Pre-Sleep Routine: Media

One thing I like to do before bed is to read or watch something to relax me. Just something to I only do in bed.

I started with reading fiction, because it would work my imagination - a different part of my brain.

This worked for a while, until I got near an exciting part of the story and I couldn’t stop (or start thinking what could happen in the story.)

I switched to something work related on my reading list. “Might as well get something done, right?”

Wrong!

I would get invested into how to apply the learnings to the next day, my brain would be too active to goto sleep.

I read comics, just like I did when I was younger. Welp, stories now are so intricate that I need a guide for characters and story lines.

I switched to videos - and welp: YouTube’s recommendation algorithm is really good at keeping me up!

Movies - ugh, I just can’t stop. “One more scene… one more scene… last one, no, this is the last one…”

Even worse with movies, after the end of a movie, I’d geek out on it. Look up trailers, trivia, etc.

If the movie was not satisfying, look for commentary that resonated with the feeling.

I switched off having any media before bed - this habit is hard to break since I’ve been consuming media before sleeping for so long, going cold turkey is ROUGH. I just lay there thinking about needing to watch something.

One night, I realize:

I need to watch something funny and short.

Something funny because that makes me think just enough to get the joke, not enough to analyze it further. When the show is too long, I’m up too long. When the show is short, I’m hungry for more.

That’s where a show like Pitch Meetings fit in - I love the style of humor and just long enough that I feel satisfied watching them before bed.

This is my current routine to goto bed - get ready for bed, watch a random Pitch Meeting, and goto bed.

Bonus: this works when wake up randomly at night too. Watch one, attempt sleep, if awake - repeat.