How to check if a user logged in?

I can check and restrict access to certain methods or controllers by defining a helper method

PHP Code:

function checkLoggedIn() {
    if (session('loggedin') == true) {
        return true;
    }
    header("Location: /login");
    exit;
} 


Then an example usage is as below.

PHP Code:

namespace App\Controllers;

use CodeIgniter\Controller;

class Home extends Controller
{
 public function index()
 {
 return view('welcome_message');
 }

    public function showme($page = 'home')
    {
        checkLoggedIn();
    }
}

class AdminHome extends Controller
{
    public function __construct()
    {
        checkLoggedIn();
    }

    public function index()
 {
 return view('welcome_message');
 }
} 


Do you have any better method than this helper method? E.g. in laravel there are guards. Could I achieve something similar without having to write too much of code?