With her perpetually youthful glow that has never dimmed with age, Jennifer Aniston continues to be the poster-girl of health and wellness. Hers is a lifestyle that champions balance in all aspects of life, that encourages daily movement, and finding a routine that works for you. For anyone else it might be something to scoff at, but considering she’s a hard-working actress with numerous films in production, and even runs her own business of hair products among countless other ventures, Aniston is certainly practising what she preaches and most can only look on and wonder how she manages it all.
Never one to shy away from authenticity, the actress revealed that while she might have had her workouts and work schedule nailed, sleep was proving to be something of a challenge for the star. Often neglected, Aniston soon began to feel sluggish and off-kilter in her eating and exercise habits as her sleep continued to be disrupted. Eventually, she raised the issue with her doctor and now, in a new campaign with Idorsia called Seize the Night & Day, she’s encouraging others to do the same. According to Aniston, “If you lose sleep during the week, you think, ‘Oh, I’ll just sleep all weekend.’ But you can’t make up for lost sleep. When we’re sleeping is when our bodies are doing all that repair work – on our cells, for our brain clarity, to our muscles, skin and hair – it just affects everything. So I hit a wall and I finally decided to do something about it.”
“We’re all getting older, and we don’t want to just be exhausted,” she explained in an interview with SELF. It led Aniston to create a bedtime routine that allows her to unwind and enter a relaxed state, priming her for a good night’s sleep. To begin, she switches off all screens, placing her phone in the kitchen or bathroom. Describing the challenge of filming where actors are often required to work throughout the night only to wrap in the morning, Aniston says, “When I have the luxury of maintaining my routine, it’s everything.”
Aniston recalls returning home from work in her 20s and falling asleep on the couch, often without having washed her makeup off. Now, she’s far more fastidious about her skincare and always ensures she washes her face, sometimes even getting in a hot bath to help relax. “Usually I will do my meditation from there: I do stretches, I do some yoga, and then I do a meditation and I just pray. Then I will sleep,” says Aniston.
For Aniston, meditation is crucial to not only preparing for bedtime but also practising gratitude and taking time to unpack the day. “If I only have five minutes to do it, five minutes is fine. Usually, it’s just quieting down my thoughts. Or sometimes I’ll follow a meditation on an app. Sometimes, it’ll be about writing out a gratitude list. My meditations vary, but gratitude lists are really important, I believe. Every week I do them. We have a lot to be grateful for.”
Regardless of what your sleep practice is like, there’s a lot to takeaway from Aniston’s advice on bedtime routines and meditation. Aside from taking time to think what you’re grateful for that day or week, Aniston also makes a strong case for taking the time to check in with yourself as she explains the importance of self-care. “Even with my mum friends who are running on fumes because of the time that they put toward their kids, all of their self-care comes afterwards and they have no time to recover. And then eventually they just feel that their patience is less, and they don’t have the tolerance level that they want,” she says.
“I think it’s just about shifting your perspective a bit and understanding that self-care isn’t selfish – it’s a positive because you are able to really be present and useful to your family when you are well rested.”
