Eight things everyone should do after 8 pm

Scheduling for the morning is a very common phenomenon these days. Almost everyone has some kind of schedule, good or bad. However, few people consider it necessary to follow the schedule in the evenings. If you do not have a schedule for the evening, then the most useful and significant part of the day is wasted . How to change all this?

If you are like most people, then in the evenings you prokrastiniruete and kill time on social networks , watch Netflix, drink and snack.
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From a scientific point of view, this behavior is not surprising. According to psychologist Roy Baumeister, every person has a limited amount of willpower that he can spend in one day - mental energy is depleted after every decision we make, both big and small. Baumeister calls it decision fatigue.
That is, by the end of the day a lot of decisions have been made, willpower has been exhausted. Is it any wonder that in the most precious time we try to stay close to loved ones, while ignoring all the decisions made in the morning?
That's a very difficult question.

Fortunately, the schedule is an excellent tool against fatigue from decision-making. If an action is scheduled, it requires very little mental energy. After all, the decision has already been made. Willpower is no longer needed. Life passes automatically. You stop hurting yourself. Unfortunately, the schedule for the evening is much more difficult than in the morning.

Darren Hardy, in his book The Compound Effect ^★, states that morning and evening routines are essential elements of prosperity. Without these elements, there will always be chaos in your life. Properly compiled schedule is an impulse that will lead you to the life of which you dream.

If you have slept badly at night, then you will torment all day.

As you already know, the morning routine is extremely important. However, its observance will be questionable if you do not learn to control yourself in the evening. The way you spent your evening hours greatly affects the quality of your sleep. And the quality of sleep, in turn, can either completely spoil the whole next day, or, conversely, make it very productive .

In addition, the way you use time before bedtime speaks of the value that the most important things in life represent for you. Of course, work is crucial. But it is only a means for a much more important thing - to help people dear to your heart.

Our loved ones deserve better treatment from us. And you also deserve more. Taking control of the evening hours will quickly change your life. You yourself will feel the joy and recuperation, which should give an evening rest.

Are you ready to change your usual evening pastime? Are you ready to completely change your life?
Let's start:

1. Free 1-2 hours before bedtime

Journalist and writer Karl Honore says:

In this information-filled, multi-tasking era, we are always in touch, so many of us have lost the ability to disconnect from the outside world and give ourselves completely to the current moment. We have forgotten how to stop. Not surprisingly, this fast-moving culture has an impact on everything from our diet and health to work and the environment.

The boundary between work and home is becoming increasingly uncertain. It is very difficult to disconnect when phone calls are constantly heard in your home, emails, text messages and notifications from social networks arrive.
Returning home, we are increasingly taking work with us. Therefore, we very rarely give all our attention to those we love.

We have forgotten how to live for today, and, as they say, various studies, the abundance of electronic devices harms normal sleep. Dr. Verma advises turning off all devices at least 1–2 hours before bedtime (even e-books such as the Kindle or Nook). Two hours is the optimal time, albeit inconvenient for many people.

Mariana Figueiro and her colleagues at the Optical Research Center of the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have shown that a two-hour use of the iPad with maximum screen brightness can suppress the production of melatonin at night - a hormone responsible for the circadian rhythm system (human biological clock).

Melatonin gives the body a signal that night has come and helps you fall asleep. By delaying sleep, you delay this signal. If you do this regularly for a long period, the circadian rhythm system can be disrupted, which often entails serious health consequences.

2. Eat the right foods in small quantities.

You heard that eating before bed makes a person fat. This is not entirely true. On the contrary, a light snack before bed will help you sleep more calmly and will not lead to weight gain - if you eat the right foods. Of course, you will definitely grow fat if you regularly eat junk food such as chips, cookies or other sweets before bedtime.

Stephanie Maxson, a senior clinical nutritionist from the Oncology Center named. Md Anderson at the University of Texas, explains that a physically active person who dined a few hours before bedtime, a light snack right before bedtime helps maintain a stable level of blood sugar. Blood sugar and related hormones can either increase or decrease appetite and energy levels. Also, because of them in the body may be confusion associated with the processes of accumulation or burning fat. With low sugar in the morning after lifting, your condition will be sluggish. Moreover, a low sugar level can disrupt your sleep in the middle of the night: you will often wake up and fall asleep again.

Cassie Bjork, a certified nutritionist and founder of HealthySimpleLife.com, considers it false that the body does not need fuel before going to bed. Having a proper snack before you go to bed will provide your body with the fuel necessary to burn calories during sleep, and also release hormones associated with hunger and causing the body to accumulate fat.

The following products are suitable for use at bedtime:

• Complex carbohydrates, such as whole grain bread.
• Non-starchy vegetables.
• Popcorn.
• Fruits.

Maxson explains that these foods disintegrate slowly, preventing sudden changes in sugar levels, due to which sleep and appetite are disturbed.

For athletes suitable lean protein foods, such as turkey fillet and chicken. It improves muscle recovery during the night, and also provides the body with tryptophan, an essential amino acid that promotes healthy sleep.

In addition, some "healthy" fats, when consumed before bedtime, slow down the absorption of carbohydrates into the blood. If you often wake up tired or hungry, eat avocado, a spoonful of peanut butter, or add a little melted butter to popcorn.

3. Report, record and prepare for the next day

It would not be superfluous to spend 5–10 minutes each evening to analyze the past day, jot down all the incidents and make plans for tomorrow.

Analyzing your every day, you are accountable for it to yourself. Has everything been done, what was planned? If you are not able to report to yourself, then to whom can you report?

Greg McKeon, author of Essentialism, suggests daily diaries for all experiences, insights and memories. He recommends writing less than you would like - a maximum of a few sentences. Like most people who constantly keep a diary, you will be tempted to write every detail into it. This can take a long time: from a few minutes to an hour. You quickly burn out and in a couple of days you will drop everything. Much better if you only write down the most important things daily. Do not have time to look back, as you will have several magazines filled with records of each day of your life.

At the end, view your organizer and to-do list for tomorrow. At the same time, visualize how your next day should pass. Olympic swimming champion Michael Phelps argues that visualization is the basis of his sporting achievements. He often says that the intense visualization of the perfect swim, created in the evening before the competition, is inextricably linked to the victories that follow.

4. Enjoy your time with your loved ones.

The most bitter tears over the graves we shed because of the words that remained unsaid and the deeds that were left undone

- Harriet Beecher Stowe

Happiness is the ability to enjoy the present. Do not let these moments fly past you. There is nothing permanent in life. Children grow up. Friends are leaving. People close to us are passing away. Let's live in the present and appreciate the most important things in our life before it’s too late.

For most of us, these are evenings that we manage to spend with our loved ones. If you do not give them special attention and do not protect them from everything else (including from their own fatigue and absent-mindedness), we will lose them.

It is known that the priorities of a person can be found by looking in his diary. Usually we plan our meetings, lunches and workouts. However, most of us in our daily diaries never find time for loved ones.

5. Enjoy your favorite activities.

Most of the day we have work. It is very difficult to find time for activities that help us learn something new , bring joy and bring diversity to life. It is much easier to just remove them from our increasingly busy lives. You can often hear how people who have no hobby and continuously work are praised. Still, the key to happiness and success is balance. If you are serious all the time, stress increases, which can eventually lead to depression.

Having allocated time for rest, you will get uplifting, a sense of appreciation, and also ease your entry into the state that psychologists call streaming. That is, 30 minutes of evening time spent on a favorite activity helps to recuperate and add a little fun to your life.

6. Put your house in order

Among successful business people, it is common practice to clean their work space before leaving the office. No one wants to go back to where chaos reigns.

Spending a few minutes before bedtime to bring the house in order, as a reward, you will be able to fall asleep and wake up in a pleasant atmosphere. This reduces stress levels and reduces decision fatigue. In addition, you will receive a morning positive attitude, which is necessary for a good mood and emotional balance throughout the day.

7. Share love with yourself and other people.

Meditating while lying in bed before falling asleep is a common meditative practice. To do this, you need to take a few deep breaths and think about the love of yourself and other people. At the same time, you not only think about love, but also purposefully send positive energy and emotions to other people. It enhances your connection with them. A similar practice is night prayers in which you thank God for mercy to you and pray for the well-being of your loved ones.
Such practices increase your sense of appreciation and broaden your perception. They allow you to see life in its higher manifestations, to feel union with yourself and those you love.

8. Go to bed at scheduled times.

One person recently said that, however late he did not lie down, he wakes up early every day, as this makes him more productive. But he always has too many important things that do not allow him to get to bed in due time.
“What business?” They asked him.

"Well, we just moved, we have children, I have a job, and even a dog," he replied, after which he fell silent. People come up with thousands of excuses, not wanting to go to bed on time. Behind these excuses lies the mismanagement of life. Yes, it can be difficult. But a conscious person himself shapes his life, facilitating the achievement of success and well-being.
Synchronization with the natural cycle of sleep and wakefulness - your biological clock - is crucial for healthy sleep.

It is extremely important to go to bed every night at the same time. If you go to bed on a strictly scheduled time, you will feel much more refreshed and energetic than if you wake up as much at another time. Changing your sleep pattern for one or two hours on weekends can greatly disrupt your biological rhythm. For sleep, constancy is very important. Dr. Verma said this:

Many of my patients have such different lifting schedules on weekdays and weekends that they constantly experience the same drowsiness as sleepy people. Even two hours of a difference is very harmful, especially for those who already suffer from lack of sleep.

There is no exact time when everyone should go to bed. It is different for each person. However, to maximize your morning routine, it's best to go to bed until 11 pm, and the sooner the better.

Conclusion

Your evening schedule reflects your life priorities. Actions speak louder than words. Either you take care of yourself and your loved ones, or not. Every evening, making time to recuperate and spend a few moments with loved ones, you will make your life more balanced and happy.

Both morning and evening schedule must be tight and consistent. However, in different periods of life, the schedule is likely to change. Studying at the university, regular work and raising children - all this requires making adjustments to your usual schedule. The importance of the routine is constantly growing as life becomes more restless and busy.

PS We recommend another useful article on the topic of work on yourself - Eight useful morning habits that will increase your productivity .

The author of the translation is Vyacheslav Davidenko, the founder of the TESTutor company.