T

Founder of Culinary Alchemy®

Image by Spacejoy / mbg Creative / Unsplash

February 8, 2023

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Our sleep series, The Wind Down, provides a minute-by-minute peek into the wind-down routines that get well-being experts ready for bed. Today, we’re relaxing with nutritionist and celebrity chef Serena Poon, whose ideal nightly routine includes multiple types of salt in the bath and plenty of sound healing.

I developed insomnia back in my early 20s, right after I graduated from college, around the time when my dad was diagnosed with stage IV cancer. Any time you are a caretaker, especially in an acute situation, your circadian rhythm and sleep patterns are thrown off. I also believe that my anxiety at the time strongly contributed to my insomnia.

Sleep continues to be a practice that I mindfully work on. I believe that it is, without question, one of the most restorative nonnegotiables for a healthy life. Simply put, a good night’s sleep helps us function more optimally spiritually, cognitively, physiologically, and emotionally.

These days, I still don’t sleep for as long as I’d like every night. I have long days and often don’t get home until after dinner. I also sometimes lose track of time and find myself working, learning, or creating late into the night. But my sleep efficiency usually averages 94+%, and my combined REM and deep sleep percentages are at least 50% to 70% most nights.

I sleep best when I have time to do an extended wind-down ritual. It includes taking a warm bath or shower in the evening, meditating with my red light therapy while in my lymphatic drainage boots, and also relaxing on a crystal PEMF mat. (I really do like to stack my routine!) But with my travel schedule, it’s not often that I have the luxury of going through this process.

When I’m on the road, I try to have a cup of herbal tea or warm water with a little lemon, take my evening supplements, cleanse/shower, and do a light skin care prep. I also practice light breathwork and meditation and sleep with solfeggio frequencies (a type of sound healing) on.

• Average hours I sleep a night: 5
• Ideal bedtime: 11 p.m.
• Ideal wake-up time: 6:30 a.m.
• Nightstand essentials: Water, journal, pen, solfeggio frequency music
• Sleep bad habit: I often go to bed very late
• Caffeine consumption: 2 matcha lattes a day
• How I track my sleep: I use a variety of sleep-tracking devices
• The last product or habit that changed my sleep for the better: Meditation

Here’s a peek at my sleep routine when I’m home and have access to my recovery tools.

10 p.m.: I make a cup of tulsi rose tea and set up my infrared and amber lights. I lie on a PEMF mat and put a separate FDA-cleared light device on my face. I do this for about 15 to 20 minutes. I’ll usually listen to solfeggio frequencies here as well. 

10:20 p.m.: I lightly drybrush.

10:30 p.m.: I take a warm bath with a combination of Epsom salt, Dead Sea salt, pink Himalayan sea salt, and organic lavender essential oils. (And yes, I put crystals in my bath too.) I soak for another 15 to 20 minutes with solfeggio frequency playing (sometimes 528Hz, 432Hz, 963Hz, or 693Hz). After no more than 20 minutes, I take a warm shower to rinse off all the salt, then moisturize with raw organic unrefined coconut oil.  

10:50 p.m.: I then take my nighttime supplements (Serena Loves Ultimate D, Love My Mag, Optimize Me NAC, and sometimes Sweet Dreams). 

11 p.m.: I meditate. Sometimes I use a device if I want to focus attention on specific brain waves or my central nervous system. But usually, I just do light 4-4-4-4 breathing and go into a quiet meditation. On myself, I’ll do a little reiki. I’ll also do this with solfeggio frequency playing. 

11:15 p.m.: After meditation, I usually do my prayers and affirmations as I go into my dream sleep state.