This post is in partnership with Amazon Devices and Services. All opinions are our own.

Today we’re talking about one of our absolute most favorite activities: sleeping. Specifically, how we make sure we get the best sleep possible and our secret weapon that’s been helping us unwind. We’ve written about favorite mattresses and bed linens and all that stuff, but none of it’s useful if you can’t wind your mind down enough to actually close your eyes and let go.

We have both had our own troubles with sleeping—for me, I can’t stop thinking about all the things I need to do the next morning. For Matt, it’s replaying everything that happened that day. Both of us tend to wind up in anxiety whirlpools that make it impossible to relax.

So, we’ve invested a lot of time into figuring out how to shut our minds off and prepare for the best night of sleep possible, and a big part of it is having a bedtime routine. Like, a set of things you do nightly that get your mind and body in a place to let go. Enter: the secret weapon for the ultimate bedtime routine. Amazon’s Alexa, and a few smart devices that help her do her magic.

Amazon Devices and Services are capable of creating a routine for you, which is basically a preset of functions and tools that start up at one command. Ours is “Alexa, it’s bedtime.”

This is what happens:

Our bedside lamps dim to 20% (they’ve got Philips Hue bulbs which are Alexa enabled!)
Our diffuser starts pumping whatever oil we’re loving out into the air (right now it’s a lavender blend)
Sleep sounds start playing out of our Amazon Echo (our set preference is babbling brook)

The result is that the room smells and sounds incredibly relaxing, so we can get in the mental zone for going to sleep. Usually we’ll read for a bit (and try to avoid phones entirely) before saying “Alexa, goodnight” and having it all turn off. I’m not kidding when I say that it has transformed bedtime for us and has definitely improved our quality of sleep. If you want to make a regular household item like a lamp a part of your routine, you can just use the Amazon Smart Plug, which plugs into any regular outlet to let you turn items on and off using voice commands with Alexa.

Routines can be used for other things too. Like, if you want to wake up and hear about traffic and the weather, and also start the radio and turn on your coffee pot, you can! It’s a serious game changer. Let us know if you create your own routine and what it looks like—we’re always down to learn how other folks are using these devices. Thanks for stopping by the blog!

xoxo Beau

Not to Brag, But Our Bedtime Routine is THE Coziest