Don’t look at your phone an hour before bed. You shouldn’t work before bed. Don’t do anything mentally stimulating. Yeah right. Give me something I can use.

A lot of the tired advice given to people who regularly end work at 5 pm doesn’t apply to busy service professionals. We’re working toward deal deadlines, preparing for the next day of court, and just trying to keep up on billable hours. So what can we do?

One thing that every lawyer can do is establish a sleep ritual. As sleep scientist, Dr. Cheri Mah writes, “many individuals don’t have a routine and they’ll jump into bed and have a racing mind (and difficulty sleeping).”

Pick actions you’ll do each day before bed

The goal is to train our brains that when we do XYZ, it means we’re getting ready to sleep.

For busy people, these don’t have to be things that take a long time. Sure, an hour of meditation and a warm bath might be relaxing, but I’ve never made the time for anything like that. Instead, these are the things I do every night:

• Turn on a floor fan (30 seconds)
• Close my blackout curtains (30 seconds)
• Change (3 minutes)
• Brush my teeth (3 minutes)
• Wash my face (3 minutes)
• Set my alarms (1 minute)
• Set a sleep timer with an audiobook for 8­–10 minutes (8­–10 minutes)

On late work nights when I’m disciplined, I can move from my computer screen and into bed in 10–15 minutes. A few more minutes in bed listening to an audiobook and it’s time to join the rest of the neighborhood in sleep.

Do them in the same order

I try to keep my routine regular. I have made it a habit to do everything above in the same order, further training my body that I’m getting ready for bed. After enough time, it becomes a habit.

Choose actions that travel

In addition to being quick, all the things I list (save the first two) can be done from anywhere. If I’m in a hotel—same routine. Visiting family—same routine. On an overnight flight—same routine, but also I add earplugs.

Your turn

The next time you get ready for bed, notice what you tend to do. Is each step a helpful part of a repeatable sleep routine? Could you be more intentional? Are there things you can add or cut out that keep the ‘time to sleep’ brain signals going? Wishing you the best, and keep working on your LawyerBody.

P.S.

If you have any quick sleep routine tips, I’d love to hear them. You can leave a comment, or send me a note at lawyerbody@gmail.com or @lawyerbody on Instagram.