Somatic Bedtime Routine: How it Helps and What it Looks Like

Getting good sleep is important for your overall well-being as it helps your body deal with stressors it encounters throughout the day. Every person has a circadian clock system that works in conjunction with their stress system. These systems are so closely related that one of them becoming dysregulated can lead to the other becoming dysregulated. Having your sleep routine thrown off can lead to heightened levels of cortisol throughout the body, which can ultimately cause disarray and lead to a domino effect in other areas of life (1). 

For these reasons and more, making sure you regularly get a good night’s rest is essential for maintaining low stress levels and overall well-being. However, saying that it’s important to get good sleep and actually doing it are two different things. Whether you struggle to get sleep because you have small children, a busy schedule, or just can’t seem to sleep through the night, it’s important to find ways to mitigate your sleep struggles. One way to help improve your ability to get well-rested at night is to create and stick to a bedtime routine. 

Rather than utilizing just any bedtime routine, we suggest incorporating somatic exercises into your pre-bed regimen. Combining your preferred and common pre-bed practices with somatic practices is a great way to calm your nervous system and your mind. 

Should You Do Somatic Exercises Before Bed?

There are a variety of somatic exercises and other somatic activities you can and should do before bed. Unlike regular exercise, somatic exercises can help prepare your mind and body for sleep. Running and weightlifting right before bedtime are a bit different as activities such as these tend to get your adrenaline flowing and make your mind and body ready for action rather than rest. This can be true even if this type of exercise tires you out. 

Somatic movements help encourage mind-body connection, which has been proven to increase body awareness. This is great because improved body awareness may improve your ability to participate in bedtime activities such as meditation, which is well known for helping people get to sleep. The entire purpose of somatic exercise is to reduce stress by releasing tension throughout your body (physical and emotional) and calm the mind. Having a relaxed body and mind is a great start to getting a good night’s sleep (2).

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Can You Do Somatic Exercises in Bed?

One of the greatest things about somatic exercise is that you truly can do it anywhere. There are a variety of somatic exercises in bed that can be performed either lying down or seated as they don’t require a lot of space or vigorous movements. Some somatic exercises involve only doing breathwork or gently manipulating parts of your body while others involve dancing or manipulating your body into more complex positions (3). 

One type of somatic exercise you can do in bed is neck exercise. People tend to hold a lot of stress and tension in their necks, so doing exercises that will help release this tension and mitigate the pain will likely help you sleep better (4). This can include doing something as simple as tilting your head to one side and holding it in that position briefly before then doing the other side. You can also do visualizations and body scanning while in bed. 

Read more: Insomnia Weight Loss: How Can Skimping On Zzz’s Sabotage Your Weight Loss Journey?

What Is Somatic Work for Sleep?

Research has shown that many people experience somatic symptoms that cause them to experience a variety of sleep disturbances. The most common cause of these somatic symptoms tends to be stress, most commonly work-related stress. As you may imagine, regularly experiencing these symptoms and having your sleep disturbed as a result of them can have a negative impact on your quality of life (5). Somatic work for sleep involves engaging in somatic practices such as somatic massage, somatic yoga, visualizations, body scanning, and somatic exercise and stretching in an attempt to calm your mind and body before sleeping. 

What Is the 3 2 1 Bedtime Routine?

What exactly the 3 2 1 bedtime routine is may vary depending on who you ask. Generally, this refers to a routine where there’s something you stop doing 3 hours before bed then another thing you stop doing 2 hours before bed, and finally, something you stop doing 1 hour before bed. The purpose of this sleep hygiene routine is to help prepare your mind and body for rest. 

Most commonly, the 3 2 1 bedtime routine involves stopping drinking any alcohol and eating food 3 hours before bed. Then, 2 hours before bed, you’re supposed to make sure you’re not working or doing any demanding exercise. Finally, 1 hour before bed, you’re supposed to do away with any screens and dim the lights. This means no TV or phone. 

Incorporating this routine as part of your somatic bedtime routine can potentially further enhance the benefits. It can be a great idea to spend the hour before bed when you’d typically be scrolling on your phone or watching TV completing your bedtime routine. This is also likely to make it easier to stay away from screens as your mind and body will be preoccupied. 

Read more: Is Drinking Milk Before Bed Good For Weight Loss: The Truth About This Calcium-Packed Drink

Somatic Bedtime Routine for Beginners

While a somatic bedtime routine can include participating in somatic exercises and stretches, it can also incorporate other types of somatic work such as meditation and breathwork. If you want to try a somatic bedtime routine but aren’t sure where to start, we’ve created a simple routine you can use. 

Somatic Breathwork

Doing somatic breathwork is a great way to encourage body awareness and work through anxiety and day-to-day stress. All you have to do is close your eyes, take a deep breath in, and then slowly release it. While going through these steps, you should take note of how your body feels when you take the breath in and how it feels when you exhale. You can also note how your breathing pattern may feel different with different breathing types. 

Taking deep breaths can improve body awareness and mind-body connection and it can also be an effective tool for dealing with physiological symptoms of anxiety. This is because when you take in a deep breath, it can cause your diaphragm to put pressure on your vagus nerve, which is an important part of your parasympathetic nervous system. When pressure is applied to this nerve, it activates it so it can tell your mind and body that you’re not in danger and it’s okay to be calm. Doing breathwork regularly and before bed can help improve your ability to connect with your body and help it recognize when it does and doesn’t need to go into fight or flight mode and how to get out of it when it does (6).

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Somatic Bodywork

This somatic activity involves the manipulation of the muscles and joints in your body and encourages body awareness and mind-body connection. One type of somatic bodywork is known as progressive muscle relaxation, which involves taking the time to tighten and release muscles throughout your body. The purpose is to recognize how it feels and make note of any built-up tension and sensations that may accompany the action. 

Somatic bodywork can also mean doing somatic stretches or other exercises. Any somatic exercise you can do without breaking a sweat or increasing your heart rate too much can be done before bed. Many people prefer to do things that can be done in bed. Exercises such as pelvic tilts and neck stretches are just a couple of somatic exercises you can do in bed.

Frequently Asked Questions

• Is insomnia somatic?

Insomnia isn’t typically considered somatic, but being an insomniac can increase your chances of developing somatic symptoms and disorders. People with insomnia may also struggle with somatic issues, but it’s difficult to tell which one came first (7). 

• Is sleep autonomic or somatic?

Sleep is autonomic. This means it’s controlled by the autonomic nervous system rather than the somatic nervous system (8). Sleep helps your body maintain internal homeostasis, which is the purpose of the autonomic nervous system. 

• Is sleep disturbance somatic?

Yes, sleep disturbances can be connected to somatic symptoms, but this isn’t always the case. However, people who have both sleep disturbances and somatic symptoms tend to have more complaints and worse outcomes than people who don’t have both (5).

• Is insomnia neuro or psych?

Insomnia can and often does have both psychological and neurological causes. There are many neurological conditions that can be lin

Bottom Line

Establishing a bedtime routine can be a great way to improve your sleep and decrease the amount of stress you experience. It’s a great idea to incorporate a variety of somatic practices into your bedtime routine, but there are also other practices you can incorporate to help improve your ability to get to sleep and sleep well. It may take some time to discover what bedtime routine works best for you, but once you have an established one, you may see improvements in your mental and physical well-being.