How to Sleep Better
Learn how to fall asleep faster, stay asleep longer, and wake up feeling rested. Covers routines, environment, and the habits that actually make a difference.
We used to think being bad at sleeping was just a personality trait. Some people sleep well, some people lie awake staring at the ceiling wondering if they remembered to lock the front door. We assumed we were the second type and that was that.
A lot of it is actually behavioral rather than fixed. The things you do during the day and in the hours before bed have a large effect on how quickly you fall asleep, how deeply you sleep, and how you feel in the morning. Some sleep problems are medical, and the end of this guide covers when to stop adjusting habits and see a doctor.
The CDC reports that roughly one in three American adults does not get enough sleep on a regular basis. That is defined as less than seven hours per night. CDC's researchers link sleeping less than that to impaired concentration and a higher risk of obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, and frequent mental distress.
Sleep hygiene, the habits and environment around sleep, is something you can improve starting tonight. None of these changes require medication or an expensive mattress. They are small adjustments, and nearly all of them are free.
Set a consistent sleep and wake schedule
Go to bed and wake up at the same time every day, including weekends. Your body has an internal clock (circadian rhythm) that regulates when you feel sleepy and when you feel alert. Keeping a consistent schedule trains this clock to initiate sleep at the right time. When you stay up two hours later on Friday and sleep in on Saturday, you give yourself social jet lag, which is exactly what it sounds like. By Sunday night, your body does not know when it is supposed to be tired, and Monday morning is miserable. Pick a wake-up time and stick with it. Your body will gradually start getting sleepy at the right time on its own.
Good to know: If you can only change one thing, make it your wake-up time. A fixed wake-up time is the anchor the rest of your schedule is built around, and it is the one you control. You cannot make yourself fall asleep on time, but you can set an alarm.
Make your bedroom dark, cool, and quiet
Three things decide whether your bedroom helps or hinders. Start with temperature. Your body's core temperature drops as you fall asleep, and a warm room works against that. Sleep websites commonly suggest 60 to 67 degrees Fahrenheit (15 to 19 degrees Celsius), but there is no single right number. A 2023 study of older adults sleeping at home found they slept most efficiently between 68 and 77 degrees Fahrenheit (20 to 25 degrees Celsius), with large differences from one person to the next. Start cool and adjust until you stop waking up hot or cold. Darkness is the second factor. Any light in your bedroom can interfere with melatonin production, especially blue and white light from electronics. Use blackout curtains or a sleep mask. Cover or remove any electronics with LED indicator lights. For noise, use earplugs or a white noise machine if you live somewhere loud. A fan serves double duty by creating white noise and keeping the room cool.
Build a wind-down routine
Your brain needs a transition period between being awake and being asleep. Starting 30 to 60 minutes before bed, do the same relaxing activities in the same order each night. This could be reading a book (not on a screen), stretching, taking a warm shower, or making a cup of herbal tea. The specific activities matter less than the consistency. A repeated routine becomes a signal that bedtime is coming. A warm shower or bath has research behind it, but the timing matters. A 2019 meta-analysis found that bathing in water of about 104 to 108 degrees Fahrenheit (40 to 42.5 degrees Celsius), for as little as 10 minutes, one to two hours before bed, shortened the time it took to fall asleep. The warm water draws heat to your hands and feet, and your core temperature then drops faster. So schedule the bath or shower before the rest of your wind-down routine, not right before you turn out the light.
Cut screen time at least one hour before bed
Screens emit blue light, which can suppress melatonin production, but the light is only part of the problem. The content on screens is stimulating. Social media, news, work emails, and even entertaining videos keep your brain engaged and alert when it should be winding down. Put your phone in another room at least one hour before bed. If you use your phone as an alarm, buy a cheap alarm clock and charge your phone in the kitchen. The first few nights without your phone in the bedroom will feel strange. Give it a week before you judge whether it helped.
Heads up: Night mode and blue-light glasses only address the light, and a 2023 Cochrane review found the evidence on whether blue-light glasses improve sleep mixed and inconclusive. Neither does anything about the stimulation. Scrolling through social media with a warm-toned screen is still keeping your brain wired. The best screen filter is putting the phone in another room.
Watch what you eat and drink after mid-afternoon
Caffeine lingers much longer than it feels like it does. In a 2013 sleep study, 400 mg of caffeine (roughly two to three large mugs of coffee) taken six hours before bed still measurably disrupted sleep, and the researchers concluded that people should avoid substantial caffeine for at least six hours before bedtime. Cut off caffeine by early afternoon, or noon if you are sensitive. Alcohol helps you fall asleep faster, which is why it seems to work. A 2013 review of the research found that at every dose studied, it also made the second half of the night more disrupted, and at moderate and high doses it reduced REM sleep, the stage most associated with dreaming. If you drink, keep it moderate and finish well before bed. Eating a large meal close to bedtime can also disrupt sleep, especially if you get heartburn, which tends to be worse when you lie down. Finish dinner a few hours before bed. If you need a late snack, keep it small.
Get bright light during the day
This sounds like it has nothing to do with sleep, but light is the main signal your body clock uses to set itself. Bright light during the day, especially in the morning, helps keep that clock on schedule. Get some outdoor light soon after you wake up. A morning walk works, so does eating breakfast by a window, and so does standing outside with your coffee. On cloudy days, outdoor light is still typically several times brighter than a well-lit office. If you work indoors all day with limited natural light, a light therapy lamp on your desk can help.
Handle racing thoughts with a brain dump
If you lie in bed with your mind racing through tomorrow's to-do list, unresolved conversations, or random worries, do a brain dump. Keep a notepad on your nightstand. Before turning off the light, spend five minutes writing down what you need to do tomorrow and over the next few days. A 2018 study published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: General put 57 young adults in a sleep lab and found that those who wrote a to-do list before bed fell asleep significantly faster than those who wrote about tasks they had already completed. The more specific the to-do list, the faster they fell asleep. So write "email Sam about the Tuesday invoice", not "work stuff".
Better sleep does not happen all at once. It is the result of consistent habits that create the right conditions for your body to do what it already knows how to do. Pick two or three changes from this guide and implement them tonight. A consistent wake-up time, screens off an hour before bed, and a cooler bedroom are a good place to start, because none of them needs special equipment. Give it two weeks. Sleep habits take time to shift because your circadian rhythm adjusts gradually, not overnight. If you are still struggling after a month of consistent sleep hygiene, talk to a doctor. Conditions like sleep apnea and restless legs syndrome need a diagnosis and their own treatment, and good habits alone will not resolve them. And if you wake up stiff or sore, the bed itself may be part of the problem. Our guide on how to choose a mattress walks through matching one to how you sleep.
Questions we get asked about this
Answers from experience, not a textbook.
The National Sleep Foundation recommends seven to nine hours for adults aged 18 to 64, and seven to eight hours for adults over 65. The right amount varies by individual. Some people function well on seven hours while others need nine. The best indicator is how you feel during the day. If you need caffeine to stay alert, feel drowsy during afternoon meetings, or fall asleep within minutes of sitting down, you are probably not getting enough.
Short naps of 20 to 30 minutes in the early afternoon are less likely to interfere with nighttime sleep. Longer naps or naps later in the day can reduce your sleep drive and make it harder to fall asleep at night. If you are struggling with nighttime sleep, skip naps for a while so sleep pressure can build up by bedtime. Once your nighttime sleep improves, you can reintroduce short early-afternoon naps if you need them.
For some problems, yes. According to the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health, melatonin may help with jet lag and with delayed sleep-wake phase disorder, where your body clock runs late. For chronic insomnia, the American Academy of Sleep Medicine and the American College of Physicians found there is not enough strong evidence to recommend it. Two more cautions from the same page. In the US, melatonin is sold as a dietary supplement, and a 2017 test of 31 products found that most did not contain the amount on the label. And long-term safety has not been well studied, so talk to a doctor before taking it regularly.
Get up. Do not lie in bed tossing and turning because your brain starts associating the bed with being awake and frustrated. Go to another room, do something quiet and non-stimulating in dim light (reading a physical book, light stretching, listening to calm music), and return to bed only when you feel sleepy. This technique is called stimulus control. It is one part of cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I), which the American College of Physicians strongly recommends as the first treatment for chronic insomnia. Stimulus control itself trains your brain to associate the bed exclusively with sleep.
Daily Wellness
How to Sleep Better
← you’re hereHow to Reduce Stress
How to Stop Snoring
How to Sober Up Fast
How to Get Rid of Dandruff
How to Remove Plaque from Teeth