Hi everyone. I’m feeling a little stressed out and, as it is past 9PM as I’m starting to write this post, I thought I’d share about my bedtime routine in order to get myself comfy and relaxed for bed.
Usually, the staff come by my room at around 9:45PM to help me get ready for bed, like get into my pajamas and brush my teeth. I usually leave my socks on, as I’ll often want to stay up a little longer. The evening shift here at my current care home ends at 10:30PM, so the staff usually say goodbye then too and turn off my light. In the care home I may move to on October 5, the evening shift ends at 10PM, so I may want to move my bedtime back a little.
I can go into bed by myself, but sometimes I want the staff to stand by while I go into bed. I will pull off my socks. Then, I’ll grab my iPhone if it’s sufficiently charged and select a Spotify playlist to play on my music pillow. The music pillow is connected to my iPhone via its lightning port (and a lightning-to-audio converter). I love the Harp Lullabies playlist, the Guitar Lullabies playlist or some albums by Robbins Island Music Group or Dan Gibson’s Solitudes. I most commonly set the sleep timer for an hour.
I sometimes will have an essential oil blend in my diffuser too. Some aren’t very suited to sleeping, but I know of a number of relaxing essential oil blends, four of which I shared before.
I have a weighted blanket, which I pull up over me almost till my chin. I also will grab ahold of one of my soft toys. Sometimes, I’ll lay the tail of the lemur over my chest, while at other times, I’ll hold the dolphin or unicorn.
Sometimes, I need to shift my sleeping position. I can sleep in every position except on my right side, but my preference will vary. Once I’ve found a comfortable position, I’ll likely doze off pretty quickly.
The night staff does come by at around 11:30PM to check on me. This is mostly to prevent me sitting up all night without anyone noticing. I can also press the call button if I can’t sleep, but of course other than try to comfort me, there is little the night staff can do. That being said, I sleep a lot better now that I have the weighted blanket, music pillow and essential oil diffuser than before I had all these.
A Multitude of Musings 
The music pillow and diffuser sound serene. #Dreamteam
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They certainly are. The music pillow normally costs like €80, but a staff who works for the Salvation Army shop in her town was able to get it for €1.
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It sounds like you have a good bedtime routine with things to help you sleep. I have heard great reviews about the weighted blankets. x
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Yes, weighted blankets are great, but you do need to get a quality one if you’re going to sleep under it. I mean, the ones they sell at discount stores or other non-specialized stores, usually aren’t made of material that will allow easy breathing. I remember a staff at my former day center actually hand-crafted one and, in hindsight, I’m lucky I didn’t suffocate under it.
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What exactly is a “Music Pillow”? Curious
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Thanks for asking and sorry I didn’t explain. It’s a pillow with a small speaker in it that you can connect to your phone to play music through the pillow. The speaker is hidden enough that it doesn’t bother me (in fact I don’t feel it at all) when lying on the pillow and the music plays loudly enough for me to hear it but (probably) softly enough that it wouldn’t disturb a bed partner.
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That’s a great routine to have in place. I’m very curious about the music pillow too. Do you know if you can play an audible book through it? Thank you for joining us for the #DreamTeam
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Thanks for stopping by. That’s a good question. I’ll have to try that out this evening.
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A sleep routine is so important to establish. Glad you have found what works for you. Thanks for linking up with #dreamteam
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Thanks so much for stopping by. Yes, I’m so glad I’ve found an effective sleep routine.
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