6 Successful Women Share Their Ultimate Bedtime Routine
It's no secret that establishing a good bedtime routine is highly beneficial for our health, both physically and mentally. These consistent set of activities help our brains recognise when it’s time to sleep and are crucial for establishing and maintaining good sleep habits.
Everyone's bedtime routine will look slightly different depending on our individual needs and lifestyles, but they generally include calming activities like taking a warm bath, reading, journaling, or meditation approximately 30-60 minutes before bed. By performing these repetitive activities each night, preferably in the same order, our brains become accustomed to associating them as a precursor to sleep.
To help inspire you to develop your own bedtime routine, we've taken a look at the nighttime schedules of six successful women that are essential in helping to support their busy day-to-day lives.
The Bedtime Routines of 6 Successful Women
1. Lauren Trend, Founder of 'Self Practice'
Most nights I start to wind down after dinnertime. I’ll watch something with my partner Lucy or read a book after having a shower and applying my skincare. My bathroom is a large part of my bedtime ritual. I love and feel most at ease while getting lost in the mundane tasks of the everyday; like brushing my teeth or hair, wiping down the basin, and slowly lathering serums onto my face.
Taking my time with these simple tasks gives me space to feel close to myself, and room to wind down before the day is done.
When I get into bed, I always make sure to have a carafe of water bedside. Lucy and I tried to have a ‘no pets on the bed’ rule, but we failed miserably. Before lights out we all get cosy and I make sure my phone is on night-mode. I tend to fall asleep fairly easily most nights, however if I need little more soothing to drift off, I’ll pop in my AirPods and listen to a guided meditation.
2. Turia Pitt, Motivational speaker
This is my sleep routine in its ideal state. If I follow this, then, yes, I do get a good night’s sleep. Sometimes, though, there are other moving parts in my life (A small child! A small sick child! A partner who’s away! A project that I’m on deadline for!). At those times, I try to do as many of these steps as I can. And my non-negotiable top pick out of all of them would be tip number one.
- No screens before bed. That blue light really does affect your melatonin production (AKA the hormone that lets you sleep well!), so I avoid looking at my phone/computer in bed. If I have to, I pop them on Night Mode.
- I do all my skincare AGES before I actually go to sleep. Like at 7pm. This way, if I fall asleep when I put the kids down at 7.30pm, it’s fine by me. Sleep trumps pretty much everything.
- I get into bed with a book an hour before I actually want to go to sleep. If I read for the hour, awesome. If I read for 5 minutes, no stress!
- If I’m still not sleepy, I’ll usually pop on a guided meditation and do some deep breathing.
- If I can’t fall sleep after, say, an hour, or if I’m restless during the night, or wake up and can’t get back to sleep, I’ll go into the lounge room so I don’t keep my family awake and do something like book-keeping or more reading, which I find relaxing and unwind-y.
3. Saskia Havekes, Florist
I go to bed each night around 10pm or 11pm. After long, busy days on my feet I take solace in my nighttime ritual. I always have beeswax candles burning or Santa Maria Novella burning papers to cleanse the air. Each night before bed I make cup of tea and have a shower. I find a shower before bed very relaxing with Santa Maria Novella’s Sapone all'Olio d'Oliva. It’s both nourishing and cleansing.
Also I absolutely LOVE a White linen sheet or bedding set crisp and line dried. I never iron anything – so au natural. This really helps me feel calm and relaxed when I go to sleep and I enjoy the feel of them between my feet.
4. Lydia O'Donnell, Professional Marathon Runner
Sleep is so important for everyone, but especially athletes. It’s one of the best performance enhancers for athletes as it allows you to recover before the next day of training.
My bedtime is the same every night – I'm adamant about getting enough sleep. I begin to wind down at about 8.30pm. I begin my nighttime routine by looking after my skin. I cleanse, then apply multiple serums and a hyaluronic acid moisturiser. Before switching everything off, including myself, I spend 5 minutes writing in my journal, where I jot down the highlights of the day and any improvements I can work on. Once this is done, I turn off the lights and fall asleep – usually relatively quickly.
5. Carla Oates, Founder of The Beauty Chef
I try to hit the hay early-ish, mostly between 9-10pm to ensure I get a full eight hours of sleep. Studies show that when the body is deprived of sleep, it disrupts your body’s ability to maintain a healthy microbiome, and we all know the health of our microbiome is essential for gut, skin, brain, immune and metabolic health. It's called beauty sleep for a very good reason!
I commence my bedtime routine by taking The Beauty Chef SLEEP Inner Beauty one hour before bed, mixed into a warmed glass of nut milk (and sometimes a little bit of manuka honey if I'm craving something sweet) to soothe my nerves and deepen my sleep. It contains natural sedatives including passionflower and lemon balm traditionally used in Western herbal medicine to soothe and calm nerves, and relieve restlessness, as well as sour cherry, which is naturally-rich in the sleep-inducing hormone melatonin. It also contains turmeric and probiotics, which both support digestive health and are anti-inflammatory, so it doubles up as an effective beauty-from-within product, too.
My topical nighttime beauty routine is crucial because this is when all the good things happen and the skin can truly rejuvenate without the interruption of environmental assault you're exposed to during the day. I always gently cleanse my face using coconut oil or an oil-based balm, and a muslin cloth to wash away the day’s grease and grime. Oil is very effective for lifting dirt from the skin and coconut oil boasts both antibacterial and anti-fungal properties, making it the perfect cleanser.
I then use a Marie Veronique serum, some Sodashi moisturiser and I apply a little Beauty Fix Balm under my eyes, on my lips and any dry patches.
6. Olivia Arezzolo, Sleep Expert
I’m usually in bed by around 9.30pm – I’m a super early bird (AKA the lion chronotype). I follow my signature bedtime routine because it’s an absolute game-changer. My private clients have seen results in seven days or less when they’ve implemented it.
The routine involves blocking out blue light two hours before bed, diffusing lavender essential oil, setting a goodnight phone alarm one hour before bed, taking a shower, having some magnesium, meditating and wearing an eye mask.
Each of these steps is backed by clinical research to help you fall asleep, stay asleep and wake up more refreshed. Here’s a rundown of why they work.
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