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Nightcare is the intentional practice of preparing your mind and body for sleep. It is not a time on the clock but what you do in the hour or two before you get into bed, so that sleep has somewhere calm to land. If you are wondering what nightcare is and where to begin, the short version is this: pick a few small enjoyable things that tell your body the day is over.

I started using the word because "bedtime" never described what I was after. Bedtime is when you go to bed. I wanted a word for the evening that leads up to it, and for the way it feels when you look after that part of the day on purpose.

What is nightcare, and how is it different from a bedtime?

A bedtime is a moment. Nightcare is a stretch of the evening, and it has a purpose: to help you move from being switched on to being settled.

Most of us already do a version of it without naming it. You lock the door, brush your teeth, put the phone on the other side of the room. The difference is intent. When you choose the steps and keep them gentle and repeatable, they stop being chores and start working as a signal. The NHS advice is similar in spirit. It suggests a calm bedtime routine to help you prepare for sleep, with things like reading, breathing exercises or calming music.

It also helps to say what nightcare is not. It is not a strict programme, and it does not need a candle collection or an hour you do not have. Ten quiet minutes counts.

Why does a routine help you sleep?

Your body likes to know what is coming. The NHS says going to bed and getting up at similar times each day helps your body know when it is time to sleep, and a repeated wind down can do a similar job for the hour before. The same page suggests keeping phones, tablets and computers away for an hour before bed, and avoiding alcohol for an hour or two beforehand, because both can get in the way of sleep.

Warmth is another small lever. One study found that a warm bath or shower an hour or two before bed was linked with better sleep, and that about 90 minutes before bed seemed to work best, with people falling asleep around 10 minutes faster on average. I do not treat that as a rule. I like it because it is easy and it feels like a treat.

If you would like to go deeper on the shape of a good evening, I wrote about three ways to improve your nighttime routine, and about how to get an early night when the evening keeps slipping away from you.

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What does a nightcare routine look like in practice?

Mine changes a little with the season, but the bones stay the same. The lights go down, the phone goes on charge somewhere that is not my bedside table, and I make something calm to drink. Then I sit down with it and do nothing in particular for a while. That last part took me the longest to learn. I am used to filling every gap, and sitting quietly with a drink felt strange at first.

The drink matters to me because it gives the evening a clear start. Mine is Sleep Toniq, made with chamomile, honey, apple cider vinegar and orange, and it promotes rest and relaxation. You could just as easily use a herbal tea. What counts is that it is calm, caffeine free, and that you have it on purpose, not as you scroll.

A first nightcare routine to try tonight

1. Pick a start time about an hour before you want to be asleep, and set a gentle alarm so you do not have to watch the clock.
2. Write down tomorrow's to do list. The NHS suggests making a list of what you need to do the next day if worries tend to visit at night, and it can help clear your head.
3. Dim the lights and put your phone on charge in another room, or at least out of reach.
4. Have a calming, caffeine free drink and sit with it for five minutes, with no screen.
5. Do one slow, quiet thing: read a few pages, stretch or breathe in and out slowly.
6. Go to bed when you feel sleepy, and do the same steps tomorrow.

If the thoughts keep racing even with the list written, I have more on that in how to stop overthinking at night.

How long before nightcare starts to feel natural?

I cannot give you a number of days, and I would be wary of anyone who does. For me it began to feel natural when I stopped judging it. Some nights the routine lasts twenty minutes and some nights it is five, and both are fine. The point is to keep coming back to it, the way you would return to a walk or a favourite chair.

If one night goes wrong, nothing is lost. Nightcare is meant to be kind, so there is no streak to protect.

Where to go from here

Start with one step from the list and see how the evening feels. If a warm drink is part of your wind down, you can find out more about Sleep Toniq, but a mug of something calm works to begin with. What matters is that the evening becomes yours again.

Sources

• NHS Every Mind Matters, "Fall asleep faster and sleep better": nhs.uk
• Haghayegh S, Khoshnevis S, Smolensky MH, Diller KR, Castriotta RJ. "Before-bedtime passive body heating by warm shower or bath to improve sleep: a systematic review and meta-analysis", Sleep Medicine Reviews. Summary: ScienceDaily