When you're ready to unwind for the night, what do you do?

My evening routine has changed a little since we are back in lockdown, and I am trying to make more of an effort to disconnect home from work, and work from home and really trying to practice more self care.

Once I finish work for the night, Dalton and I are trying to get out for a 30 minute walk with Bill and Ben to act as the ‘transit’ between work and home. As we are still coming out of winter, it is often pitch black and freezing but we always feel so much better when we get home and it is a really nice for us to both debrief on our days. We will then make dinner together / do any house chores. We make a KIC recipe each night which makes it so easy as we have something to follow and don’t need to think about anything. We eat dinner together, clean up and then depending on the time will watch TV together and have a peppermint tea. We’re currently watching Grey’s Anatomy, which happens to have what feels like 1 million episodes which is great as we don’t need to spend anytime scrolling Stan / Netflix to find something to watch. We try to put our phones away through this time, and then will turn the TV off at least 30 minutes before bed and then start our pre-hop-into-bed routine.

What does your pre-hop-into-bed routine look like? Are you a night owl or an early riser?

I am an early riser, so I start winding down quite early. There is nothing I love more than an early night (which makes me feel super old haha). I switch off from my screen, have a peppermint tea and will always shower before bed – 3 simple self care actions which make a world of difference to my sleep. Depending on how I am feeling I will also try and read a little and if I need some extra zen to wind down I listen to a KIC sleep mediation.

When it comes to sleep, how much do you need to feel rested?

I LOVE my sleep and need at least 8-9 hours to feel rested. I find if I get any less than 8 hours, I am unable to function properly the next day and feel super foggy.

Realistically though, how many hours do you average per night?

When I am sleep deprived it impacts my ability to work / how I feel so much that I am really strict on my night time routine. Unless my schedule is out of my control, I usually will get at least 8 hours every night. I try to get to sleep by 10pm, and wake up around 6:30am.

Do you have any bad habits that you know impact your sleep? How do you manage them?

My phone / screen time! I find if I spend a lot of time on my phone within the hour before bed it takes me so much longer to fall asleep. Or, if I work late and try to go straight to sleep after closing my laptop my mind is too stimulated and I can’t switch it off for sleep. I try to make sure I stop working at least 2 hours before bed, and stop scrolling through social media etc at least 30 minutes before bed.

When you really need a good nights sleep, what's your go-to hack?

I think the biggest thing that impacts my sleep is my screen time before bed and what I am consuming. If I know I need a really good sleep I will make sure I don’t watch any shows / movies that are too intense (wholesome content only), make sure I switch off any screens well before I want to go to sleep and then turn on a KIC sleep meditation. Our sleep meditation expert Meg has the most beautiful and calming voice, it puts me to sleep every time.

What is your favourite KIC sleep meditation?

At the moment I am loving our new mediation ‘Time to Unwind’ – it’s long enough to help me really feel relaxed and ready to sleep, but short enough that I don’t fall asleep while listening and can make sure my alarm is set and my phone is on charge.