USA TODAY International Edition
Don’t sleep on the need for rest, Aniston says
There aren’t enough hours in the day for Jennifer Aniston. She knows that.
For the past 10 years, the “Friends” actress recalls grappling with sleepless nights – and admittedly still does to this day. Sometimes, it’s work on her mind, as she prepares for the release of Netflix’s “Murder Mystery 2” alongside Adam Sandler and is set to return for Season 3 of “The Morning Show.” Other times, the stress of not being able to fall sleep was enough to keep her awake for hours.
At first, she ignored it. She thought, “‘ I got this. I can go the day on five hours of sleep and I’ll make up for it over the weekend’… and over time, it was really starting to affect every single part of my daily life,” Aniston tells USA TODAY.
It became more difficult to memorize lines. In her workouts, she wasn’t as strong as she knew she could be. Aniston also noticed her skin would not look “as great and vibrant. I just looked exhausted.”
A good night’s sleep “is sort of the last thing on your to- do list,” Aniston says, crediting her own struggles to the reason she wants to promote National Sleep Awareness Month in March. “We’re so arrogant when we’re younger. We think, ‘ ah, I’ll sleep when I’m 80.’ I can’t tell you the amount of times I’ve said that to myself, but you can’t make up on lost sleep. It’s just a myth.”
And that’s why she is passionate about joining “Seize the Night & Day,” a campaign providing educational resources about the health consequences of insomnia.
What is Aniston’s sleep routine to stay productive?
It doesn’t take much to create a good sleep routine, she says. Aniston’s tips for a productive day – and night – include:
● Meditating every morning.
● Limiting her screen time, especially before bed.
● Ending the day with a relaxing, hot bath.
“We also don’t allow ourselves the time to do the things that we need to self care because we’re so on the go, go, go go go,” Aniston says, urging others to carve out 20 minutes at night to “turn everything off and just quiet your mind.”
“It’s not easy, but it does help,” she says.
She is embracing the beauty of aging: ‘ I want my body to thrive’
Along with her sleep routine, Aniston is bringing all kinds of health to the forefront. She always is asked about her exercise regimen ( which includes yoga and Pilates) – as well as what she eats in a day to stay strong and energized.
But being healthy is more than just looking good, Aniston emphasizes. Fans often fixate on her youthful, glowing appearance and fit, toned body at age 54. (“To hear people say, ‘ You look like you did on ‘ Friends!” Listen, lovely compliment. But that’s a TV set they’re looking at,” she jokes.)
However, the point of fitness and wellness, she says, is not to achieve a “quick fix” to looking younger. For her, it’s the opposite: to embrace the aging process and thrive from the inside out.
“If I tried to look the way I looked at 20, I would not really actually want to do that. It’s absolutely impossible,” Aniston says.
“I want my body to get strong, because as I get older, I want my body to thrive. We’re all going to get older. We’re all headed to that exact same spot. But we can take care of our skin. We can have a healthy diet. We can drink lots of water.”
Aniston concedes there’s still a lot she’s learning when it comes to her health.
She’ll go to the dermatologist if there’s a new treatment that interests her. (” I have no shame in that,” she says).
But for now, Aniston says she’s doing the best she can do to feel as good as she can – and hopes others will follow in her footsteps.