised by the connection? Tyler Minton, MS RDN, a dietician and performance specialist who assured me that sleep is an integral part of a wellness routine, no matter how old or young we are.

“It’s not something you can get away from. It’s the most important part of our life cycle. We’ve never adapted away from the need for sleep.”

As for how to establish a bedtime routine that results in healthy sleep hygiene? For me, it’s about what’s doable, not perfect.

While it would be great to say I’m one of those “Zero screens or phones 90 minutes before bed, reading a book of poetry next to a lavender-scented candle to wind down” people, my business podcast bedtime routine is my “as good as it’s gonna get” compromise.

At least I’m not tucking into news or politics as my head hits the pillow, and definitely not anything true crime. That’s what I tell myself, anyway.

Like my niece, I find myself returning to the same stories again and again, from the origins of LVMH to the trajectory of Microsoft. It’s soothing, and allows my brain to shut off from its daily whirring.

Minton agrees that establishing a bedtime routine is up to the individual.

“It comes down to priorities. If you don’t care about your health and fitness, alertness, sharpness, vitality — all these things sleep is linked to — then don’t prioritize sleep. If you care about your sex life, how you look, then you should care about the actions that get you there.”

So, how to get there?

“I don’t bully, but I do show my clients what’s at stake. Poor sleep is linked to low testosterone, hunger levels. Sleep is how to get to the problem behind the problem.”