You know the feeling. It’s 10pm or whatever, you’re tired, you tell yourself you’ll just check Instagram quickly before going to sleep. One scroll leads to another. A Reel. Another Reel. Somehow you end up on YouTube: one video, then another. Maybe you put on a True Crime podcast to “wind down.” Maybe some music. Before you know it, it’s midnight and you’ve been lying there for two hours, constantly consuming, never really resting.
The blue light has done its thing. Your brain is still buzzing. You can’t sleep even though you’re exhausted. You wake up the next morning tired, reach for your phone immediately and the whole cycle starts again.
I wrote about breaking that morning cycle in my post about my phone-free morning routine. But the truth is, a good morning starts the night before.
Why the Evening Is So Tricky
There’s a reason we reach for our phones at night. After a long day, we want to switch off and scrolling feels like exactly that. It requires zero effort, zero decisions, zero energy. The algorithm does all the work. You just lie there and let it wash over you. But here’s the thing: it’s not actually restful. The blue light from your screen signals to your brain that it’s still daytime, making it harder to fall asleep. And the constant input, new information, new stimulation, new emotions from whatever you’re watching, keeps your nervous system alert long after you’ve put the phone down.
I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately, because as a teenager I used to read in bed every night. Sometimes for hours. And yes, I also had trouble putting the book down and turning off the light but at least I got something out of it. I’d finish a chapter, learn something, feel something. When I scroll through Instagram for an hour, I genuinely cannot tell you what I looked at afterwards. It just disappears. And falling asleep after a book always felt easier than after a social media spiral.
So over the past few weeks I’ve been making a conscious effort to go back to something that actually works — for me, at least.
My Evening Routine
I want to be honest here: my evening routine is not as consistent as my morning routine. My mornings are fairly predictable, but my evenings vary a lot depending on what the day looked like. Some evenings I’m home early, some I’m out until late. So what I’m sharing here is my ideal evening routine. The one I follow when I can, and the one that always makes me feel better when I do.
The goal is simple: no phone in the hour before I go to sleep.
1. Journalling and a cup of tea
This is my favourite part. I make myself a tea, usually something calming and floral, and sit down with my journal for a few minutes. I don’t write pages and pages, just enough to process the day. What happened, how I felt, what’s on my mind. It’s a small ritual but it makes a real difference. My thoughts feel sorted by the end of it.
2. Skincare, brushing teeth, getting ready for bed
Nothing revolutionary here, but doing this intentionally, without a podcast playing in the background or my phone propped up on the sink, feels surprisingly nice. Just a few quiet minutes.
3. Tidying up and planning the next day
I don’t do this with a notebook necessarily, often it’s just in my head. A quick mental scan: what do I have tomorrow, where do I need to be, what do I need to remember? If I’m in the mood and think of it, I also pick out my outfit for the next day. It sounds small but it genuinely reduces my morning stress quite a bit.
4. Into bed. With a book, or sometimes Netflix, or nothing
Here I want to be realistic: not every evening ends with a book. Sometimes I’m too tired to read, or I’m between books and haven’t found one that’s grabbed me yet. On those evenings I’ll watch an episode of something on Netflix – and I don’t think that’s a failure. The key difference is that it’s intentional, and it’s not scrolling. I can watch one episode, close the laptop, and fall asleep. That feels completely different from getting lost in an endless feed.
Ideally, I turn the light off eight hours before my alarm goes off. I need my sleep.
A note on the “no phone in the bedroom” rule: A lot of people swear by this, and I completely understand why. If the phone isn’t there, the temptation isn’t there either. But I live in a studio apartment, and my phone is still my alarm clock so this simply isn’t realistic for me right now. What I’ve found instead is that having a routine I actually enjoy makes reaching for the phone feel less necessary. When I’m looking forward to my tea and my journal, I don’t really want to scroll. The goal isn’t discipline. It’s replacing the habit with something better.
What’s Changed
I’ll keep this simple, because it is simple: I sleep better. I wake up less groggy. I feel calmer in the evenings and more present during the day. None of this is dramatic or life-changing. But it’s consistent. Every time I follow this routine, I notice the difference the next morning.
Hopefully this gave you some inspiration and I’d love to know what your evening looks like.
If you’re looking for more ideas on how to put the phone down in general, my post on things that help me scroll less might be worth a read and if you’re looking for more inspiration, check out my Instagram.
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