Tuesday Tips: How To Catch That Much-Needed Beauty Rest the Night Before Your Wedding

Photo by Feather & Stone Photography

Tomorrow is the big day! You’ve been dreaming about it for years, and planning it for months. Now that your wedding day is on your doorstep, you’re probably feeling a mix of exhaustion, anxiety, and excitement. But if you find that you just can’t get to sleep, there are a few things you can try to get your body to go to sleep.

Some relaxing options include journaling, creating a calming environment for yourself, and meditating.

You should try to create a comfortable environment for yourself as much as you can, even if you're in an unfamiliar hotel room. Find yourself an essential oil, pillow spray, candle or lotion that has a calming scent. Some scents that are found to be soothing include lavender, chamomile, bergamot, jasmine, rose, and sandalwood. Adding just a hint to the room will help your brain chill out.

Also, you should try and turn the heat down in the room you’re staying in. Scientists recommend keeping the temperature between 60 and 67 degrees Fahrenheit when you’re trying to sleep. The rapid decrease in temperature can help to trigger your body’s natural impulses to sleep when it’s cooler.

It may also help to put a physical barrier between you and all of the wedding stuff that has yet to be done. Just putting it in the closet instead of having it on the nightstand could help you get that much needed beauty sleep!

If that isn’t enough to help you get catch some Z's, try grabbing a piece of paper. Journaling is an incredibly useful exercise when you can’t get your thoughts to stop racing long enough to fall asleep. Pull out a piece of paper - which can be anything from a leftover invitation to an actual notebook to the hotel stationary - and write down everything that’s going through your head. Put it all down, even the ridiculous stuff that you know isn’t true, and get it off of your mind until you can do something about it tomorrow.

You should end this exercise by writing down all of the good things that have happened today, and the things you’re excited about for tomorrow. After all, it’s supposed to be the first day of the rest of your life. You should start off at a high!

If you’re still struggling to calm down, meditation might be something that will help you. Meditation is useful for easing anxiety throughout your whole body and has been found to be incredibly effective. You can even do it from bed! A memory foam mattress that conforms to your body may feel particularly cozy for meditating.

For those who haven’t tried meditation before, The New York Times has a guide. Meditating can help you to focus on your breathing or the movements of particular parts of your body to bring your mind to the present.

Deep breathing exercises are a major component of meditation and help calm all of the physical effects of our anxiety, from tight muscles to a racing heartbeat. It can also help you get better sleep once you can fall asleep.

If you still can’t get to sleep, try talking to your partner about what’s causing you anxiety. That’s part of the reason you’re marrying them!