Bedtime Routines that Combat Stress

 

One of the biggest reasons people experience stress at bedtime is failure to plan for a restful night’s sleep. Like most things, failure to plan is a plan to fail. It seems simple enough, get in bed, turn off the lights, close our eyes, and fall asleep. If only it were that simple. The key to getting to sleep is prepare for sleep ahead of time. 

 

Having a bedtime routine can help combat stress and prep our minds and bodies for rest. The hour before you go to sleep is as important as the moment your head hits the pillow. Here’s why- 

 

The activities you engage in leading up to bed affect your sleep

 

What you do prior to going to bed can make or break your ability to fall asleep. Engaging in screen time, drinking caffeine, watching emotionally intense content, discussing sensitive topics, and other activities can trigger you to be more active when you should be winding down. 

 

Prior to bed it’s best to do activities that promote and trigger your natural sleep rhythm. Drinking decaffeinated hot tea, taking a hot bath or shower, reading. Listening to meditative content, wearing comfortable clothing, and prepping for bed all promote restful sleep.

 

Your circadian rhythm affects your sleep cycle

 

Our bodies are designed with an internal sleep cycle. The circadian rhythm is a natural biological process in our bodies that helps us discern night from day. We have an innate wind down window where our bodies shift towards sleepiness and ready themselves to go to bed. Disrupting this cycle with staying up late or overstimulation can cause significant stress and make it much harder to fall asleep and wake refreshed. 

 

You can help keep your rhythm in sync by setting a routine bedtime and sticking to it. Sleep training your body to sleep and wake at specific times can help manage and override stressful thoughts at bedtime because your body will be used to going to sleep on a schedule. Once your body is accustomed to falling asleep and waking at specific times you likely won’t need an alarm clock nor have trouble falling asleep…even when you have stress.  

 

Create a routine that works for you

 

Creating a bedtime routine that works for you will help you consistently get ready for bed and fall asleep with very little effort. Everyone is different, what one person needs to wind down may look different than someone else. Develop bedtime habits that help calm, relax, and destress prior to bed and you’ll experience an easier time falling asleep and have more restful nights. 

Use Meditation to Overcome Stress and Fall Asleep Faster

 

Meditation is an ancient practice that uses mindfulness to center thoughts, reduce stress, and help calm the mind. Meditation emphasizes focus and self-awareness to rid the mind of stress. Meditating prior to bedtime can help prepare your mind and body for sleep and get control of stressful thinking. 

 

If you haven’t experienced meditation in the past, it can seem intimidating, weird, or even boring. Starting a meditation practice may feel awkward in the beginning, but soon you’ll experience the benefits first-hand and sing the praises of meditation. Learning to meditate is like working a muscle. The more often you use it, the easier it becomes. 

Here are some simple steps to meditate at bedtime and reduce stress and sleep well

 

Step 1. Commit to the practice - Making the decision to meditate is the first and most important step. Since meditation gets easier over time, committing to using it is important. It may feel strange at first but stick with it. 

Step 2. Choose the type of meditation that works for you - There are three general types of meditation- mindfulness, concentration, and guided meditation. 

 

Mindfulness meditation is focusing on your breath and body and being keenly aware of how you feel inside your body and how your body is functioning in the moment. The goal during mindful meditation is to replace any wandering thoughts with mindfulness of what your body is experiencing instead. 

 

Concentration meditation is focused on a word, thought, or phrase. This meditation may include focusing on an object or repeating a mantra audibly or inside your mind. 

Guided meditation includes listening to an audio that helps guide you into stress relief and sleep. The instructor may focus on physical aspects of your body or may share a story and guide you through the details. 

Step 3. Extend the length of meditation until you experience relief - In the beginning you may not be able to meditate for very long. That’s normal. Thoughts wander and stress has a way of overriding intentions. Don’t judge yourself or worry that you aren’t doing it right. Over time you can conquer your wandering mind and help it focus on your meditation practice and achieve relief and peace as you fall asleep. 

 

Meditation is a wonderful tool to use to reduce stress throughout the day. It is especially helpful before bed if stress tries to rob you of your sleep. Find a meditation style that works for you and commit to trying it for a month and you’ll discover an amazing ability to regulate your thoughts and enjoy restful sleep. 

Three Apps that Help Stressed Out People Sleep Like a Baby

 

Stress has a way of making itself known when we want to go to sleep. Somehow, we can shove our stressful thoughts aside most of the day but the moment we try to clear our minds and go to sleep, BAM- stressful thoughts overwhelm us. There are times when it’s really hard to clear our head and go to sleep. Thankfully, there are ways to help. 

 

Our smartphones are never very far away. They can be useful when it comes to reducing stress and helping us sleep. iPhone and Android have apps that help us better understand our sleep cycle and help us clear our minds and sleep better. Here are three apps worth trying. 

 

Headspace - The Headspace app’s tag line is Be Kind to your Mind. This mantra is perfect when stress tries to rob you of your sleep. This app has a variety of benefits including help to assess why you may not be sleeping, functions for power napping, and being mindful. The app is free for basics and charges a monthly fee for advanced features. 

 

Calm - The Calm app is one of the highest rated apps for relief from anxiety and stress. This app has a wide variety of meditations ranging from beginner to advanced and subscribers can choose how long and what type of meditation they prefer. This app also has an option for nature sounds which can be great as white noise for stress relief. This app is free and does offer some in-app purchases. 

 

Dare - The Dare app is unique because its focus is helping you face your anxiety and stressors rather than distract you from them. This unique app helps you move through anxiety using guided imagery you can focus on while the audio portion helps you sit comfortably with your stress. This can help you overcome and move on from stress which can lead to better sleep and less recurring anxiety. This app is free with in-app purchases available.   

 

Using your smart phone to help manage stress and sleep better makes sense. Having resources available that guide you through relaxing and letting go of worries is an asset at bedtime. Try various apps to see which ones meet your needs. Be willing to switch it up and try new apps when one feels too familiar, the variety will help. Be willing to invest in the small fees to upgrade and unlock the bigger and better features too.  

Use Journaling to Relieve Stress at Bedtime

 

Stress comes from everywhere. Worries abound in all areas of life. Fretting about work, family, and obligations can become overwhelming. Running everything through your mind without an outlet for stress can make it hard to sleep. When you need to rest, your mind gets hyper focused on stressful things making it hard to fall asleep. During the day it can be easy to push worries down and think about other things but it’s much harder to distract ourselves when we are lying in bed trying to end our day. 

 

There are a lot of ways to relieve stress and rid our minds of worries, one of the most effective is journaling. Journaling works because it

 

• Focuses your thoughts
• Is a creative outlet
• Gets thoughts out of your head
• Creates an opportunity for problem solving 

 

Journaling before bed can help reduce stress and make it easier to fall asleep. Here’s why:

 

Journaling helps you get a handle on your thoughts - Journaling helps you focus your thoughts and get them out on paper. Instead of ruminating on the issues and stressing, journaling helps organize thoughts and process them. It makes it easier to better understand the roots of your stress and focus your thoughts rather than continuously running them over in your mind. 

 

Journaling uses a different part of the brain - The act of writing and journaling uses the creative side or your brain. This can help ease stress. Depending on the type of journaling you do it may help raise the dopamine in your brain chemistry reducing stress. Journaling doesn’t have to be limited to writing. It can be as creative as you’d like including, but not limited to, coloring, doodling, writing poetry, or any other form of expression.

 

Journaling removes thoughts from your head - Writing things down tricks your brain into dumping them and leaving them on the page. Journaling can help get thoughts out of your head so your mind can wander on to something else. Psychologically, your brain believes that the thoughts are categorized on the page and don’t need as much intense focus anymore so your mind can begin to relax. 

 

Journaling triggers problem solving - In the same way clearing your mind in the shower leads to epiphanies, journaling can trigger problem solving. Worrying about stress in your mind clutters it with negative thoughts and anxiety. The process of journaling triggers our natural problem-solving skills and makes it easier to find solutions. 

Journaling before bed can help rid your mind of stress and leave your psyche feeling calm. This can help your mind shut down easily and drift into REM sleep where the mind and body can repair and heal. Practice journaling before bedtime to help your mind release the worries of the day and prepare for a great night’s rest.    

Sleep is an Antidote for Stress

 

Sadly, stress is part of life. At some point, everyone experiences stress. Physical, emotional and other types of stress take their toll on our minds and bodies. That’s why sleep is so important. Sleep is an antidote for stress. 

 

Our bodies use sleep to restore and recover. While we sleep our bodies carry out important restorative functions. Our brains rid themselves of toxins and sort out the events that happened throughout the day. Our bodies repair and restore themselves as well. It’s pretty amazing how much our minds and bodies remain active even when we are sleeping. 

Stress affects the mind and body

Stress takes its toll on our minds and bodies. Stress causes the release of cortisol, a powerful hormone that triggers the fight or flight response in our bodies. This hormone can cause overwhelming sensations in the body, raise blood pressure, and cause anxious feelings. Sound sleep helps reduce the levels of cortisol and balance the chemistry in the brain and body. Chronic stress without adequate sleep can raise your risk for heart disease and stroke. 

 

Stress affects our mood 

 

Stress affects our mood. When we are stressed, we tend to over or under-react. This can lead to an onslaught of problems. Living in a heightened sense of worry or anxiety can result in eating too much or too little, emotional outbursts or withdrawal, or a wide range of other behaviors. After a long day of stress, the best thing to regulate mood swings is a restful night’s sleep. 

Stress affects our relationships

 

Stress changes how we engage with other people. Being worried, anxious, or overwhelmed makes it harder to be present and engage positively with other people. From co-workers to family, stress can fracture relationships if we aren’t careful. Being able to unplug from people and take some time for yourself can help. Sleeping provides a significant amount of time to recharge and get ready to face the world again. Even the act of relaxing in bed prior to sleeping can aid in rebuilding your energy and make it easier to get along with others.  

Sleep is the antidote for stress

 

Sleep is a wonderful remedy for a stressful day. Relaxing in the comfort of your bed and letting go of the worries of the world can give you new perspective, renew your spirit and energy. Sleep can be the escape you need from the pressures going on and give you the uninterrupted time to recover. Making sleep a priority, including naps when necessary, can help your mind and body recover from stress and manage difficult situations easier. 

In the End, Be Sure to do THIS One Thing!

A TikTok account is a smart business tool and can create profitable connections, content, and collaborations. It’s important to be business-minded when using any tool. Making important business decisions will ensure your time on TikTok is targeted to your ideal customer. Your efforts should be serious but, in the end, they should also be FUN! 

 

If you spend much time on TikTok you’ll definitely sense that the content creators who have fun tend to do the best. Creators who use humor, are pleasant, and genuinely enjoy the connection with their followers tend to have the highest numbers of followers and see more loyalty from their tribe. Creators who are negative, critical, or use humor in cringe-worthy ways may get a laugh or two, but followers don’t tend to stick around for long. 

 

You Can Have Fun Doing Anything

 

TikTok creators have proven that you can have a blast talking about anything. Some of the TikTokers in the medical field use humor to talk about troubling issues in positive ways. Other TikTokers use unique and entertaining ways to share information that are out-of-the-box which attracts more followers. TikTok is incredibly creative and proves you can find fun ways to talk about anything. 

 

Find opportunities to share your information in fun and unique ways. Your followers will reward your efforts and it will make creating videos more fun for you as well. Even TikToks about proper grammar can have a fun, yet educational take on them. 

 

Be Supportive to the Community

 

TikTok is a community. Have fun supporting other creators and engaging with them. Build relationships with TikTokers in your field and show your interest in their success. All ships rise in a high tide. 

 

Be a fan too! Find TikTok accounts that you love for personal and business reasons. Comment, engage with them, and be part of what makes the TikTok community unlike any other social networking platform. 

 

If you Don’t Have Fun, you Won’t Do It

 

In life, it’s hard to do the things that aren’t fun. If creating content isn’t fun, you’ll likely stop. Be sure to consider what’s a good fit for your personality or your industry and promote your information in the best, and most fun way, possible. 

 

If you’re unsure how you can create fun and engaging content, spend time watching how-to videos or get some coaching or consulting. TikTok’s been around long enough that there are creators out there who can teach you how to make content your tribe will love. 

 

TikTok is one of many tools you can use to build a platform, support your other platforms, and engage a new audience. It’s a simple and fun way to share content and help people find your resources. In the end, the most important thing is to have fun while serving your tribe. 

Tips to Set Up Your TikTok for Financial Success

If you’re a newbie to TikTok, that could be a very good thing. If you haven’t set up your account, you are in a perfect position to get proper information that sets your account up for financial success. 

 

Starting from scratch can be advantageous so you can set about building your TikTok account from the ground up intentionally. Though the platform is educational, informational, and entertaining, it can also be a source of profit. Here’s how to set your account up for financial success. 

 

• Determine your USP
• Create a content plan
• Use your bio to its fullest capacity
• Focus on delivering high-quality content
• Be consistent and creative
• Commit to the long game 

 

Determine your USP - Your Unique Selling Proposition or focus for your account is very important. Be sure that what you intend to create is something you can create content for over time. Narrow your niche so you are serving a specific targeted audience. One creator @suzieedge is a physician and historian who uses a mashup model of sharing education and infotainment to get people excited about medieval medical conditions. 

 

Create a content plan - Having a strategic plan beats winging it. Making a content plan can help you build know, like, and trust, with your followers and give you a guide for how you want to build up your content over time that leads to followers taking actions towards a profitable level. 

 

Use your bio to its full potential - The bio is a great way to link to your website, sales page, linktree, or LIKEtoKNOW.it. These can be important links for passive income and to help people connect with you outside of TikTok. 

 

Focus on your content - Content should be meaningful and valuable. Think of it as a freemium. Share take-aways, tips, and tricks that are actionable so you build credibility and a relationship. 

 

Be Consistent with your content - Be consistent with your content and resist going off into a new direction that might confuse your followers. If your account is about medieval medical conditions, don’t throw in a random video about what you had for dinner.  The most successful accounts are consistent with predictable but entertaining and informational content. 

Commit to the long game - Building an account takes time. Be consistent and confident in your approach. If you happen to gain momentum quickly, that’s awesome but for most people, slow and steady wins the race. If you get bored or quit too soon you may miss out on a lot of profits. 

 

You can intentionally build your TikTok account to gain momentum and monetize if you are strategic and plan things out. Be intentional and consistent and you’ll see amazing results that lead to amazing profits. 

Link to your Etsy Shop, Website, and Other Links that Make you Money

There are a lot of ways to profit from a solid TikTok account. Some content creators aren’t technically in it for business, but they have such loyal and rabid fans that they often receive “happy mail” or donations to encourage them to keep creating. Ultimately, some of the most popular content creators end up creating “merch” or branded products to offer their followers. Whether you use TikTok for personal or business use, there are a lot of ways to use your profile for profits.  

 

Your Bio Is Important Real Estate

 

Your bio is an important part of your TikTok account. You can list a brief description of your qualifications, intent for your account or anything that helps a follower identify you and what you do. You can also link to your Instagram account or a website. Choose your links carefully to make sure they lead to the most profitable ways to connect. 

 

Share Links to your Money-Making Sources

 

Etsy - If you are a creator, Etsy is a great way to drive followers to your goods. You can easily create TikToks of yourself creating something and encourage followers to head to your Etsy account to place an order. 

 

Website - If you have multiple resources, link to your website and create a landing page with other links to your business assets. From one link your followers can access a variety of links or a landing page with one call to action. 

 

Linktree or LIKEtoKNOW.it - These platforms offer you a way to direct followers to content you have affiliate links for. These are great for apps like TikTok and Instagram that only allow one link in the bio. You can use your social networking platform to generate a buzz or excitement about products you use and give followers a way to buy them, earning you a commission and passive income.  

 

Important note: Not all links will be available to every account. Some links require a minimum of 1000 followers or more before you can use some commission-based links. The good news is, TikTok has lower follower minimums than other platforms like Instagram. Use your account in the meantime to build your followers and share valuable content so you reach the minimum number of subscribers fast. 

 

You can utilize the bio section of your TikTok account to create access to more information about you and your business and offer opportunities to profit. Be strategic with your bio. Make sure it’s catchy, informative, and shares the information that gives you credibility and sets you apart from other creators. 

Host TikTok Lives to Build Know, Like, and Trust

 

TikTok is a social networking platform where content producers can share anything they want. It’s quite remarkable how varied the content is which is delivered by an ever-changing algorithm that learns more and more about you and your interests during each session. 

 

TikTok has two feeds that supply videos to your app. The For You feed are suggested accounts that you may have interest in based on your preferences or past viewing habits. Your Following feed is filled with accounts you are subscribed to that have released fresh content. You can toggle back and forth between the two with ease.

 

Focus on High-Quality, Consistent Content to Build Your Platform

 

When creating an account, the focus should be on high-quality content that is consistent with your brand and delivered on a routine basis. The two can lead to a large and engaging following. When it comes to using TikTk for business and generating income, the focus should be on content that is logical to your followers. Since they may find your account from their For You feed, they may make the decision to follow you, or not,based on one encounter. That means if your account is geared towards education about a topic or teaching a technique and you release a random video about tuna fish, you may lose a potential ideal follower for your account. 

 

For best results, your account should host videos that are consistent with your message. If you are teaching about a subject, stick with it and don’t get off subject or you may confuse or lose followers. 

 

Use TikTok Live to Build the Know, Like, and Trust Factor 

 

Once you’ve established yourself as an expert or entertainer, you can boost your credibility and the fanfare of your account by hosting TikTok lives. These are live feeds where your followers can engage with you in real time and ask questions or see a side of you they may not see in the video content. 

TikTok lives are a great way to show your personality outside of your business persona or to build relationships with the people who are following you. Giving them shout outs, undivided attention, or otherwise engaging with them can make you more appealing and set you apart. This can help you reach many people at one time and increase their impression of you and their willingness to work with you, buy your products or merchandise. 

The TikTok live feature is a wonderful way to engage with your followers and increase how much they know about you, like, you and trust what you have to say. It’s an excellent investment in shifting followers from watchers to customers. 

“Stitch” Your Way to Powerful Partnerships

Stitching is a TikTok term that describes stitching together two TikToks. Generally, this is a way to highlight another account and add to or provide commentary. This can be especially beneficial if done in a strategic way. TikTok users often use stitching as a way to gain access to people they may not otherwise have under ordinary circumstances. It is considered flattering to stitch someone’s content and rude not to respond. 

 

One account, @angryreactions, became wildly successful achieving 4 million followers in record-breaking time. His seemingly angry reactions to benign things are, in fact, heartfelt supportive reactions that surprise the viewer. His account has been stitched by a wide range of artists and other creators who have made things in his likeness. Stitching their accounts to his gives them potential exposure to his 4 million followers for themselves. This can enhance their opportunities for their work to be seen simply by giving his account attention and stitching to his. 

 

The Power of Comments Enhances the Fun

 

TikTok is unique in that many users highlight comments made on their videos and use them in creative ways. One trend that is popular is calling out negative people and putting them on blast. This turns the tables on trolls or bullies and calls them out publicly for their negativity. Commentary in the comments section of a video can, in and of itself, become content. This can lead to some fun collaborations and build powerful partnerships that may be leveraged down the line. Leaving a witty and/or powerful comment on a popular account may have direct benefits to yours. 

 

Collaborating is a Two-Way Street 

 

Getting in on the fun and making friends is a two-way street. If you are starting out, you may not know too many people nor have the clout that some accounts have. The great thing about TikTok is things can happen quickly. If you create great content, stitch wisely, and engage with other accounts, the likelihood you’ll get noticed increases. Networking on TikTok is a lot like networking at a business convention or meetup. The more active you are, the more impressive and interesting you’ll be to others. 

 

Building your presence on TikTok can help you find more followers and increase your chances of making friends and collaborating. Collaborations can help build your exposure and platform rapidly. This can lead to more people linking to your website or other resources. In the end, it’s simply good practice to be an active part of the community as you use it for your business.