Ten Night-Time Habits That Help Me Wind Down

Why I bother with an evening routine

For a long time my evenings were just the bit before bed. I would scroll until I fell asleep and think nothing of it.

I did not treat night time as part of my health. But rest and stress affect your hormones, and when you are already living with PCOS, how you end the day matters more than I used to think. Winding down properly is not a luxury I fit in when there is time. It is part of how I look after my body.

None of these are complicated. Most of them cost nothing. They are small signals that tell my body the day is finished.

The ten things

1. A few gentle stretches. Nothing structured and nothing that counts as exercise. I stretch whatever feels tight, usually my hips and lower back. It is more about slowing down than about the stretch itself.

2. Legs up the wall for thirty minutes. Lie on your back with your legs resting straight up against a wall. It sounds like doing nothing, and that is rather the point. It calms me down faster than anything else on this list, and my legs feel lighter afterwards.

3. A scalp massage. I use a little scalp massager for two or three minutes, usually while I am watching something. It is one of the few things I never skip.

4. A heat pad on my stomach. Especially on the days when I am bloated or crampy. Warmth on the stomach settles things for me in a way I cannot really explain.

5. A warm cup of tea. Peppermint, ginger or fennel. Bloating and indigestion used to be some of my worst symptoms, and these are the three I keep coming back to. Fennel is the one I reach for most.

6. Red light therapy. I do this a few nights a week rather than every night. It has become part of how I mark the end of the evening.

7. Soaking my feet in warm water. Ten minutes in a basin is enough. It sounds old fashioned. It works.

8. Cozy socks straight afterwards. On while my feet are still warm from the soak. Warm feet help me fall asleep faster.

9. Castor oil on my stomach. I warm a little in my hands and massage it in slowly, in circles. A few nights a week, not every night.

10. Moisturiser and a slow face massage. The same moisturiser I would use anyway, just not rushed. I take the extra minute to massage it in properly instead of slapping it on and going to bed.

The order I do them in

Most nights it goes: soak my feet in warm water, then cozy socks straight after while they are still warm, then legs up the wall.

There is nothing strict about that. It is just the order that has ended up working for me, and it changes depending on the evening. Doing the warm things together is the part that makes it feel like a routine rather than ten separate chores.

Please do not turn this into another list to fail at

I never do all ten in one night. Some nights it is the tea and the socks and nothing else. Some nights I do none of it and go straight to sleep, and that is completely fine.

If you have PCOS you already have enough rules to keep track of. This is not another set. Pick the two that sound nicest and start there, and let the rest come later if they ever do.

I write about this as someone living it, not as a doctor. Nothing here is medical advice. Please talk to a professional who knows your history before changing anything about your treatment.