Evening Routines for Tomorrow's Calm

Struggling to find peace in the chaos of everyday life? Discover how small, intentional routines can transform your evenings and prepare you for a successful tomorrow. Join me, Emily, as we uncover the secret power of the Vagus Nerve in mitigating anxiety and enhancing your mental health. In this episode of "It Starts at Vagus," we highlight the importance of creating structure through evening routines to alleviate decision fatigue. By adopting simple habits—like organizing your workspace or managing laundry—you can streamline your mornings and set a positive tone for the next day.

Explore the three main types of routines that can be tailored to fit your lifestyle: the end-of-the-workday, evening, and bedtime routines. Learn from personal stories and examples of how these practices can cultivate long-term improvements in both mental and physical well-being. Whether narrowing down the chaos of your morning rush or unlocking creativity and problem-solving skills, these routines are your key to a more balanced life. Strap in for a holistic journey into wellness that doesn't just happen; it starts at Vagus, promising less stress today for a brighter tomorrow.

Transcript

Emily : 0:01

Hello, hello. Today we are talking about how small, intentional evening routines can help you be less anxious. Tomorrow, by the end of the episode, you'll have a few simple, actionable steps to build your own successful routine for the evening. We'll be talking about three main points First, the importance of routines and why they help our mental health, two key areas of where routines make the biggest impact for tomorrow's success, and the three we'll obviously talk about example of easy, actionable routines that you can start today, which will include the Vagus Nerve.

Emily : 0:46

Welcome . It Starts at Vagus. The podcast where holistic health meets modern living. I'm Emily, your guide to unlocking the power of the Vagus Nerve, which is your body's ultimate key to calm, connection and overall well-being. Together, we'll explore simple ways to nourish your mind and body with natural remedies, actionable tips and empowering stories. Whether you're here to reduce stress, restore balance or take charge of your health, you're in the right place, Because wellness doesn't just happen. It starts at Vagus. Let's dive in. Let's dive in.

Emily : 1:32

the importance of routines for tomorrow. Specifically, an evening routine helps you be prepared for tomorrow, so that you don't have to anticipate or think on the spot of what to do. Routines create structure and eliminate that decision fatigue and when we make those decisions at night and prepare for the next day, the next morning, it won't be as chaotic when you're trying to get out the door or helping somebody else get out the door. So instead of panicking like what should I make for breakfast? Oh, like everybody's got to eat before they leave, making sure that everybody has their things, you can already be prepared for that and once you create a routine, you can just put that on autopilot and lift that mental load so that you don't have to again run on the spot, which will help decrease the anxious mind because our brains thrive on automation. It just helps free up that mental energy and then therefore, you can be more creative and have an easier time solving problems because that fatigue and fog won't be there. And they don't have to be big habits. Your routine can be very small and simple, and that's probably even better if they are, but those little habits are going to compound over time. So less stress today will mean less stress tomorrow, which will then, by the evening, hopefully be less stress. And then all of a sudden you're in this pattern of being less anxious build into, like long-term, remarkable results on your mental and physical wellbeing.

Emily : 3:39

So, for example, this is my evening routine when I come home from work, I start right away on laundry, because as a massage therapist we have lots of laundry and I make sure that that gets started and going by the end of the day. I you know, if you know me well, I probably have an alarm clock or a timer of some sort saying, hey, put the wash into the dryer. And then, come evening, once I put my youngest kiddo to bed, that's when I'll fold the laundry and put it in my car so that I don't forget about any sheets. And that's all for work. And so in the morning, when I wake up, I am already ahead of schedule. I already have my things prepared, it's all set, I don't have to worry about it. It's one less thing for me to remember. And again, it's not super hard Once you get into a flow of knowing this is about the time I do this, it's about the time I do that. It'll carry on. Just like brushing your teeth is a good little habit at night, so that your teeth stay clean and hopefully your morning breath doesn't be as bad. Your mouth is more moisturized, which is important for mouth health, also the hygienic health with that. But all those little things, they just help out. They're simple, they're easy, it's just getting into the habit.

Emily : 5:07

So let's talk about the different types of routines. There's three main kinds that I like to talk about. There's the end of the workday, the evening routines and the bedtime routines. So the end of the workday routine is whatever is work for you. If you, if, whether, like it's easier, if you have, like, an office, you can put all the little things away, you can throw the trash, you can organize your desk. But even as a homemaker, you might have a quote, unquote end of the day. That might be, you know, picking up after supper dishes. That might be the end of the day where you're like okay, now I'm kind of off and now it's just family time. I'm done with the to-do list, checklist, and now it's family time. But you have things in your head that you want to get done. So tomorrow morning you're not like, oh, I've got to do, I've got to clean this dish. I forgot to clean the coffee mug. Now someone has to quick wash it before somebody can get their coffee. And having that little to-do list done it will free up for tomorrow when you start working. And it really does make things smooth, and again then we become less anxious, so it's really a win-win.

Emily : 6:34

As for an evening routines, how is that really different? Evening routines are similar to what I talked about how I get ready for my work day the next day. So, as a massage therapist, I get laundry, and the evening routine is where I set up for work. So obviously most of you aren't massage therapists. If you are, you know what I'm talking about, but most of you aren't. So what would that look like for you? One, if you drink coffee, is your mug clean? Do you have your water bottle set up and prepped for tomorrow? You can get that already cleaned and refilled Easy Now. You don't have to worry about refilling it tomorrow morning. Then do you have, you know, your clothes picked out for the next day? If you make a lunch, what are you going to make? You might not make it that evening, but in the morning then you won't have to think about what you're going to make for lunch.

Emily : 7:38

And all that can be done before bedtime, which goes into our bedtime routine, like brushing the teeth, and this is where the vagus nerve really comes in, as gargling. Gargling helps give your vagus nerve a little bit of like a little mini massage and it calms us down, which then trickles into sleep and sleep is going to be a big factor of how you feel the next morning. So gargling while you're brushing your teeth, so you brush teeth, you gargle, and then that gives your vagus nerve a nice little mini massage and it calms it down. And then you get into bed and, because your vagus nerve is settled down, your mind goes okay, nothing's a threat, and now you're going to be able to sleep easier and faster and your body is going to go into that rest and digest part which is so important at night. That's why we sleep.

Emily : 8:48

Our body needs to. It's kind of like the janitor comes in and cleans all the stuff out so that the next day it's nice and clean. Our body does that at night. The liver does things, your gut does certain things. Everything gets kind of cleaned out while you rest. So getting that vagus nerve settled down again, gargling, it's super easy. It's super easy and fast. You don't have to gargle for 15 minutes, just gargle a little bit and then settle down into bed, easy peasy. Another tip that I like to do before bed that helps that mind-body connection is stretching before bed and this will really help those of you who have like restless leg syndrome, because just that stretching it helps give you a little more circulation, open things up. So again, when we go to bed at night, that cleaning crew can come in and do an easier job of cleaning out the body at a cellular level.

Emily : 10:06

So, all in all, routines are really vital for your mental health, your physical health, and it lifts up that daily mental load. It gives us predictability and then it turns into because we're not as anxious, our muscles aren't as tense either. Because we're not as anxious, our muscles aren't as tense either. So, all in all, it's just find your routine that's easy to adjust to your life without overwhelming you. Small little steps, so simple, simple steps. So, if it's just refilling your water and gargling, those are two things that seem simple and still have a really big impact on how you feel the next day.

Emily : 11:06

Implement for the end of the workday, the evening or at bedtime, and pick one that's going to be easiest for you to start and build that momentum until it becomes habitual, and then maybe add another one. But try to keep it in mind if you have to do like a sticky note on your mirror to remember to gargle. Go ahead, it's just your house, put it up there and then you don't have to remind yourself because you see the sticky note on the glass. So, whatever works for you, make those small little routines, implement them in the day or in the evening for tomorrow's success. If you'd like to share what you do, go ahead and come into our free Facebook group.

Emily : 11:47

It starts at Vagus. The link is in the show notes and I hope that you just have a fun time. Get creative. Put that part of your brain on how am I going to be creative, on how to adjust these routines to fit me best with the easiest implementation. So remember to breathe and do all the good things, and I'll see you next time. Thanks for listening to. It Starts at Vagus. If you enjoyed this episode, subscribe so you don't miss what's coming next. And if you're ready to take the next step toward calm, grab my free vagus nerve reset video in the show notes. It's quick and easy way to start feeling better today and until next time, remember, wellness starts at Vagus.