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Episode Description:

Of all the things that Beth is Type A+ about, her nighttime routine (between skincare and falling asleep) is the most thorough and hilariously extensive of all. Tips include before-bed moisturizing, accommodating different spousal sleeping styles and the best shows to wind down to after a long day.

We'll be on vacation for the next few weeks, and we're accepting Type A+ guests! Reach out to us at thetypeapluspodcast@bethlawrence.co or send us a DM.

Links mentioned in the episode:

Podcast:

The Type A Plus Podcast Instagram

Host:

Beth Lawrence LinkedIn

Beth Lawrence & Company Instagram

Beth will be back each week, delivering bite-sized tips (15-minute episodes or less) on how to optimize your life and work.

Episode Transcript can be found below:

Now, I must warn you before we get started on this week, this topic might be my most annoying trait. I was going to have my husband on here to try to describe what my nighttime routine is like from an outside perspective, but unfortunately, we weren't able to align our schedules this week, but I had to do this because it is.

One of the things I'm the most Type A+ about, but it's also one of the things that annoys me the most about myself. It's not something that I think everybody should adopt, but I did do some research on what are some healthy habits to adopt for a nighttime routine.

And one of the things that they talk about is deciding on a set bedtime that is super important. The suggestions I read also included taking a warm bath, listening to music, stretching, breathing, practicing meditation and reading. 

Without further ado, my Type A plus nighttime routine. First thing to know about me is I put pajamas on pretty early because I absolutely love and adore being as comfortable as possible all the time.

I try to purchase clothes that are as comfortable as possible, but sometimes to quote, Cher from Clueless, "my party clothes are a little binding," and I really just like to be as comfortable as possible as soon as possible after my virtual or in-person meetings are done. 

My husband and I always watch a few shows before bed. We usually rotate between New Girl, Frazier, king of the Hill and the Office, or I watch Bravo and he plays video games for a little bit.

I also prefer to smoke an indica heavy strain of cannabis before I go to sleep, and I try to drink a glass of water as well. When I go upstairs where our bedroom is, I complete my nighttime skincare routine, which you have heard about in the previous episode.

I am a person who has to do all of these steps in order to feel...okay to fall asleep. First I brush my teeth, I floss my teeth, I take out my contacts, and then I go into our room.

So I have a very sophisticated web of fans and air conditioners. I usually turn my ceiling fan on low, and then I have either a box fan or an air conditioner on high, or the window open. Sometimes I need all three of these things. I need a fan. I need a box fan. I need. An air conditioner. I have this weird thing where my brain can't rest when I lay down.

The default is not to rest. The default is to, let's get up, let's think, let's you know, I'm one of those people that your brain just wakes up as soon as you lay down, and the default for my brain is to find patterns in things. So if a fan has a click, for example, If you know it's an oscillating fan, and it has this weird sound that it makes, I hear that click and it will torture me and I cannot fall asleep.

I understand this. You're all probably like, what is she talking about? It's how my brain works, so, moving on. We also have blackout curtains, so I close them so no light from the street gets in basically bottom line. I prefer a freezing, cold pitch black room, just the best. I think it's because I slept on the top bunk when I was young, right next to the ceiling fan, and I just, there's nothing better to me than being in a cold room snuggled under the covers.

Next thing that I do, I'll put my water down. I'll plug in my phone. I put hand lotion on and I use the Egyptian magic that I talked about in the skincare episode on my lips before bed. I also have this weird thing where I can't go to sleep with chopped or dry lips. Like I have to have some sort of moisture on before I go to sleep.

So when I plug in my phone for me, it's off for the night. I don't set an alarm because I wake up at the same time pretty much every day, even without it. See my morning routine episode for that and my husband and I do not share covers. We sleep in the same bed, we sleep in the same room, but we do not share covers.

We never have. He has a large fleece blanket that he loves, i, there's nothing that I could think of worse than a fleece blanket to sleep with. So I use the top sheet and comforter because he's always freezing cold and I'm always warm just by nature, and also because of how annoying and type A plus I am about how I sleep. God bless him. Then I have three pillows total: I have a pillow underneath my head, a pillow propped up against the headboard, and also a smaller pillow that I like hug in the middle of the night. This rotates and changes, but typically I have more than one pillow always. 

I prefer reading right before bed, even though I only get through about 10 to 20 pages, reading makes me fall asleep so fast, I absolutely love it. If my husband is falling asleep with me, he likes to fall asleep with the TV on and I can't, so I have also an eye mask and earplugs in case we go to bed at the same time and I have a sound machine in case he snores, which definitely happens.

It's wild again, how much my ears can pick out to disrupt my sleep, and I'm completely self-aware about this, but it's just something that I've evolved with over time. And usually after I do the 50,000 steps that I just mentioned, it actually doesn't take me that long to fall asleep.

And when I do fall asleep, I sleep hard, and I typically sleep for anywhere from seven to nine hours. But as you can see, it is a delicate dance to get there, my friends every single night. And hopefully some of these tips maybe will resonate with you.

Otherwise, I hope you just laughed along at how. Absolutely ridiculous. It is that I have so many steps in my nighttime routine. Also, note that my husband has about five, it really is hilarious to see us buzzing around before bed, and him just completely relaxing into the moment and falling asleep.

Definitely a case of opposites attract here.

A note that I will be on vacation the next few weeks, so there will be no new episodes, but I will encourage you to go a go back and listen to any of the tips that you haven't listened to and if you would like to be a guest on my show, please email the Type a plus podcast, beth lawrence.co, and we will give you all of the details. I know my Type A plus friends, you're probably thinking I don't know if I can be on a podcast having all the imposter syndrome, but I'm here to tell you that you can do it, and I would love to be your first interviewer. So with that, I hope you have a wonderful week. Thank you so much again for listening. We'll be back next time on the Type A Plus Podcast. Take care.