Adding Self-Care to Your Nighttime Routine

While you can practice self-care at any time during the day, it is easy to add to your 
nighttime routine. This is when you tend to have a little more downtime, as you are not 
trying to rush to get your kids out the door or stay productive with work in the morning. 

Here are a few tips for adding some self-care activities to your nighttime routine.


Analyze Your Current Nighttime Routine

Before you can think about what type of self-care to do at night and how long you are 
able to dedicate to it, you need to know what your current schedule looks like. If you 
have a nighttime routine, consider what it is, what you tend to do, and when you start. 
There is likely a short window of time where adding self-care is prudent for you. 

For example, maybe you have 

You don’t want it to inconvenience you, otherwise you won’t gain the emotional benefits 
from self-care as it will feel too forced.


Give Yourself an Hour of Alone Time

About an hour is a good amount of time for your nighttime self-care routine, preferably 
when it is quiet and you can spend a little time alone. If you have less than that, it’s 
perfectly fine, but make sure you are making yourself a priority.

Try to fit in some alone time, even if it’s just when you take your bath or shower at night, 
go through your skincare routine, or have a few minutes to write in your journal. This 
can be so much more therapeutic than you might think.


Choose Relaxing Activities You Enjoy

Remember that self-care should be enjoyable and something you look forward to, not 
something you dread doing. This is not the same thing as flossing your teeth at night or 
doing chores during the day. Don’t consider every little thing part of your self-care 
routine, but instead those activities that are not expected of you. Instead choose 
additional relaxing activities that are intentional and will improve your mood and your 
life.

It can help to start with a list of everything you enjoy doing. Anything you can think of 
can go on the list. Think about what makes you feel happy or joyful, what relaxes you, 
what you do on a sick or rainy day, what you like to do alone or with friends or family. 
This list can often help you pinpoint what would be best to add to your nighttime self-
care routine.



