what’s your evening routine?
What’s Your Eventing Routine?
Resetting Circadian Rhythms
Since I wrote about “Morning Routine” it seems only fair to include evening as
well. Because what we do in the evening so much affects how we are going to relate
to the next day. What makes for a perfect evening for you?
I would say as a general rule, we develop morning routines through necessity, and
the evenings flow casually according to our mood and circumstance. Given the bom-
bardment of stimuli, digital, social, carbs and substances, most of us have become un-
aware of how all that affects our total well-being. I find that most of my friends are in
‘coping mode’...meaning that their bodies are young enough, healthy enough, that
they simple adapt. Rather than creating an intentional process for illuminating the
body-mind, we just ‘get by’ with the help of exercise, social approval, tribal bonding,
sleep, sex, spliffs or whatever it takes.
There is actually nothing wrong with just ‘getting by’..... I would say ultimately we
may just be here for experience and to learn what we can. However, what happens
when the body goes through metamorphic changes with aging, and things are just
not feeling right? When just coping is no longer sufficient?
A few months ago I put myself through a dopamine detox / circadian rhythm re-
set. I noticed my body was having a hard time adjusting to being back in the USofA,
returning from winter in Mexico. I felt scrambled, like my mind was in a blender and
emotions on edge. Having come from the solar rhythms of sunrise / sunset, starlight,
moonlight & no wifi..... to our more structured world was throwing me into confusion.
Being back home in Asheville, staying up late and being overstimulated had led
me to becoming dependent on herbs to sleep: melatonin, mushrooms, GABA. I had
gotten in the habit of wearing blue-block tinted glasses most of the time. In spite of
that, living in a household (7 people) with plenty of devices, 24 hour WiFi, bright halo-
gen lights, and lively conversation had gotten me back into a cycle of staying up late
nights and sleeping in late mornings.
For a few days I did an experiment. I found it easy to turn off all devices, bright
lights in the evening and allow my body to adjust to a natural cycle of slowing down
as the sunlight diminished. If we were to turn off electricity, 8 - 9 pm becomes ‘country
midnight’, when one is reliant on candlelight, torches or headlamps. It’s one reason
why the allure of camping is still there. I’ve also noticed how the brain relaxes when it’s
present to the flicker of candles and sitting around a fire. A similar effect occurs when
watching starlight. They pulse.
One practice is to turn off any bright lights (including blue & white charging lights
on devices that are plugged in), and only letting your eyes receive yellow or red light.
It’s amazingly relaxing.
My bedroom in the airstream has adjustable lights, so I can set them to the warm-
est and dimmest color....a warm red. For about 10 years I’ve used a free program
called f.lux that allows me to schedule the laptop to warm yellow, even for movies.
Since I’ve become accustomed to that setting, I don’t ever turn my devices to blue
light unless there is a lot of glare outside where it requires more brightness.
Similarly, the phones can be scheduled to adjust to warm light whatever hours
you wish. On my phone and iPad, it's set to that temperature all the time.
I was surprised to feel my body resetting its circadian rhythm so quickly under this
protocol, in just a couple days. I got off the melatonin, allowing my hormones to return
to their natural cycle. (Still taking OM sleep herbs). I now want to be in bed by 11 pm,
even though I’m often up later reading. If I’m reading a book, it's under a yellow light.
As I’m often reading on Kindle, it's not connected to WiFi, and the screen has a
soft, warm glow that I can dim, and though I’m a voracious reader, it usually my brain
to sleep.
Since we already in the midst of summer heat and long days, I’m getting a lot of
exercise. I’m finding that by 10 pm, I’m tired. Of course, everyone is going to have dif-
ferent needs for sleep, rest or quiet time. I’m probably high on the scale of requiring a
lot of meditative and reflective time in my day. That’s balanced by hours of intense ac-
tivity.
Just like the rest of you, there are days when I’m up all night, or active till 2 am. But
I find with aging those are far less frequent!
———————————————————-
Here’s a brief outline of evening routine. What’s yours?
Intermittent fasting: eating cycle between 2-10 pm. Some days 4 pm to 9 pm. That
gives my system about 14-16 hours of rest between meals and breaking fast the next
day mid afternoon. I’ve found this is a practice that really helps with metabolism and
aging, will speak about it in another blog.
First meal, 2-4 pm
If I didn’t go to gym in the morning, afternoon good time to workout.
Late afternoon. Catnap, quiet time. Yoga Nidra
Phone in airplane mode, in another room.
Evening. Writing. Social time. Entertainment.
Dinner, 8 pm.
Bath or Hot Tub?
“Midnight” carb snack, yogurt, granola, berries, 9:30 -10 pm
10 pm, winding down. Laptop/TV/Phone off.
Reading for pleasure (non-tech), novels, esoterica, study.
Evening somatic or theta meditation
Intention & gratitude meditation: What is happening tomorrow?
Depending on time of year, and amount of exercise, I’m usually falling asleep be-
tween 11 pm - 1 am
I wake up around 7:30 am, again depending on time of year and location. I tend
to sleep about 8 hours. Often waking up early morning around 4 am, when I like to go
outside briefly to feel nature. Sometimes reading if I can’t fall back asleep. It’s been
said that elders need less sleep, but I must enjoy sleep too much. It’s one of my fa-
vorite parts of the day!