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When talking about how to build an effective daily schedule, morning routines usually get
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all of the attention. Although having an effective morning routine is important, having an effective
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night routine is just as, if not more, important. Here are five reasons why your night routine
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is holding you back, and what you can do to fix it.
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Dr. Jubbal, MedSchoolInsiders.com.
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I recently did a video covering eight morning routine mistakes that are holding you back.
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In this video, we’ll cover the flip side and talk about five common night routine mistakes
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and how to build your own perfect night routine. Let’s get into it.
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Mistake number one is not having a consistent nighttime routine. Every good day starts with
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a good night’s sleep - so if you want to have an effective tomorrow, you need to start
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preparing today.
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Having a consistent night routine gives you the necessary time and space to decompress
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after a long day. It helps you ease into sleep so that by the time your head hits the pillow,
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your body and mind are ready for bed.
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Think about wakefulness like driving a car. After you wake up, it takes some time to warm
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up the engine and get to speed. But once you get up to speed, it’s pretty easy to keep
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going. After a day of driving, the time eventually comes when you need to start slowing down.
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You don’t want to redline the engine and slam on the brakes from 100 to 0. Doing so
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is incredibly jarring, both for you and the car. Instead, you want to ease into it and
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slow down gradually before finally coming to a stop.
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An effective nighttime routine is similar. It gives you much-needed time to decompress
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and lets you gradually relax into sleep - both physically and mentally. Without it, you’re
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just slamming on the brakes and trying to force your body to sleep when it’s not ready
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to.
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Mistake number two is not optimizing your routine for sleep.
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According to the CDC, more than a third of American adults do not get the recommended
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seven to nine hours of sleep per day. This is a big problem if you’re trying to maximize
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your productivity as research has shown that both acute and chronic sleep deprivation negatively
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impact cognition.
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In addition, inadequate sleep has also been shown to negatively impact mental health.
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Although we often think of difficulty sleeping as a symptom of an underlying mood disorder,
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research suggests that inadequate sleep can also be a causal factor contributing to the
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development of mood disorders.
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If that isn’t evidence enough, think about it this way: you can function without food
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for several weeks and without water for several days, but you experience the most rapid decline
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in function without sleep.
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Despite millions of years of evolution, we still spend over ⅓ of our lives asleep.
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If it wasn’t necessary, then evolution would have prioritized things like finding food,
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finding a mate, or simply not being vulnerable to predation.
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Just getting enough hours of sleep isn’t enough either if you really want to be at
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the top of your game. A huge part of sleeping better also comes down to waking up and falling
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asleep at consistent times.
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In one study, researchers found a positive correlation between having a consistent sleep
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cycle and increased academic performance. They concluded that even when you control
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for the amount of sleep, participants who had a more consistent sleep schedule tended
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to perform better.
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To optimize your sleep schedule, start by deciding what time you want to wake up and
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then work backwards seven to nine hours. This will tell you what time you need to be in
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bed, falling asleep. After that, subtract one more hour and that will be the time that
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you should start winding down and initiating your nighttime routine.
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Knowing what time you need to initiate your nighttime routine at and when you need to
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be asleep is only half the battle though. The other half is actually following through
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with it - which is much easier said than done. This is something that I continue to struggle
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with even to this day.
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If there’s anything I’ve learned though, it’s that if you really want to adhere to
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your nighttime routine and have a consistent sleep schedule, you can’t rely on sheer
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willpower and awareness. You need to focus on building systems instead.
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For instance, sometimes I get so caught up in what I’m working on at night that I completely
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lose track of time. To combat this, I’ve invested in a smart light setup which I’ve
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programmed to dim and turn red at 9:30 PM. This serves as a visual reminder to me that
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I need to start wrapping up and winding down. Making this one adjustment has helped me to
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adhere to my night routine and go to bed at a more consistent time.
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That being said, you don’t need a fancy light set up that makes you feel like a sith
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lord to remind you to go to bed, a simple alarm will work just as well.
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Mistake number three is not activating your parasympathetic nervous system.
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There are two major divisions of the autonomic nervous system - the sympathetic and the parasympathetic.
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The sympathetic nervous system is often referred to as the “fight or flight” system. It
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prepares the body for higher acuity situations. The parasympathetic nervous system, on the
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other hand, is the “rest and digest” system. It returns our bodies to a calm, relaxed state
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and prepares us for rest.
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For optimal sleep, we want to activate the parasympathetic in the hour or so leading
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up to bedtime and avoid activating the sympathetic.
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The first step to achieving this is to lower your body temperature. The optimal bedroom
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temperature for sleep is believed to be somewhere between 65 and 70 degrees Fahrenheit; however,
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you can accomplish the same effect in a few different ways. Setting your A/C to a cooler
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level is one solution; however, you can also use a mattress cooler, such as the ChiliPAD
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or Bedjet, or reduce clothing while in bed.
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For example, I live in a hot climate so I set my A/C to 72°F and sleep in a pair of
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shorts with a light blanket. This allows me to lower my body temperature, without having
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a huge energy bill at the end of the month.
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The next step to activating the parasympathetic nervous system is to avoid things that stimulate
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you. This means no caffeine, no high-intensity music, no backlit screens, and especially
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no smartphone right before bed.
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Blue light, like the light from a phone screen, stimulates photoreceptors in your eyes which
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suppress melatonin release from your pineal gland. Melatonin is a key hormone involved
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in regulating our circadian rhythm and priming our bodies for sleep. When melatonin production
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is inhibited, we don’t feel as tired, and it becomes more difficult to fall sleep.
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Matthew Walker, professor of neuroscience and psychology at UC Berkeley, explains that
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using your phone at night can also result in sleep procrastination. You start by checking
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your email or social media, and the next thing you know an hour has passed, and you’re
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still wide awake.
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The easiest way to avoid this is to not bring your phone into the bedroom. If this is not
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possible, he recommends imposing a rule on yourself that you can only use your phone
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while standing up. If you follow this rule, after a few minutes you’ll probably feel
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the urge to lay down in bed at which point you will have to put the phone down.
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The last thing to do to activate your parasympathetic nervous system is wind down and relax. Do
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something that makes you feel comfortable. Something that eases your stress. For some,
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this might be stretching or doing some light foam rolling. Others prefer to practice deep
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breathing or meditation.
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My activity of choice is to read a relaxing book on my Kindle. This is often fiction,
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or a biography, or something related to my personal interests. I try to avoid reading
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any kind of intellectually stimulating book because I’m not optimizing for learning
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in the last few minutes of the day, but rather easing into restorative sleep.
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Mistake number four is not setting yourself up for a successful tomorrow.
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One of the qualities of an effective nighttime routine is that it prepares you for the next
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day. Take some time to reset your environment so everything is ready for you when you wake
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up. Clean and organize your desk, do the dishes, pick up your laundry - do all of those little
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things that will prepare you for the next day.
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After you reset your environment, ask yourself if there’s anything else you can do to make
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things easier in the morning. This might include prepping your backpack, or laying out your
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clothes, or leaving reminders for yourself for anything you might forget in the morning.
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When I go on an early morning flight, for example, I leave a sticky note next to my
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phone reminding me to pack my glasses and retainers, as I can’t pack them the night
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before.
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By setting yourself up for a more successful tomorrow, future you will thank you, and it’s
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a good feeling. In fact, I find that the more you do this, the more inclined you are to
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do it in the future. It acts as a positive feedback loop.
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Lastly, mistake number five is not taking time to reflect on your day.
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Too often we focus on the negatives - the things we wanted to accomplish but didn’t
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- and forget to appreciate the small wins.
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A great way to remind yourself of the small wins and express gratitude for the things
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you’ve accomplished is through reflection. The way that I do this is by journaling at
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the end of the day. And just like I have a journaling template for the morning, I have
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one for the night as well.
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I write about the three most amazing things that happened today, three lessons I learned,
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and what would have made today better. This reflection provides perspective so that I’m
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not always focusing on what I didn’t do, and also helps me with future direction. I
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can identify consistent themes under “what would make today better” and can focus my
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energy in a more data-backed manner that’s more likely to improve my life.
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The last item that I journal about at the end of each day is the singular most important
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question for the day, which I then pose to my subconscious before I sleep. Doing so gives
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my unconscious mind the chance to mull it over while I sleep, often giving me a fresh
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take in the morning.
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If you’re trying to optimize your night routine, remember that there is no one size
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fits all solution. Use these points as a guide and experiment with what works for you. And
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don’t be afraid to change things up if they’re not working. Find what works best for you,
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and even when you think you’ve got it all figured out, keep experimenting and trying
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to make it even better!
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And that’s it. Those are five night routine mistakes and what you can do to fix them.
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If you have a night routine that works well for you, or if you think I missed a night
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routine mistake, be sure to share your thoughts in the comment section below. You never know
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who you might help out!
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Thank you all so much for watching. If you enjoyed this video, be sure to check out Anatomy
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of a Perfect Evening Routine, or my video going over Surgeon Sleep Secrets. Much love
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and I’ll see you there.