After a long, hard day filled with family obligations, work, and household responsibilities, you may be exhausted mentally and physically.
You may head to bed and close your eyes, only to have thoughts racing in your head about things you shouldn’t have said during the day and your to-do list for the following day that’s already lengthy.
While your mind is set to “on,” you may struggle to turn it to “off” and truly relax. You may then find it difficult to fall and stay asleep.
As you’re looking for ways to help you relax before bed and ultimately get a better night’s sleep, you may find one way is through a relaxation device for stress.
But can it actually help with winding down? Should you pair it with anything else?
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Why Your Evening Routine Matters
You might look at what you do during the day as important to your nightly routine. You need to exert enough energy during the day for you to feel tired. If not, you could find yourself not able to go to sleep. Or, you might even wake up after a short period.
What you may not realize is that the hours before bed are equally as vital. This time prepares your mind and body for sleep.
If you’re spending this time engaging in activities on electronics that emit blue light, such as scrolling through your Facebook feed, responding to emails, or watching cat videos, you may be making it more difficult to fall asleep.
With the blue light, you’re interfering with your body’s natural wake-sleep cycle, as the artificial light acts like natural daylight and suppresses melatonin production, which is a hormone that your body produces before it’s time to go to bed.
It helps you become sleepy. When your body sees the blue light, it may not produce melatonin when it should.
Since evening is often a time to regroup, you might spend your evenings with the TV on and your mind racing, creating plans for the next week. This isn’t a healthy habit.
Even if this is when you finally have the time to plan, it’s not the time, and your bed isn’t the place. You’re not giving your nervous system the downtime it needs.
Your brain can’t get into that calm state when you’re keeping it in high-alert mode.
However, when you engage in a regular wind-down period, your brain has that time to rest. Your brain also begins to associate this routine with rest.
Over time, developing a calming routine before bed will make it easier for you to disconnect and fall asleep.
If you’re stressing already that you don’t have a few hours to dedicate to getting ready for bed each night, you should know that it’s not that complicated.
Even 20 or 30 minutes of relaxation time can help you transition from wake to sleep more easily.
How Stress Affects Your Ability to Rest
While you know you should leave the stress of work at work, it’s not that simple. You might be stressed over an interaction with a co-worker or on edge about an upcoming deadline.
Maybe production has been down, and you’re in charge of increasing it. You can’t just leave all those worries at the door.
Interestingly, all that stress will put your body into “fight-or-flight” mode. Your body can’t differentiate between the stress of being in a dangerous situation with a lion and everything you’re worried about at work.
It just knows there’s a problem, and you need a boost to respond, which means your body is producing cortisol frequently.
You then might have racing thoughts, restlessness, difficulty falling asleep, frequent awakenings throughout the night, muscle tension, and trouble sitting still.
What Is a Relaxation Device?
Now for what you’ve been waiting for… an explanation of what a relaxation device is to help you understand if it’s an option for you.
The purpose of a relaxation device for stress is to promote calm, primarily through technology or sensory experiences. These aren’t going to instantly put you to sleep, nor will they replace your habits.
Each device type is slightly different. One might use rhythmic stimulation or gentle vibrations. Another may use soothing sounds or a calming light.
These devices don’t necessarily activate your shutoff switch, so you’re instantly ready for bed. Instead, they promote relaxation and help reduce distractions. They promote mindfulness and put you in a better state of mind to relax.
The one that’ll benefit you the most will depend on your desires and what helps you relax the most. That said, it’s always helpful to check out reviews.
Benefits of Adding a Relaxation Device to Your Routine
There are several benefits of a relaxation device.
Can Be Used Routinely
Since these devices are reusable, they can be easily incorporated into a routine. Your brain becomes adjusted to that device and will eventually accept it as something that helps to put it into rest mode.
Promotes Mindfulness
Some people can’t shut their minds off before bed no matter what they do. The device, however, encourages you to focus on soothing sounds, calming sensations, or breathing, which keeps it from thinking about today’s and tomorrow’s worries. You can then shift into relaxation mode more easily.
Decreases Your Screen Time
Though some of these devices use technology, you’ll notice that none of them rely on any type of screen time because of how much it has the opposite effect on relaxation. Instead of screen time, pick up your relaxation device to cut out electronic devices before bed.
Other Ways to Promote Calm Before Bed
A relaxation device is only part of what you should do before bed.
You’ll also want to do all the following:
- Try stretches but no cardio.
- Put away electronics in the drawer (out of sight, out of mind).
- Dim the lights.
A relaxation device for stress can help you forget about your worries. You refocus on the device.
While you should still make a few changes in your routine as well, a relaxation device can be a wonderful add-on to help you fall asleep.
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