10 Ways to Build a Calming Evening Routine

There's a particular kind of exhaustion that shows up around 8 or 9 p.m.—your body is tired, but your mind is still sprinting through the day's to-do list, half-finished conversations, and tomorrow's calendar. If that sounds familiar, you're not alone. A lot of us go from full-speed daytime mode straight into bed and wonder why it takes forever to actually relax.

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The fix isn't complicated, but it does take a little intention. An evening routine is simply a sequence of small, repeatable habits that signal to your brain and body that the day is winding down. It doesn't need to be elaborate or take an hour. It just needs to be consistent enough that your mind starts to recognize the pattern: this is the part of the day where we slow down.

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Below are ten simple, approachable ways to build (or refresh) your own soothing evening routine—pick a few that fit your life, and don't feel like you need to do all ten every night.

1. Pick a Consistent Wind-down Time

One of the most overlooked pieces of a good evening routine is simply starting it at the same time each night. Your body responds well to rhythm and predictability. If your wind-down time bounces between 8 p.m. and midnight depending on the day, it's harder for your mind to settle into the pattern.

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Choose a realistic window—say, 9:00 to 9:30 p.m.—and treat it as the unofficial start of your evening. You don't have to be rigid about it, but having a general anchor point gives the rest of your routine something to build around.

2. Dim the Lights

Bright overhead lighting keeps your brain in "daytime" mode. As the evening progresses, try switching to lamps, warm-toned bulbs, or even candles instead of harsh ceiling lights. This small shift in your environment does a lot of the work for you—it's a visual cue that the day is closing out, and it naturally makes a space feel calmer and cozier.

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If you want to get more intentional about it, consider setting your smart lights (if you have them) to automatically dim at a set time each evening, so the transition happens without you having to think about it.

3. Wind Down With a CBD Nighttime Ritual

For many people, an effective evening routine includes reaching for something that helps mark the transition into rest—and for a growing number of our customers, that's a CBD product designed specifically with evenings in mind. Our collection of CBD nighttime gummies, capsules and tinctures are crafted to be part of a calming nighttime ritual, the same way you might reach for a cozy blanket or a favorite mug of tea.

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Many people find that incorporating a CBD product into the last part of their evening helps them feel a sense of calm as they wind down, and it pairs naturally with the other habits on this list—dim lights, a warm shower, a few pages of a book. We recommend choosing a product that has both CBD and CBN, a cannabinoid many people associate with a sense of relaxation.

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As with anything new you add to your routine, it's worth taking time to find the product and amount that feels right for you, and checking in with a healthcare provider if you have questions about how it might fit into your overall wellness routine. 

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Read more about CBD and sleep in our blog: Does CBD Help You Sleep?

4. Start a "Digital Sunset"

Scrolling through emails, social feeds, or the news right before bed is one of the fastest ways to keep your mind wound up. Consider setting a "digital sunset"—a specific time each night when you put your phone, laptop, and other screens away for good.

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This doesn't have to be extreme. Even shifting your last check of the day 30–45 minutes earlier can make a noticeable difference in how settled you feel by the time you're ready to sleep. If you rely on your phone as an alarm, consider charging it across the room instead of on your nightstand, so it's not the last thing you look at or the first thing you reach for.

5. Tidy Your Space for Ten Minutes

A cluttered room can quietly contribute to a cluttered mind. Spending even five to ten minutes tidying your bedroom or living space—putting away laundry, clearing off surfaces, fluffing pillows—can make your environment feel more restful.

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This is less about deep cleaning and more about closing the loop on the day. Walking into a space that feels put-together, even in a small way, helps reinforce the sense that today's tasks are done and it's time to shift gears.

6. Take a Warm Shower or Bath

A warm shower or bath is one of the simplest, most time-tested parts of an evening routine, and for good reason. The ritual of it—the warm water, the change of clothes into something comfortable, the shift out of "day clothes"—acts as a natural transition point between your day and your evening.

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Some people like to add calming elements here, like a favorite-scented soap, a few drops of a calming shower steamer, or simply dimming the bathroom lights while they do it. The goal isn't the shower itself so much as the ritual of marking a clear end to the day.

7. Stretch or Try a Few Minutes of Gentle Yoga

You don't need a full workout to benefit from movement in the evening—in fact, vigorous exercise close to bedtime can have the opposite effect. Instead, try five or ten minutes of gentle stretching, some slow neck and shoulder rolls, or a few basic yoga poses like child's pose or legs-up-the-wall.

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This kind of movement helps release physical tension that's built up over the day—tight shoulders from being at a desk, a stiff neck from looking at a screen—and gives your body a chance to physically settle before you lie down.

8. Journal for a Few Minutes

Writing things down is a simple but effective way to get thoughts out of your head and onto paper, where they're easier to set aside for the night. You don't need a structured journaling practice—jotting down a few lines about what happened during the day, what's on your mind, or even just a short gratitude list can be enough.

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If a blank page feels intimidating, try a simple prompt: "Today I'm grateful for..." or "One thing I want to let go of tonight is..." The goal isn't perfect prose, just a quick mental unload before bed.

9. Sip a Calming Herbal Tea

The ritual of preparing and slowly sipping a warm drink is a classic wind-down habit for a reason. Herbal teas like chamomile, lavender, or valerian root are popular evening choices, largely because the process of making tea—heating water, steeping, sitting with a warm mug—is inherently slow and calming.

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Pair this with your reading time or journaling, and you've got a simple, screen-free ritual that naturally slows your pace in the last hour or two before bed.

10. Read Something You Enjoy

Reading is one of the most reliable ways to shift your brain out of "work mode" and into something slower and more absorbing. It doesn't need to be a serious novel or a self-improvement book—if a lighthearted mystery or a magazine is what makes you want to pick it up each night, that's the right choice.

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The key is choosing something that feels enjoyable rather than obligatory, and ideally reading from an actual book or e-reader rather than your phone, so you're not undoing your digital sunset from earlier in the routine.

Building a Routine That Actually Sticks

Whether you’re incorporating premium CBD sleep products into your evening, or drinking herbal tea and reading a book, the best nighttime routine is the one you'll actually do, night after night—not the most elaborate one. Start small. Pick two or three of the habits above that genuinely appeal to you, try them for a week or two, and notice how your evenings start to feel. From there, you can layer in more pieces as they become natural, rather than trying to overhaul your whole night at once.

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Consistency matters more than complexity. A five-minute routine you do every single night will do more for how you feel than an hour-long routine you only manage once a week. Give yourself permission to keep it simple, and let your evening routine evolve as your life does.

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Need help picking out a sleep-support product? Contact our helpful customer service team for assistance.