Claudia Rivera 

Editor-in-Chief 

cmr6395@psu.edu 

As college students, we all deal with a pretty hectic life, and sometimes it is hard to maintain a sense of good habits. Having a night routine is one of the ways that I manage to create and maintain good habits while taking care of myself with my busy schedule. Now I am not saying that this will solve all of your problems or even make you feel like a put together person, but it will help you centralize yourself in the midst of chaos and it is a step into you feeling better about yourself. 

First step in creating a night routine is seeing what your schedule looks like and how you can fit it into your schedule. It does not matter when you start your routine or when you finish it, as long as it makes you feel better and makes you decompress after a long day. 

I personally start my night routine at around nine at night , sometimes it is later, depending on my day. I found that starting my night routine at around nine helps me get everything together and usually by that time, I have completed all of my homework and I just want to relax for the day. 

Second step is developing what you want your nightly routine to be. This is completely up to you and how you want to decompress at night. It does not matter your gender, you need to relax before going to bed in order to have a better night’s sleep. 

In my case, I always start my night routine with a shower. It does not matter how many times during the day I have showered, I will always shower before getting ready for bed. I pick a music playlist and I begin my routine.  This allows me to start relaxing and decompress from my long and stressful day. After I get out of the shower, I get dressed, brush my teeth and  get my favorite skin care products and begin to do my skincare routine. This can be different for everyone, since we all have different needs. My skin tends to be oily and acne prone, so I have a face wash, toner, acne treatment, face serum and moisturizer. Now you might be thinking, this is too time consuming and this is too much just to go to sleep, but that is the beauty of a night routine, you can customize this to fit your schedule and be tailored to you. 

I find that taking a long time on my self care makes me feel better about myself and makes me forget about the struggles of my day. After around 15-20 minutes of doing my skin care routine, I begin to get ready for bed. I turn on my tv and play my favorite show, I go to my kitchen and fill my bottle of water and head back to my room. 

The last step in creating your night routine is finding something that makes you happy and allows you to relax. This can be playing video games, watching a movie, reading a book or listening to a podcast. This will allow your mind to unwind and prepare for bed. 

I tend to switch things up, usually I play some YouTube videos, or watch my current show, recently it has been  “Scandal”.You can also use this time to develop a new habit. Lately, I have been taking this time to do some reading. I pick up my current book and try to read a few pages. I do not give myself a minimum, because I believe this part needs to come naturally to you and not be forced. Some nights I will read a chapter, and some nights I will read several chapters. This allows me to decompress and it also makes my eyes sleepy. At this stage in my night routine I try to not use my phone, but I always end up caving in and watching a little bit of Tik Tok. 

Having a nightly routine can be a little scary and maybe even a little bit intimidating, it does not have to be. We all have a night routine, we just do it without even thinking about it. Being aware of your routine will allow you to be your best self and will allow you to stay on top of things and take care of yourself mentally and physically during this very stressful time. I hope this short article helped you develop your nightly routine and remember, your routine is tailored to you and your needs.