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Getting good sleep isn’t just about hitting the sack at a reasonable hour—it’s about creating a cozy, calming environment that helps your body and mind relax. That’s where these bedtime essentials come in.
Table of Contents
What are Bedtime Essentials?
Think of these essentials as tools that can improve your sleep hygiene (the little habits that set you up for restful, dreamy nights!) I’m sharing my go-to list of sleep essentials to help you turn your bedroom into a peaceful retreat and finally wake up feeling refreshed!
If you listened to the podcast episodes where I talk about sleep and the sleep challenge I took to help revamp my entire sleep routine, you’ll recognize some of the items below as my go-to sleep tools!
If you missed the episodes you can check them out here:
I didn’t think I would like having something over my eyes while I was sleeping but I was pleasantly surprised at how quickly this helped me relax and drift off to sleep!
These were really helpful for listening to music and audio books as I was falling asleep. Because they are bluetooth, I don’t need to have my phone handy to control it, which is great because part of my sleep strategy involved keeping my phone across the room so I wouldn’t be tempted to pick it up and doomscroll until the wee hours of the night. As soon as I started to feel my eyes closing I could switch off the headphones and take them off without getting out of bed.
Keeping the lights dim in the evening and being able to turn it off after reading without getting out of bed was a big part of helping me wind down and ease into sleep. Having a nightstand lamp I could reach over and switch off was a big plus!
My goal was to stay off my phone and computer in the evening, but sometimes I’d have to be on a little bit later than I’d have preferred. It was good to know that using these glasses could help ensure that the device’s blue light wouldn’t be interfering with my sleep schedule!
I’m a light sleeper and I find that any noises in the house can easily interrupt my sleep. I started to use a noise machine at night to block out the night time sounds that might be made by anyone else living in my house, including my 2 cats, my dog, and my 9-year old!
A comfortable mattress is a must-have for a good night’s sleep, but those things are expensive! Adding a topper is an easy and inexpensive way to take your bedtime comfort up a notch without breaking the bank.
Using this blanket was like being lulled to sleep by a giant hug. I love the feeling of cozy compression and this has become a regular part of my bedtime routine. The right weighted blanket for you will be based on your size, so be sure to read the product description to make sure you order the right one.
If you tried the white noise machine and it wasn’t blocking out enough sound for you – maybe you have a spouse that snores, or inconsiderate neighbors – using comfortable ear plugs can help minimize those potential sleep disruptions.
I love having nice soothing cup of decaffeinated herbal tea before bed. My favorite is chamomile but I like some variety here and there, so I always keep a sampler box on hand so I can switch it up! Make sure you choose tea that is CAFFEINE-FREE so it doesn’t interfere with your sleep cycles!
Sleeping better doesn’t have to be complicated! It’s about having the right tools to support a peaceful night’s rest and creating simple habits that help you wind down at the end of the day.
Whether you start small or go all in, these essentials can make a big difference! Try incorporating a few of these favorites into your sleep space and see what works best for you.
Even though I love being active, and I know there are countless benefits to staying active as I get older, I have to admit that I don’t always *feel like* getting up and running or lifting weights.
It’s one of those things where I’m good with it once I’m actually doing it, and afterwards I’m usually glad I did it, but getting myself to actually get out the door and move can be a challenge.
Pre-pandemic I had a regular schedule of dropping my son off at preschool and then meeting a friend at the gym 3 or 4 days a week. I did this for so long, I assumed my workout habit was so solid that there wasn’t much that could knock me off track.
… Cue March 2020.
Gyms were closed for at least 2 months. Our gym opened back up as soon as they were able to when quarantine was lifted. I was anxious to get back to “normal” ASAP but found I wasn’t comfortable working out with a mask on at the gyms.
We decided to take the money we would have spent on renewing our gym membership for another year and we set up a home gym instead
I was pretty confident that having a full gym conveniently located in my house would mean we’d be working out all. the. time. and back in our routine of regular activity.
Nope.
Despite it being super convenient to walk down the hall and workout whenever I felt like it, I had a hard time getting it into a regular routine with it.
Once I was in the workout room and got started, I had no problem doing a workout. It was the inertia of getting myself in there and working out that was a big struggle.
I tried all kinds of rewards and motivational tricks to get myself into a regular routine using my home equipment but I couldn’t do it consistently.
I couldn’t understand it since I enjoyed working out, it was ridiculously convenient, and I had plenty of equipment to keep my workouts interesting.
What I realized was that my fitness habit hadn’t been as solid as I thought. After the quarantine hiatus, I was struggling to get back into the same routine I’d had prior to COVID.
I realized that the missing ingredient wasn’t the convenience, or the assortment of available equipment, but it was the accountability and my workout partner that I’d meet there a few times a week.
It wasn’t enough for me to want to work out, I actually needed someone to SEE me and be part of my workout program with me in order for me to actually do it.
Overcoming My Workout Inertia
With this knowledge in hand, I started looking for What finally helped me become more active on a daily basis was joining a StepBet.
In case you’venever heard of it,StepBet is an app that offers paid challenges with the possibility of earning the entry fee back if you reach the daily and weekly personalized step goals, which are based on your own activity tracker history, until the end of the challenge.
As soon as there was some kind of visibility of my workouts and public accountability for reaching my daily step goal, I had a much easier time getting back into a regular activity habit.
I started joining multiple bets at one time, figuring if I was doing the work for one challenge anyway, I could be winning other challenges simultaneously and tripling my earnings.
Then I thought, if I was already moving, but maxed out on how many StepBets I could participate in at one time, I should find some other apps to earn rewards for the activity I was already doing. After some trial and error and lots of app downloads, I learned that the apps that work best to motivate me to get up and keep me moving have the following features:
Gamification– these apps celebrate consistent activity with awards, badges , or points when I keep my movement streak going
Cash and Gift Card Rewards – these apps that award points for activity give you the option to cash them in for actual cash or e-gift cards
Loss aversion – the fact that I’d put up some cash (even a small amount!) and I’d only get it back if I met my goal was a surprisingly good motivator. I was surprised how much I was willing to exert myself to NOT lose a $10 bet!
Public accountability / visibility– Even if it’s just strangers, knowing that someone somewhere was “competing” with me in these challenges got me up and moving
Fitness and challenge apps that I use
Evidation
Evidation is a health data collection app that rewards members for tracking their activity through a wearable device and participating in health research studies.
When you join Evidation, you can earn points for tracking actions like walking, sleeping, taking surveys, reading health-related articles, and participating in health programs and research. You can redeem your points for cash or donate to the charity of your choice.
Once you’ve accumulated 10,000 points you can cash in for a $10 reward. I sync the app with my Apple Watch and it tracks my steps and my workouts. Between my activity points and the points awarded for answering short surveys and reading articles, I usually accumulate enough points to earn my $10 reward in 3 to 4 months.
The Reward:$10 every 10,000 points 3 or 4 times per year
This app also awards points for tracking your activity. When I first joined Paceline in 2022, I would earn a $1 Amazon gift card for completing 150 minutes of activity per week.
There was also an option to save up your points and cash in for a higher value gift card at other places, like Starbucks, or redeem them for discounts on the health and wellness products available in the Paceline Marketplace.
It doesn’t sound like a lot, but it was $52 a year to spend on Amazon, which I was going to do anyway.
In 2023 they changed their points and rewards program. Now they award 400 “Pacepoints” if you complete 50 minutes of activity per week, 800 additional “Pacepoints” if you complete 150 minutes of activity per week, and 300 bonus “Pacepoints” if you complete 300 minutes of activity each week. This means the maximum number of points you can earn in one week is 1500 points.
Sadly, they got rid of the $1 Amazon giftcard, and replaced it with a Marketplace where you can cash in your Pacepoints on things like charitable donations, a two month free trial to Barry’s X, mystery gifts, and gift cards.
The gift card options are limited… you can get a $5 Starbucks giftcard for 24,000 points, a $5 Adidas gift card for 24,000 points, or an $8 Spafinder giftcard for 35,000 points.
Do some quick math, you can see this wasn’t a change for the better. I used to be able to earn $52 in Amazon giftcards each year. Now it takes me 16 weeks to earn a $5 giftcard to Starbucks.
Pacepoints expire 24 weeks after the calendar week in which you earned them. Because the app is synced to my watch, I automatically earn these points each week without having to manually track anything, otherwise I probably wouldn’t bother.
The Reward I choose:a $5 Starbucks GC every 4 months.
GOLD – you’re eligible for this level if you spend at least $500 at DSG per year or if you are an active ScoreRewards credit card holder)
ScoreRewards – eligibility is dependent on being a ScoreRewards Credit Card Member
You’ll receive a $10 DSG store credit when you earn 300 points.
On the free tier (SCORECARD), you can earn up 3 points per day (per ScoreCard account) by syncing your wearable tracker with the app and doing any one of the following in one calendar day:
Reach at least 10,000 steps
Complete at least 3 miles
Complete at least 30 minutes of fitness activity
I can usually accrue the 300 points for the $10 reward in about 100 days.
This is the app that started it all for me. This app only has games based on step count. The games vary in intensity and duration. Your step goal for each game is personalized, based on your activity/exercise tracker history so all participants are actually competing with themselves more than anyone else. StepBet has a community feature that allows you to post comments during the bets and cheer each other on.
Some games give out awards at the end for the member who invited the most players to participate or the member who provided the most support to the community. Some games have drawings at the end for health and fitness related items such as a pair of walking shoes.
StepBet membership is $59.99 per year and allows members to play up to 3 games at once and provides access to exclusive member-only games with prizes and unique challenges.
Because the Step Goals in each challenge are based on my own step history, the goals are within the range that I feel comfortable walking on a daily basis. Most games include a Power Day, which is when the daily step goal is about 20% higher than a normal Active Step day.
What does become an issue is that the longer you do these StepBets, the more your Step goals increase with each game. I found it necessary to take breaks every 6 or 7 games or so in order for my average daily step count to drop down to a level that was realistic with my schedule. I usually join the 3-week/$10 bet games and the winnings are usually between $12 and $15 per game, which is a 20-50% return on my investment.
The Reward: I can earn anywhere from $6 to $20 per month when I’m actively participating in games.
From the same folks that offer StepBet, this app offers a much wider variety of games focused on different areas of health such as nutrition and mindset, not just fitness. Games include activities such as running, drinking water, reading books, eating fruits and vegetables, meditating, and strength training.
I don’t love that this app mentions weight loss as a way to promote better health, BUT I will give them credit for branching out beyond DietBets, where they only use the scale to measure progress. It’s several steps in the right direction and I’m hopeful that they’ll continue to shift their focus away from weight as a measure of progress.
What I like most about this app is that they offer a wider variety of games, and they games can be quick and cheap. For example, I can participate in a 2-week game for as little as $10.
How it works:
For each game, the participants’ entry fees go into one big pot.
If you lose the game by failing to meet the requirements for the duration of the game, your money stays in the pot.
If you win the game by meeting all of the game’s criteria you’ll get your money back PLUS your share of the pot left over by the participants who lost the game.
So if I win my game, I not only get my initial investment of $10 back, but I also win a share of the entry fees that were forfeited by participants that lost the game.
Game duration can be from 2 to 8 weeks and cost anywhere from $10 to $100. Personally, I prefer the $10/2 week games because of the quick turnaround.
It does require a 6-month membership fee of $68.99. Members can participate in up to 10 games at a time.
The Reward:My $10 games have ended with anywhere between a $12 – $16 payout and my most recent $25 game had a $32 payout.
Even though I love being active, I’ve come to accept that a little external motivation goes a long way to get me moving. These fitness apps provide that extra nudge I need to stay consistent.
If you’re like me and looking for that push to get you out the door, on a walk, or in the gym, consider giving these apps a try.
Here’s to staying active, staying motivated, and collecting those points (and cash!) along the way!
This week’s featured Self Care Superheroes are all sleep-related, since May is Better Sleep Awareness Month! I recently released 2 podcast episodes talking about the 30-Day Better Sleep Challenge that I did at the end of 2023 to help me fix my terrible sleep habits!
In the first episode I let you listen in on my Better Sleep Strategy Session with Sleep Coach, Christine Meyer. This is where she helped me put together a plan to improve my sleep habits in 30 days. You can check that out HERE.
In the second episode I reconnect with Christine to share my Better Sleep Challenge results, and what I took away from this experience. You can check that out HERE.
If you’re like me (before the Challenge!) and you’re struggling with getting enough sleep, falling asleep, or staying asleep – check out these sleep-related Self Care Superheroes:
Weighted Blanket
This is my SUPERSTAR Superhero when it comes to sleep. If I could only use ONE of my sleep accessories, it would be this one!
The cozy compression of this blanket is probably the #1 reason my sleep debt is down and the quality of my sleep has vastly improved!
If it hadn’t been for my Apple Watch, I probably wouldn’t have even realized my sleep (or lack thereof!) was the issue.
Even now that I feel a lot better about my sleep habits and sleep quality, I still use my watch to track my sleep and look at the Health app on my phone to see how much time I spend in each sleep phase and how often I wake up during the night.
This is a new feature on RWR! Each week I’m sharing the 3 things I’m using that are saving my life. (Not literally. but almost.)
Each item I’m sharing is making my life easier today – or for future Laurie! It’s somehow saving me time, energy, money, stress, or irritation.
Here’s what is saving my life this week:
InfinitiPro Curling Iron
I would go straight to messy bun just to avoid having to style my flat, straight hair when I leave the house. I would love to be one of those people who look put together in public, but I’m not sure it’s ever gonna happen. This might be as close as I get and I’m ok with that.
How it’s different from the 47 other curling irons I’ve purchased, hoping they’d make me want to look like I tried:
• It’s FAST: It takes me no more than 10 minutes, start to finish, to add waves to my whole head.
• It’s DUMMY-PROOF: It does all the work. You just put a section of hair through the plastic guard and it winds the hair automatically and beeps to tell you to remove it.
• It’s BURN-MYSELF-PROOF: that plastic guard covers the hot part of the iron, so I can’t accidentally burn myself using it.
Don’t laugh, ok, but I love these things. You literally just STEP IN to them. No hands! No bending down to pull them on or tie them! Plus they are super comfortable, I wear them to walk my dog twice a day and to run errands and whatnot.
Now I’ve seen people saying that these shoes are only for people with mobility issues who literally cannot bend down to tie their shoes… and lazy people (or that shoes like this are making us lazy? I forget.)
No. These shoes are for anyone who needs ONE LESS OBSTACLE to help them get out the door because they already don’t want to leave the house, but it’s necessary and they just want the process to be that much easier.
For the record, I am able-bodied, I can reach my shoe laces, and I can tie them.
If you listened to my podcast episodes about my sleep challenge, then you already know why I love these so much. They are a great alternative for those of us who want to wear headphones but earbuds are not a great option. I can wear these to bed without bothering my husband with my music. If I wake up in the middle of the night I can put them on and listen to a meditation or music.
I’ve found that I also like to use them to listen to audiobooks while I walk my dog, and because they are over my ear, I can still hear what’s going on around me – like cars, other dogs, etc.
I’ve also started using them for running, but the ones I have are a bit thick and not breathable, so I’ll probably get another pair just for running in a lighter material.
Meditation can be a life-changing practice if you struggle with stress or anxiety. Meditation has been shown to rewire the brain to return to a calm state and teaches you how to manage your racing thoughts or excessive worries.
You may not know this but 20 years ago I struggled with crippling anxiety and panic attacks. I went to the doctor for anti-anxiety pills but instead got a lesson in meditation. Learning how to quiet my mind has been an invaluable tool in managing my anxiety since then.
If you’re struggling with constant worry or a brain that doesn’t relax, you may want to create your own meditation practice. It doesn’t have to be complicated, you can start right now!
Here are 4 steps to getting started:
1. Create space
Literally and figuratively. Find a place where you’ll be able to sit in peace for a few minutes at a time (to start). Free of noise, distraction, traffic, or anything that will disrupt your meditation. Put a comfortable pillow, chair, blanket in the place where you’ll meditate to designate it your meditation space to help your mind and body transition into your practice.
If you can’t designated one space for meditation, don’t sweat it. The great thing about meditation is it literally can be done ANYWHERE, but most people find that having a designated spot for it helps get into the right mindset for the practice.
Also, carve out a time in the day when it will be convenient for you to meditate. Most people prefer to do it early in the day, that way it doesn’t get postponed or eventually left undone by a busy day or being too tired later on.
2. Pick a style
Figure out what kind of meditation you want to do. I’ve listed some beginner-friendly ones here:
Breathing meditation – focus only on the breath. Inhale, exhale. Inhale, exhale.
Counting meditation – the same number sequence is repeated over and over.
Mantra meditation – focus on a word or phrase for the duration of the session.
Sensation awareness meditation – scan through your body one part at a time and just tune in to the sensations of your body at that time. No judgement, just awareness.
Walking meditation – Sitting meditation usually provides the greatest benefits, but you may need to start with small steps. Walking meditation is useful for beginners or as an alternative on days when a regular session isn’t feasible. Walk around your own living room or backyard. Walking automatically puts you in touch with your body. Observe your posture from foot to head. Align your breath with your steps. Pause frequently to create a slow and restful state of mind. Take a moment to stand up straight. Lift each foot gently, and roll from heel to toe as you place it down in front of you.
To start, just pick one type and see if it resonates with you. if not, you can move on to another type. Most beginners start with a guided mediation.
3. Start Small
For most people, one of the most difficult things about meditation can be finding the time to squeeze a session into your busy schedule. You can start by meditating for five minutes or less!
Stop on red. You may start looking forward to red lights if you use them for a refreshing break. Focus on your breath and appreciate the world around you.
Take advantage of routine tasks. Empty your mind and your dishwasher at the same time. As you remove forks and plates, clear out nagging resentments and doubts.
Ease stressful moments. Meditate on whatever disturbs you. Being annoyed with a salesclerk who rang up your purchase without putting down their phone could remind you to listen more attentively to family and friends. Let it be a teachable moment that creates more harmony.
Express gratitude. Happy events are also worth pondering. Stop to give thanks for hot chocolate or spring flowers
4. Join a Guided Meditation Group
Guided meditation sessions with a group leader take care of the agenda for you.
Find a community. Yoga studios, public libraries, and local hospitals may offer programs. Browse online or check bulletin boards in grocery stores and coffee shops. Start your own group through Meetup.
Locate a meditation instructor. Effective instructors come in many shapes and sizes. Ask about why they teach meditation and how they lead a session. As long as you feel comfortable with them it may be a good fit.
Work with distractions. Meditating in a crowded room may feel different than sitting down alone in your bedroom. If trying to screen out distractions makes it difficult to concentrate, try accepting them instead. Remain aware of your surroundings. If a door slams or a phone rings, gently bring your focus back when you’re ready to resume.
Go at your own pace. Meditation comes more easily for some practitioners, and your powers of concentration will probably rise and fall from day to day. Listen to the instructor when you need more guidance. If you already feel clear and connected, you may want to follow your own thoughts instead.
You can start a meditation practice today even if you’re short on time and juggling many responsibilities. Practical meditation techniques can put you on the path to managing stress and enjoying greater peace of mind.
Disclaimer: I am not a medical doctor or Registered Dietitian. The information presented is purely to share my experience and for entertainment purposes. As always, check with a doctor before making any fitness or nutrition changes. The author and blog disclaim liability for any damage, mishap, or injury that may occur from engaging in any activities or ideas from this site.
