Your Evenings Are Sabotaging Your Mornings. Here’s How to Fix It.
Science-backed strategies to design a night routine for better sleep, sharper focus, and lasting energy
Morning routines are the rockstars of wellness culture. They get the podcasts, the time-stamped Instagram Reels, and entire book deals.
But here’s the truth: you can’t rise and shine if you never powered down.
We obsess over complex morning routines with sunrise meditations, lemon water (for real?), journaling, gym sessions before 6 a.m.
But even the most impeccable morning routine can’t fix what your evening destroyed.
Most people don’t have a real evening routine. Or rather, they do, just not a conscious one.
It goes something like this:
Roll out of work
Commute
Grab groceries
Improvise dinner
Collapse in front of Netflix
Eat late
Tidy up (maybe)
Doomscroll
Crash into bed
Sound familiar? It’s less of a routine and more of a recovery from the day. And yet, this is the most critical window for your brain’s long-term health.
The quality of your sleep, your memory, your mood, and your decision-making tomorrow morning? It all begins the night before.
So here’s a thought: Your evening routine is the real MVP. It’s the backstage tech crew, the unsung roadies who make sure tomorrow’s show even happens.
Because let’s face it, without a solid evening, no morning routine can save you.
My Imperfect Early Mornings
Here’s what my actual morning looks like, most days:
Wake up naturally around 6 a.m.: I’ve never, ever, been able to sleep longer than 6.5 hours and I usually fall asleep between 10:45 p.m. and 11:30 p.m.
Lie in bed for 5-10 minutes contemplating the world’s descent into chaos and how it all started when David Bowie died. FACT!
Get out of bed, do a quick body check: 10 fingers, 10 toes, still upright, still spectacularly myopic. Verdict? Good enough!
Bathroom trip, contact lenses in: Left eye still blurry because of that one surprise early-onset cataract. Vision remains… aspirational.
Head to the kitchen, that’s where the coffee lives!
Choose from my arsenal of coffee-making devices: Because variety is the spice of life, and also, I might have a problem.
French press wins today: Three spoonfuls of coffee, inhale deeply, contemplate life choices, hopes deflating slightly.
But… first sip of coffee saves the day: All systems go, brain officially booting up.
No barefoot grass-walking (I live in Brussels, I don’t have a garden but a big public park and dog-doo is a constant threat. So, no!). No bright light therapy. And no waiting 90 minutes to drink coffee as some biohackers recommend. Who has the time, or the willpower, seriously?
But here’s the thing: even this not so brain-friendly morning works for me because I honour my evenings.
You can’t patch over poor sleep, frazzled nerves (you have stopped reading the news at night, right?), or mental clutter with lemon water and a gratitude journal.
Your morning clarity is earned the night before.
The Science of Shut-Down
You’ve heard it before, but it bears repeating: Sleep is non-negotiable for brain health and your evening routine is its gatekeeper.
Here’s why evenings matter so much:
Memory Consolidation & Brain Detoxification: Deep sleep clears out toxins via the glymphatic system, a critical process for preventing neurodegeneration (Xie et al., 2013)1.
Hormonal Regulation: Sleep regulates cortisol levels and supports hormonal balance. This is especially critical during perimenopause and menopause.
Stress Recovery: Evening rituals reduce cortisol and increase GABA activity, signalling your body to shift from doing mode to restoring mode (Buckley & Schatzberg, 2005)2.
Circadian Rhythm Support: Blue light from screens suppresses melatonin production, but intentional evening habits can counteract this disruption.
It’s Strategy, Not Just Science
Let’s borrow some wisdom from well known coaching voices:
Your future is hidden in your daily routine. — Mike Murdock
Environment is the invisible hand that shapes human behavior. — James Clear
And here’s mine:
Your evening is where your values meet your habits.
It’s where you decide: Will I carry today’s stress into tomorrow? Or will I clear the mental runway so tomorrow’s takeoff is just a little bit smoother?
The Case for Evening Routines
Think of your evening as…
The Prelude to a Symphony: You don’t start at full volume; you ease in. The same should go for rest.
The Dishwashing Stage: You cooked all day. Mentally, emotionally, physically. Now clean up the mess.
A Savings Account: Deposit calm and clarity at night; withdraw focus and energy in the morning.
What Makes a Great Evening Routine?
There’s no one-size-fits-all formula, but here’s a framework that works:
Transition Rituals: Create a buffer between work brain and rest brain. Change clothes, put your phone away, go for a walk, meet a friend, or enjoy a micro workout.
Mind-Body Decompression: Stretching, breathwork, meditation can help shift gears.
Mental Unloading: Journal or mind-dump to avoid taking today’s worries to bed.
Sleep-Friendly Cues: Dim lights, lower room temperature, and a soothing cup of herbal and naturally calming tea (chamomile, nettle, dandelion root) can signal your body it’s time for bed.
Joy Over Discipline: Read something light and fun, have a laugh, it doesn’t have to be all productivity hacks.
Final Word: What If It’s Not About Optimising?
Maybe your evening doesn’t need to be perfect. Maybe it just needs to be intentional.
Because when you end your day with intention and care, you start the next one with clarity and capacity.
The single most powerful biohack isn’t ice baths or journalling at silly o’clock, it’s an evening routine that doesn’t eat your brain for breakfast.
Design an evening routine that resets your nervous system and clears mental clutter so you actually wake up feeling like yourself.
We don’t need perfect mornings. We need powerful evenings.
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Sleep Drives Metabolite Clearance from the Adult Brain, Xie, L., et al., Science, 2013.
Aging and the role of the HPA axis and rhythm in sleep and memory-consolidation, Buckely, Th., The American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 2005.
"It’s an evening routine that doesn’t eat your brain for breakfast." Amen!
Oh man, I know and you know I HAVE to work in the evenings... for the audience in the US.
However, I'd love to do better this year. Tried it but always come to the same result...
Your newsletters are getting better and better.
Are you already recommending Sara Redondo? Think you two would be a great fit.
Or do a LIVE together :)