Night Routine Ideas For Spoonies | For POTSies & Zebras!

Are you a spoonie with chronic illness, chronic pain, chronic fatigue, invisible disability, or mental health issues and are looking for some night routine ideas to make your evenings better?

Hi! I'm Cassie Winter and I have Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS), Hypermobile Ehlers Danlos Syndrome (hEDS), and Complex PTSD (among other things). In this video I'm going to walk you through my night routine and why I do the things that I do.

I hope it helps inspire you to spruce up your own night routine.

Watch the video below or read on for the full transcript.

Night Routine Ideas For Spoonies | For POTSies & Zebras // If you have Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS), or Hypermobile Ehlers Danlos Syndrom...

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Disclaimer

And no, I'm not going to actually film myself doing any of my night routine, because I simply do not have the spoons to do all that extra work right now.

And also, ya know, to maintain some semblance of privacy.

So I'm just going to talk through it.

Okay byeeeeeeeee.

Evening Review

All righty then, let's get to it! My night routine starts with my simple evening review inside my Notion Bullet Journal.

If you want to learn more about my Notion workspace, you can watch this video.

During my evening review, I go over my priorities and to-do list, checking off the things I got done and migrating the things I didn't do to a future day.

Then I take notes on my emotional state, energy, and any physical symptoms I may have had during the day.

If you want to learn about my Notion Symptom tracker, check out this video next.

My evening review accomplishes a couple of important things:

It ensures that my Notion workspace is up-to-date, and
Helps make me more productive the next day.

Yoga Tune Up Therapy Balls

After my evening review comes my favorite part of my night routine: using Jill Miller's Yoga Tune Up therapy balls for myofacial release and massage.

Ever since I discovered Jill Miller's work a year ago, it has been transformative for me in caring for my Hypermobile Ehlers Danlos Syndrome (hEDS).

For those of you who are unfamiliar with EDS, it's a genetic connective tissue disorder. Connective tissue is the most abundant tissue in the human body, and in Hypermobile Ehlers Danlos Syndrome (hEDS) connective tissue isn't built right. Instead of being strong and sturdy, it's lax and stretchy.

This leads to a whole host of issues throughout the entire body, including (but not at all limited to): frequent subluxations, dislocations, and joint and muscle pain.

Where and how I use the therapy balls varies from day to day, and depends on what kind of pain I'm experiencing. I tend to spend anywhere from 15 minutes to an hour rolling out my body before moving onto the next step in my night routine.

If you'd like me to do a longer video talking more about the Yoga Tune Up balls and how I use them, let me know down in the comments.

Toothcare

After making my joints and tissues significantly happier than they were before (which also happens to help down-regulate my nervous system to help me relax, by the way), I brush and floss my teeth.

Skincare Routine

Then it's on to my skincare routine! Over the years I have dialed in my skincare routine and it now keeps my sensitive, dehydrated skin hydrated and moisturized, and for the most part acne free. (People compliment my skin often, so I've got to be doing something right.)

If I wore any makeup during the day, I'll use the Heimish All Clean Balm and Face Halo makeup eraser pads to remove my makeup. Then I use Krave Beauty's Matcha Hemp Hydrating Cleanser as my second cleanser.

I gently pat my face dry with a clean microfiber washcloth. I've learned over the years that my skin will form acne if something dirty even looks at me funny, so it's a clean washcloth morning and night for me and my face.

If it's a Wednesday or a Saturday, I'll then apply one layer of Krave Beauty's Kale-Lalu-yAHA AHA toner.

Afterward I apply one layer of Hada Labo's Premium Hyaluronic Lotion (which is the same as a toner in English).

Then I add a thin layer of Krave Beauty's Great Barrier Relief Serum. It smells a bit funny because of the tamanu oil (my boyfriend says it smells like 3D printer filament), but my skin sure likes it.

Next I put on a thin layer of Krave Beauty's Oat So Simple Water Cream Moisturizer.

Then I pat on the thinnest layer of Aquaphor to seal it all in and prevent any hydration from evaporating into the air.

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And last but not least, I apply a thing layer of lanolin nipple cream to my lips. Because did you know that the skin on your lips and the skin on your nipples are the same? And that lanolin is the actual key ingredient to keeping your lips moisturized?

And yes, I'm aware most of my routine consists of Krave Beauty products. And I stand by that choice. Not only are the products effective, luxurious, affordable, and great for sensitive skin like mine, but the company owner Liah Yoo prioritizes sustainable business practices and caring for the environment.

That's a win-win if you ask me!

By the way, I've linked to every product I'm mentioning. And yes, the Amazon links are affiliate links.

That doesn't mean this video is sponsored. No one is paying me to mention these products. I genuinely love each and every product I mention in this video.

Instead, think of affiliate links as a free-to-you way to give me a tip for helping you find a product you might be interested in.

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Let me know in the comments which product from this video you're most intrigued by, and why.

Contact Lens Care

I am blind as a bat and have been wearing contacts for over twenty years, so the next thing I do is take out my contacts and set them to soak in Clear Care Plus Contact Solution with HydraGlyde.

I'm been using this product for years now, and it's the best way I've found to ensure my contacts last a long time, and it has the bonus of helping my contacts not dry out half way through the day (which is super important as my hEDS makes my eyes really dry).

Then I put one drop of Zaditor eye drops (which are ketotifen based) in each eye. They're allergy drops, and I've found they also help my eyes not dry out (since I also have Mast Cell Activation Syndrome, or MCAS for short).

Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.

Reading

Next in my night routine is my second favorite part: reading!

I lie down and use my motorized bed frame to elevate my feet as far as the bed with go. This helps further down-regulate my nervous system and is particularly important to help with my Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS).

Then I read! I recently upgraded to a Kindle Oasis because it not only has a warm mode for the screen to reduce blue light, but it also has a dark mode function which inverts the colors on the screen so most of the screen is black and only the letters emit light.

This makes it so much more comfortable for me to read in bed and actually continue down-regulating in order to get ready to sleep.

At any given time I'm usually reading one fiction book and one non-fiction book. Two books that I recently finished and loved are:

Brandon Sanderson's "Rhythm of War" (The 4th Book in The Stormlight Archive.)
Diane Poole Heller's "The Power of Attachment" (An excellent introduction to attachment theory and attachment trauma.)

Potty Break

Now comes my least favorite part of my night routine. I inevitably always have to pee when I'm done reading and before going to sleep.

Why?

Because POTS. That's why.

One of the things that happens in Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome is blood pooling and edema (i.e. gravity pulls blood and fluid downward).

This means that when I finally lay down at the end of the day, the blood and fluid that had pooled in my legs and feet finally has a chance to drain, which means it finally gets filtered through my kidneys, which means my bladder fills again after lying down.

I hate it. I hate it so much.

Because I know that the moment I stand up, my heart rate is going to soar again (once again thanks to POTS) and up-regulate my nervous system, and I'm going to have to wind down again after returning to bed.

Some days I resist peeing longer than others because I'm stubborn.

Anyways, I grumpily get up and go to the bathroom, and then come back to bed.

Operation Make-Myself-Comfortable-Enough-To-Sleep

Last, but certainly not least, I prepare myself to actually sleep. Thanks to my involuntarily high maintenance body, this involves one too many things:

I adjust my motorized bed frame until I feel comfortable. Every night it's different.
I have two pillows: one under my head, and one to hug in order to prevent my rib cage and shoulders from collapsing in on themselves when I lie on my side.
I bite down on a disposable Plackers Grind No More night guard to prevent my teeth from grinding. (I haven't yet been able to afford a custom one.) Did you know that teeth grinding is not only bad for your teeth, but it's a sign of sympathetic nervous system activation (aka fight or flight, aka the thing that POTSies deal with all the time) and not having something to bite down on makes it worse? I've had an easier time sleeping through the night since starting to use night guards. (Again, the more you know...)
Next on the list? Ear plugs. Because during my first two terms in college I unwillingly lived in a party dorm at the University of Oregon and there was no other way to sleep. (For those of you who don't know, the movie "Animal House" was filmed at the University of Oregon. Do with that information what you will.)
Then finally, last but not least, before actually curling up in a comfy position and trying to quiet my intrusive thoughts and ruminating mind, I put on an eye mask. Ever since I first got it, I have loved the Manta Sleep Mask as it has the structure to not actually put pressure on your eyes while you sleep, while still blocking all the light. I can't recommend it highly enough.

Zzzz

And finally, I am blessedly able to attempt to sleep.

The key word being "attempt."

Actually making my brain sleep is a struggle, and making that sleep restorative and not riddled with fight or flight activation and PTSD nightmares is also a struggle. But that's a whole other topic.

So there you have it. My full night time routine as a spoonie with Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS), Hypermobile Ehlers Danlos Syndrome (hEDS), and Complex PTSD.

I hope it helps give you ideas to make your night routine even better, because caring for yourself properly is so important.

And if you end up trying any of the products I use, let me know how they work for you in the comments below.

In the meantime, if you're curious to know more about what I do as a coach, I help creatives with chronic illness, trauma, depression, and anxiety go from stuck to unstoppable without overworking themselves.

And the best way to learn more about that is to take my free Masterclass where I teach you three mindset shifts and one simple three-step system to help you overcome procrastination and resistance.

All you have to do to get access to this free class is go to this link and sign up.

If you liked this video, hit that like button and subscribe, and be sure to share it with your friends.

I'll be back next week with another video.

See you then.

Bye.