What daily routines make life easier?
Set times for sleep, meals and medicines make your days easier, because the important things take care of themselves. The National Institute on Aging recommends going to bed and getting up at the same time each day. The trick is finding the balance: routines for the practical things, and variety in what you experience.
A good routine is an agreement with yourself that the important things aren't up for debate every day. When your morning medicines always come with your coffee and your bedtime stays the same, you don't have to spend energy keeping track of them. That leaves room for things that are more fun to think about.
Where routines help most
- Sleep. The US National Institute on Aging's first tip for good sleep is to go to bed and get up at the same time each day. Your body likes predictability here. Read more in our article on sleep and memory.
- Medicines. Tie them to fixed moments, like your morning coffee or brushing your teeth at night. That way the habit does the remembering for you.
- Meals. Regular meals keep both your energy and your appetite steady, and for many people who live alone, they're the natural anchors of the day.
- Exercise. A walk that's always after lunch usually happens. A walk "sometime" happens less often.
- Staying in touch. Have set times for calls and regular plans with family and friends, so seeing each other doesn't depend on who happens to think of it.
Leave room for something new
Routines are good for the practical side of life, but your brain also needs the opposite. The National Institute on Aging notes that learning new skills and taking on new, mentally demanding activities supports your thinking. So break the pattern now and then: walk a new route, try a new dish, go and do something you've never done before. Things that are new and a little unfamiliar get your brain working.
The rule of thumb is simple: routines for what needs remembering, variety in what's worth experiencing. Keep a set bedtime and set times for your medicines, but by all means take a new walk and ask a new question every day.
How to build a routine that sticks
- One new habit at a time. If you try to rearrange your whole day in a week, it rarely lasts the month.
- Attach the new to the old. New habits last best when they build on something you already do: after your coffee, before the news, once you've brought in the mail.
- Make it visible. Put the pill organizer out, set your walking shoes by the door, and keep the calendar by the phone.
- Use reminders for whatever hasn't stuck yet. An alarm, or a voice assistant that tells you when it's time, is perfectly fair: it's scaffolding while the habit takes hold.
This is general information, not medical advice. Every situation is different, so talk to a doctor about yours.