It’s no secret that in order to sleep well, we need a sleep routine.

Preparing our mind and body for sleep is what makes falling into our comfy bed at night a success 🙂

So here are some of my tips to help you get a great night’s sleep.

Prepare Your Room

For sleep to be pleasant, we need to get as close to our ancestors as possible.

I can guarantee you they weren’t laying around in over-soft synthetic mattresses with their cell phone’s glaring in their face.

Instead, our ancestors probably slept on the ground with the stars over their heads in the pitch dark.

They did anything after dark by firelight and most likely went to sleep earlier and woke up earlier than a lot of us do. (Definitely earlier than me!)

Now, I’ve got no plans to start sleeping in my back yard, but I do try to make my room as comfortable for sleep as possible.

That’s why I’ve got blackout curtains like these.  

(These are advertised for kid’s rooms but I think they’re super cute!)

Depending on where I live at the time and how much light comes in the windows, I will often even tack the curtains to the wall to make sure it is extra dark.

I also recommend organic cotton or linen bedding, especially if you have a synthetic mattress.  

It may not totally keep you cool, but it will allow much better air flow and your skin will be touching something natural.

And trust me, linen sheets (though they are expensive) are so so totally worth it.  They are AMAZING.

Here’s some linen sheets I recommend. And some organic cotton here.

Prepare Your Body and Mind

Perhaps even more important than preparing the room, is preparing our mind and body.

I like to start off my turning off electronics at least 2 hours before bed and avoiding caffeine after 12 p.m.  If I must use my electronic device, I will use blue blocking glasses like these.

The orange glasses block the blue light.  That’s important because blue light prevents your brain from making melatonin which is the hormone responsible for making you sleepy.  Find blue blocking sunglasses on Amazon here. 

I also like to begin and end the day with some gentle stretching.  I really like hatha yoga for this.  (This is a great DVD for beginners in case you want to get started but don’t know how.)

Besides gentle stretching I also like to prepare my mind with the right supplements.  There are a few great ones that I recommend for those of you with anxiety-related stress.  

Thorne research (which is one of the best supplement brands) makes  a supplement called Sedaplus which features things like Valerian root and passion flower, both known to relieve stress and anxiety.  

Because it’s from this brand you can be sure that it is highly bio available and will work well for you. Find it on Amazon here.

Eclectic institute also makes a high potency passion flower tincture that will calm you right down.

I highly, highly recommend passion flower.  I know so many people that use it and benefit from it for anxiety relief.  You can use these drops throughout the day as you feel anxiety or take them on a regular basis. Find it here. 

And finally, in order for muscles to relax well, they need enough magnesium.

That’s why magnesium supplements can help make you sleepy.

This is a new one that I’ve found.  It’s chelated and in magnesium glycinate form- the most highly absorbable form.  Take these before bed to maximize your sleep potential. Find it here. 

Get Cozy

The final thing I do before bed is get cozy.

I curl up with a good book (how about Sexy By Nature or any one of these great self-love books!) and put on some cozy, breathable organic cotton or linen pajamas.  (

YES, they make linen pajamas (like these!) and they are incredible.

And if I don’t feel like pajamas, I’m not opposed to slipping down to the nude!  If you haven’t tried it since childhood, you really should!

If my room isn’t quite dark I’ll use my organic sleep mask (find it here).

And then, with a few deep, long breaths I’ll fall (hopefully!) into a peaceful sleep!

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So that’s my sleep routine.  What’s your routine?  Any good supplements or products I left out?  Let me know in the comments below.