The night routine for better sleep that I swear by

I always thought I’d won the sleep lottery. I slumber peacefully through the night and wake up with sunlight spilling through the lace curtains. That is, until a tea leaf reader peered into my cup and asked if I had trouble sleeping. Did I? Not exactly, but my nights were stretching far past the threshold of Cinderella’s witching hour, and the minutes before sleep were a restless churn of heavy dinners, pygmy hippo reels, meme exchanges and, of course, overthinking (did I lock the front door?).

Ariana Huffington once wrote in The Sleep Revolution that “sleep deprivation is glamorised and celebrated: ‘You snooze, you lose.’” She’s right. A recent survey found 59% of Indians get six hours or less of uninterrupted sleep, with only half catching up on some shut-eye weekends.

According to the National Institutes of Health, sleep deficiency is linked to many chronic health problems, including heart disease, kidney disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, stroke, obesity and depression. Sitting in my faded T-shirt and mismatched PJs, I decided I did not want raccoon eyes, and that, too, due to my own bad choices. I plunged into the world of good sleep juju, building a night routine for better sleep. This is what helped me find the sleep switch.

Setting the mood

Sleep hygiene began with the basics: no more holey T-shirts and mismatched pyjamas. If I were spending eight hours in them, they should feel good—soft cotton, minimal dye, easy on the skin. My bedside table went minimalist too, cleared of hairpins, skincare clutter, electronics and stray books, leaving only water and the occasional rose quartz to lull me to sleep. After a warm shower, I’d smooth a calming balm over my temples, massage in a sleep body milk, and rub magnesium oil into my feet an hour before bed, letting it sink in like a slow exhale.

Working the lymph nodes

My favourite ritual in my night routine for better sleep is a post-dinner lymphatic drainage sequence I picked up from drainage and detox specialist Dr Caitlin Czezowski. Her seven-step sequence starts and ends at the area behind the clavicle called the terminus, encouraging the lymphatic system to clear waste and prevent fluid build-up. I take ten minutes in front of the TV, adding a drop of oil to prevent chafing and finish with pechoti—a slosh of oil to the navel, followed by a nice belly rub while at it. It’s part self-care, part signal to my body that the day is done.

A phone curfew that stuck

Doomscrolling was my biggest thief of sleep. I set ‘downtime’ on my phone from midnight to 7am. The first few days were tough, as I sidled onto my tablet to scroll on Instagram, before switching that off too and instead turning to a book or just snuggling into bed. The payoff: lower stress, easier sleep and the reminder that rest doesn’t have to come with a screen.

Bridging the awkward in-between

Sometimes, sleep is still elusive while my body is bone-crushingly tired. I keep gentle reads within arm’s length—a Ruskin Bond memoir or an Emily Henry romance. If words don’t work, I switch to white noise or a sleep hypnosis track: birdsong, streams, wind in the trees. And once sleep comes, I fumble and turn it off, drifting straight into lala land.