In our Sleeping With… series, we speak to people from different career paths, backgrounds, and stages of life to find out how they make sleep magic happen.
Love Island was about to start production on season two of the show—usually shot on an actual island—when COVID-19 hit. At first, everything was put on hold. Then it resumed, but the stakes were slightly different: This season, they would shoot in a Las Vegas hotel, creating a “bubble” where no one is allowed to come in or out.
Arielle Vandenberg, the show’s host, has been in the bubble with her Chihuahua, Stinky, for seven weeks, where she’ll continue shooting until the end of the month. Her fiancé, comedian Matt Cutshall, is back at their Los Angeles home. Love Island airs on CBS seven nights a week, which means most of what viewers see on TV is more or less happening in real time. “At first you’re like, ‘Oh, my God, what’s that going to be like, that sounds horrible,’” Vandenberg told SELF via a Zoom interview last week. “But I’m weirdly the best person for the job. Because I like being at home; I love chilling. I like to just sit on a couch and hang with my friends and watch a movie and be on my phone.”
In addition to her hosting gig, Vandenberg is known for her comedy—check her Instagram for self-aware, satirical workout videos and, well, this. But that’s why we love her! Below, Vandenberg shares her bedtime routine from her round-the-clock Love Island life.
Around 11 p.m., I always make tea. I love it.
I have a toaster oven and I have an electric kettle and a coffee machine, so I can cook anything that involves those things. It’s really hard to stay healthy when you’re out of your own routine, but I found a True Food Kitchen here, which is healthy food that I can actually Postmate, which is great. Because before that I was like, “I think my options are Cheesecake Factory and Cheesecake Factory.”
I make camomile tea at night or, if I really want to knock myself out, I just discovered melatonin. Vital Proteins makes a Blueberry Moon Milk supplement. I [drank] it thinking it was just tea, and I was watching a show and I was like, “What is happening?” My eyes were closed, and I was like, “What is wrong with me?” I mean, that shit should come with a warning. It is aggressive, but it’s good. And it actually tastes really good. It’s a little hot drink to put yourself to bed, and I’ve been loving that recently because it’s hard to go to sleep without Matt here.
It sucks to be away from Matt for so long, but it’s definitely easy having FaceTime.
We’ve even Zoomed because the connection is better. We talk all day just texting each other little funny things or whatever. Then at night he’ll pour a glass of whiskey and I’ll have my tea or a glass of wine and we’ll talk about our day.
Then I go wash my face while the tea kicks in.
I do a whole face thing where I give myself a miniature face massage. I feel like that relaxes you and takes away the stress. So I really get in there, just with my hands. I work my eyebrows. I do have this one tool, it’s the Angela Caglia little vibrating face tool. Not sure why it vibrates, but I like it.
I am obsessed with Vintner’s Daughter. I use that stuff like there’s no tomorrow. I think that the scent of it, too, is really relaxing. I even like to just cup it over my nose and smell it. I am not a meditating, “breathe in” kind of person, but for some reason, this product makes me that kind of person. I smell it, and I’m like, “Oh, that’s why people meditate. That’s why people have those Zen moments.” I’ve never been like that. But as I get older, I realize the importance of having those moments of peace.
I’ve always just been hyperactive. When I realize little things like that, I’m like, “Oh, this is what I’m missing out on?” Even that little tiny ritual, which is so lame probably—I just like to take a deep breath of that in and it smells so good—it does something to me.
It was really important to me to bring [to the hotel] the stuff that made me feel the most comfortable, the most at home.
I brought my sound machine, it’s Dohm. I have to travel with my sound machine. I have my silk blanket—I’m 33, and I have a silk blanket that I sleep with every night. It’s basically a silk rag that I’ve had my whole life. I don’t normally bring it with me because I’m always scared that it’s going to get lost, but since I was going to be here for so long, I was like, “You’re coming with.”
I also brought a giant Dyson fan. Those three things have changed my experience here because it does feel like I’m at home. I think being here could easily be really stressful and kind of scary, because you’re unable to leave. When I’ve shot at other locations, you’re able to go and have a day and then be tired and go back and go to bed. But that’s not the case here. I’m here all day and it could be really weird. So that’s actually been a huge help.
I also brought my Dyson vacuum. It’s so random, but I have actually used that thing. I’ve had people be like, “Can I borrow your vacuum?” There’s also dog hair everywhere, so I have to get that out. It was embarrassing, rolling up with all the shit that I brought, but it was necessary. And I feel so much better for doing that.
I bought these shorts from Brandy Melville [to wear to sleep], like, five years ago, and I just keep buying them.
Matt’s like, “You wear those every night.” They’re so soft and so comfortable. And they don’t get twisted around my body. Those are my go-to pajamas with a big soft T-shirt.
Then I pee, like, 50 times.
When I lay in bed, if I have to pee even this much [pinches fingers together], I have to get up. So I get it all out. I feel like people have such routines and I’m just like, “I pee a lot.”
A big thing that I do is I give Stinky a massage.
I tell her every night, “I’ll take care of you forever. I love you so much. Sleep so good. I’ll take care of you forever.” I literally do. It’s part of our thing, and she stares at me and then she starts to doze off and it’s the best feeling because I’m like, I just put my little baby to sleep and now I can relax. She doesn’t sleep with me because she likes to be alone. But I just tell her, I’ll always take care of her forever until the day I don’t have her anymore. That is a big thing that I do that actually calms me too.
I do a lot of weird little things right before I go to bed.
If I have a nail or toenail that is scratching on the sheet, I don’t care if it’s freaking 5:30 a.m., I wake up and I will go file my toenails. That is a huge thing that I would freak out over.
I get super-dry hands. And especially being here, it’s so dry, so I have to have lotion on my hands. Sometimes I’ll even wear moisture gloves. If you have one day where you’re like, “Oh, my knuckles are so dry,” you put those on, sleep in them, then you take them off and you literally have angel hands. Sometimes I’ll wake up and be so annoyed with them. I rip them off, and I’ll throw them across the room. But for the most part I wake up and I’m just like, “That was not the best sleep, but my hands are soft.” I bought them at Larchmont Beauty—it’s my go-to family-owned shop. They’re awesome.
I have to cover my lips with chapstick, like, a lot. I hate feeling dry, as you know. I use Papaw, because it doesn’t have a scent or anything. It’s just clear, and feels so good. I also put it all over my knuckles.
And I have to cover my ear with my sheet, or with the blanket because I’m scared spiders are going to crawl in my ear. Then it blocks the light from the TV too.
Sometimes I’ll wake up in the middle of the night and brush my teeth because my teeth feel weird. If I get up to go pee, I want to brush my teeth again. I’ll just do a quick one because it makes me feel like I’m going to bed again, because sometimes it’s hard for me to fall back asleep once I’ve gotten up to go do something. I need to reset myself.
I have to fall asleep with the TV on because I’m scared of the dark.
I watch 30 Rock to fall asleep because I know what’s going to happen. But if I’m really just wanting to watch a show and follow along, I’ve been watching Orange Is the New Black. I’m watching Love Island UK right now, the last season of that. I have also been watching my show every night—it’s so crazy that it’s on every night and it’s also so crazy because usually in this industry you have to wait two years before you see what you’ve done, you know? I get to see it the next day. It’s real reality TV. It’s also like Instagram in real life, because it’s like instant gratification for anyone who’s wondering what’s going to happen. Well, you’ll find out in literally 24 hours.
If I can’t sleep, I pray.
I usually do this anyways—I always pray every night. I just say thank you for this day. That actually really calms me. If I have anxiety in bed and I just close my eyes and start praying, I literally fall asleep and it just goes away. I have a CBD Dosist Calm pen that I also smoke if I can’t sleep. It doesn’t knock me out, but it just chills you out.
Last night, I hate to admit that I fell asleep at 2:30 a.m.
Being here is so different, because when you’re out and having a full day of whatever you’re doing, you get back and you’re tired. I’m here kind of chilling, so there’s nothing to get tired from. Being here, I can go to sleep whenever I want. I can wake up whenever I want. It’s pretty awesome. When I’m at home, Matt goes to sleep so early that I just take his lead and go to bed whenever he does, which is usually around 11. Here it’s been harder for me for some reason. So I’m just letting myself do whatever my body is telling me to do.
I have been sleeping so well in this hotel. The bed is so comfortable. I wake up feeling like I actually slept all night long. I never feel like, “Oh, I need more sleep.”
I think a lot of people are scared to date during quarantine for obvious reasons. But I think the coolest thing—and what people should take away from this situation—is it forces you to get to know people.
If you’re not going to hang out with them in person, get to know them. You can FaceTime with people, have Zoom dates. If you meet somebody during all of this, and you’re not face-to-face with them, just getting to know them is really the biggest part.
I think people get scared because they’re like, “Well, I think the physical part is such a big part of a relationship.” But it doesn’t have to be. I think that the main part of [a relationship] is your connection on a brain level. So, do that. No judgment, but I think that getting to know someone before the physical stuff is definitely better, because then you’re not disappointed if you kiss someone and he doesn’t call you. This is a perfect time to try a different technique of dating. It probably has more tension and more giggles and butterflies, you know?