Welcome to the first step on your path to the best sleep of your life.
We're sleeping better knowing you signed up for Sleep, But Better
-- a unique seven-part CNN newsletter designed to guide you to a new era of improved rest in your life.
The research is clear: Sleeping better will boost your happiness, productivity and life span. It will help you eat better, exercise harder and more easily cope with stress.
Sleep is the fundamental key to all of it.
In only six short lessons -- plus one bonus edition on the risks and rewards of napping -- Sleep, But Better will give you the building blocks to create a sustainable, life-improving habit of getting enough good sleep every night.
The set of new behaviors you’re going to adopt with our help will correct many of your sleep issues -- without the use of prescription sleep aids -- and give you the tools you need to sleep like a baby (if babies slept through the night).
Each newsletter you get will introduce a new behavior to practice, as well as fun sleep facts, reminders why rest is essential to your mental and physical health (as important as exercise and eating well, say experts), some alternative methods for uncovering even more of that elusive golden sleep, and even tested sleep product recommendations.
Let’s get started!
For your first challenge, you’ll establish a routine. Why? Because creating new calming habits for the hour before bed will teach your body, and brain, that it is now on a quiet one-way road to Sleepville.
Start by establishing a set time to go to sleep and a set time to wake -- even on the weekend -- and stick to it. Consistency is key.
Since most of us need at least seven hours of sleep, if you plan to wake by 6 a.m., you’ll need to be asleep by 11 p.m. the night before. You can add or subtract hours until you wake up feeling refreshed.
Start your nighttime routine by turning off the TV, and putting away your laptop and cellphone. The blue light from those devices stimulates your nervous system, defeating the purpose of preparing the body for sleep.
Ready your clothes and materials you’ll need the next morning for work. Empty your bladder and brush your teeth.
Now choose at least one of the following activities: a warm bath or shower, soothing music, meditation, light stretching, deep breathing and progressive muscle relaxation or reading a relaxing book (no fast-paced murder mysteries please). If you enjoy smells, add some calming essentials oils, such as lavender, to your environment.
Just like a dog knows a walk is coming when it sees the leash, you are training your brain to associate all the nightly activities of your bedtime routine with sleep.
sleepy facts
Not getting enough sleep? You’re not alone. According to polling data by SleepFoundation.org, 48% of Americans reported having insomnia occasionally and 22% experienced insomnia every or almost every night.
Did you know? People who tend to sleep on their side as straight as a log with arms down are, according to one study, often very social and likable. Sleep on your stomach? You may be defensive and thin-skinned.
healthy hint
Altering your regular sleep-wake time by 90 minutes -- in either direction -- significantly increases your chance of having a heart attack or heart disease.
quote of the day
"Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise."-- Benjamin Franklin
quirky sleep solution
Jeff Bridges recorded an album called the “Sleeping Tapes” with various tracks and his duderific narration designed to lull you to sleep. You can listen to it for free, though Squarespace asks for donations to a worthy charity.
nighty night
And that’s it. After sticking with your routine for several days, you should find it enjoyable and starting to become effective. Until next time, good night and good luck…
2 2 2 2 2
Welcome to the second leg of the cozy journey to the best sleep of your life.
If the routine you started from the previous newsletter needs tweaking, do it now but then try to be consistent with that while you add on a second behavioral change below.
Are you ready to give in to the Dark Side of the sleep Force? In this installment we’ll show you how to use it in the hero’s journey for good sleep.
dark matter
Let’s get your “Dexter” on. For your second challenge, you’re going to be a serial killer -- of light, that is -- systematically snuffing out sources of brightness that may be keeping you awake, denying you restorative deep sleep, or waking you too early.
Not all light is created equal. A bright, blue wavelength (think cellphones and laptops), which is wonderful during the day because it boosts mood, attention and reaction time, is the most disruptive at night. Just when you’re supposed to naturally be getting sleepy, light delays the release of sleep-inducing melatonin, which then resets the body’s internal clock to a later schedule.
It’s not just about eliminating light once you’ve gone to bed. As you learned from the last challenge, you should be avoiding screens an hour before you want to fall asleep.
So here’s your first assignment with this second challenge: If you have a TV in your room, don’t turn it on. And if you must have your phone by your bed in case of emergencies or it's your alarm clock, put the screen facedown so that it doesn’t illuminate while you’re drifting off.
The second assignment is to do some detective work. When you turn off the lights, let your eyes adjust and then look carefully around the room. Anything shining back at you like cat eyes in the dark? That’s not good. Other than a smoke detector, you shouldn’t see anything -- no alarm clock numbers, no Wi-Fi extender, no laptop or phone charger, no electronic toothbrush charging in the neighboring bathroom, no moon through the window. Good night, moon.
Pro tip: Socks can be good ways to cover up small electronics with lights. Think of the socks as gadget sleeping bags. Larger items may need a T-shirt.
Now, like Marty McFly, consider the future: What’s your room going to look like when the sun comes up? Consider downing shades or pulling curtains. If that doesn’t do the trick, think seriously about adding blackout curtains. Unlike the rest of your life, right now you want to be kept in the dark.
Sleep masks can also be effective. There are all sorts of styles to appease your inner child. You don’t need to worry if they make you look silly because you’ll be sound asleep.
Guess what helps with sleep besides all this darkness? Light! (During the day, of course.) Getting good exposure to natural light after you wake up helps regulate your circadian rhythm -- and sets you up for another visit to the Dark Side of the sleep Force.
sleepy facts
The average adult needs between seven and nine hours sleep, and the younger you are the more sleep you need. Teenagers need eight to ten hours, and kids under age 5 need up to thirteen hours sleep a night.
did you know?
Some people, around 20% of us, can sleep with our eyes open, though it’s not considered a good idea.
healthy hint
For kids, sleep is vital for brain development. According to one study, children under age 3 with irregular bedtimes were negatively affected in their reading and math skills. Among adults, poor sleep quality has been tied to depression and memory problems. And for teens, getting fewer than eight hours of sleep a night has been associated with obesity, migraines, sexual activity, substance abuse, lack of exercise, feelings of depression and thoughts of suicide.
quote of the day
'' -----
"Turn off your mind, relax and float downstream."
-- The Beatles
"Tomorrow Never Knows"
quirky sleep solutions
Tiny, adorable Guatemalan worry dolls -- you tell each one something fretting you -- have long been put under pillows with the hope that they take away your fears and let you sleep, according to legend. If that sounds silly, there’s actual science behind why they can be effective for some.
The research is clear: Sleeping better will boost your happiness, productivity and life span. It will help you eat better, exercise harder and more easily cope with stress.
Plus, we have product recommendations from our partners with CNN Underscored, need-to-know sleep trivia and more.
So welcome aboard the sleep train. It runs on time and the berth is cool, dark and quiet as it rocks you to sleep. The first stop on your journey is coming to your inbox.
Finally, this newsletter is part of a larger wellness-led initiative from CNN called Life, But Better -- an essential source for information and tools to inspire and challenge us to lead better lives. And as we launch new tools, newsletters and series for Life, But Better, we’ll let you know in case you want to check them out!
Good night and sweet dreams,
David Allan
Editorial Director, CNN Features
4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4
Welcome to the fourth stop on your magical slumber-y tour hoping to take you away to peaceful sleep.
From the previous challenges, you should also be maintaining your sleep routine and keeping your room dark and cool.
This time you’re going to focus on quiet, or at least ways to cancel out noise. That, plus some extra bits of sleep trivia, another relevant quote and more.
Ok, don’t buckle up, because it’s going to be a soft, gentle ride.
hello silence, my old friend
For your fourth challenge, you’re going to pretend that you’re in that horror movie “A Quiet Place” as you get tucked in. If it gets too loud, the sleep-gobbling monsters will attack.
Here’s a fun fact: We share a common trait with birds in that our brain doesn’t fully shut out sounds. You could call us bird brains, but it’s actually an evolutionary advantage because we can be semi-alert to threats while we sleep. And it allows us to respond to our alarm clock or crying baby.
But our subconscious awareness of sound while sleeping also means we can be easily awoken by a passing truck or a talkative bird in the tree outside.
Your assignment is, before bedtime, to try to identify and quell any controllable sounds: smartphone pings, open windows, automatic coffee maker alarms, even wind chimes.
As for the noises you can’t control -- the barking dog, your snoring partner, the irritating noisy neighbor, and that (bleeping) bird that’s still chattering -- there are ways you can mask those, including earplugs (which come in various types), noise-canceling earphones and white noise machines.
White noise is even better than silence. Why? Because if it’s too quiet even small noises might wake you. There are apps that can mix white, brown and other colored noises, or re-create the sound of a rainforest. But for most people, a monotonous fan sound -- made by an actual fan inside the bedroom -- is ideal.
You can’t get rid of all sound -- cue stupid bird -- but the more noise you can muffle or stop in its tracks, the less opportunity there is to pull you out of that lovely dream -- you know the one...
sleepy facts
Nearly one-third of Britons said they sleep naked, a much higher percentage than any other country, according to a survey by the National Sleep Foundation.
did you know?
The loudest snores ever recorded drowned out a jackhammer.
healthy hint
Even a minor loss of sleep can impair your body’s immune function. According to one 2009 study in which people were given nasal drops with the cold virus, those who slept less than seven hours were nearly three times more likely to catch the cold than those who slept eight hours or more.
quote of the day
'' -----
"Laugh and the world laughs with you, snore and you sleep alone."
-- Anthony Burgess
quirky sleep solution
The website and app Radio Garden streams thousands of live radio stations around the world. And some are 24-hour stations of ambient sleepy sounds, including Ambi Nature Radio in Zurich, Birdsong Radio in London, Sleep Radio in Te Aroha, New Zealand, and Ambient Sleeping Pill out of South Plainfield, New Jersey. Check it out.
lullabuy
CNN Underscored
Our partners at CNN Underscored, a product reviews and recommendations guide owned by CNN, have a guide on white noise machines. While most are under $50, the most expensive, at nearly $100, is a Brookstone sound mixer that lets you tailor your favorite sound samples; the cheapest is a free app called Sleep Sounds.
5 5 5 5 5 5 5
Welcome to the fifth car on the overnight sleep train.
In this installment we’re going to get into some of the activities you should leave on the platform before we leave the station.
If you’ve worked on the previous challenges, that train always runs on time and the sleeping car is cool, dark and quiet as it rocks you to sleep.
And as always, this newsletter includes sleep trivia, alternative ideas and more. Aaaaaaaaaaaalllll aboard!
what not to do
Image of bedroom. Credit: Pexels
We’ve already started a list of the Dos and Don’ts of Dozing in previous lessons. You know to avoid your bedroom being too warm. You know to turn off gadgets that emit light and noise. And you have something of a checklist every night with your sleep-enhancing routine -- which by now should be becoming a habit.
But there is further research-based evidence about additional behaviors to avoid. The challenge this time is cut out as many of the following eight behaviors as you can (if you’re even doing them in the first place):
Don't watch television or work in your bedroom. You want your brain to think of the room as only for sleep (and sex).
Shut off the news and put down your smartphone. It’s not just that you want to avoid brain-stimulating blue light the hour or so before bed, you also want to avoid emotionally stimulating news or drama on Facebook.
Sorry, smokers, nicotine is also a stimulant. Smokers are four times more likely to say they feel tired when they wake up than nonsmokers, according to one study. Consider it yet another reason to kick the habit.
Regular exercise does help with sleep, but you may want to avoid it in the couple of hours before you head off to dreamland. While studies haven't proven that exercise just before bed will harm sleep, many experts -- like the World Sleep Society -- recommend avoiding it. Why? Because moderate exercise heats up your core temperature, signaling the body that it's time to be awake. And all those lovely feel-good endorphins that exercise provides is thought to keep some of us alert.
OK, brace yourself, pet lovers. No furry friends in bed. Every little purr or tail wag is likely to disrupt your sleep, no matter how much you enjoy cuddling. Plus, the animal dander Fido and Fluffy bring with them into the bedroom can trigger reactions in people with allergies, further disrupting slumber.
If you like to read to fall asleep, don’t do screens. Try books or long-form magazines. If you love your electronic reader device, look for models without backlights or the ability to turn that function off.
Don’t just lie there if you’re all keyed up. Try deep breathing or other mindfulness exercises to unwind. Mantras help some people, as does prayer, or try list-making or visualizations and progressive muscle relaxation. Counting sheep is classic.
Finally, if you just can’t sleep, don’t force it. After trying for, say, 20 minutes, get up, go do something relaxing until you get tired, and come back to bed then. Tossing and turning in bed is a recipe for anxiety, which will further inhibit your sleep.
sleepy facts
A “hypnic jerk” is that thing where you’ve just fallen asleep and a sudden muscle twerk jerks you back to consciousness. Called “myoclonus,” the jerks are involuntary muscle movements in the same family as hiccups. They can be so slight you don’t feel much more than a twitch, or so intense that you feel as if you are falling in a dream.
did you know?
“Atony” is that thing when your body becomes paralyzed when you dream (REM sleep). That’s the body’s way of keeping you from acting out your dreams. Sleepwalking, however, can occur during non-REM stages of sleep.
healthy hint
A good night’s sleep can increase your sex drive and the likelihood of having sex. In one study among college students published in the Journal of Sexual Medicine, every extra hour of sleep they got, their chance of having sex the next day increased by 14%.
quote of the day
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"I haven't slept for 10 days, because that would be too long."
-- Mitch Hedberg
quirky sleep solution
It’s not cheap, but a company called Rocking Bed has manufactured a frame that gently moves your bed back and forth while you sleep. Patent is pending. The company’s tagline is “Sleep like a baby again!”
lul
6 6 6 6 6 6 6
Welcome to part VI, the last in our series on getting you the best possible sleep you can manufacture. (Spoiler alert: Look out for a bonus edition on the pros and cons of napping coming soon.)
Hopefully you’re already feeling the benefit of your sleep routine, of making your bedroom dark, cool, quiet and screen-free. But don’t quit while you’re ahead, or while you’re still continuing to improve your vital sleep. We have one last challenge for you that will help the cause.
It has to do with your eating habits. “Hey,” you may be arguing to the screen you’re reading off of, “I didn’t sign up for a better eating newsletter!” That’s true. But not only will getting good sleep improve your eating habits, but eating better improves your sleep. It’s a fluffy, yawn-inducing virtuous circle pillow. Keep reading to find out what to avoid consuming for better sleep.
what not to eat and drink
Image of mug. Credit: Adobe Stock
The food and drinks to avoid don’t apply just the hour or so before bed. Start avoiding caffeine starting midafternoon and at least six hours before bed -- that means coffee, tea, many sodas and chocolate -- to allow the effects to wear off in plenty of time.
Alcohol is another no-no. You may think it helps you doze off, but you are more likely to wake in the night as your body begins to process the spirits. It's truly a myth that a drink will help you sleep better at night.
Heavy and spicy foods should also be avoided. They may give you heartburn or other digestive issues and affect your ability to get and stay asleep. Protein is especially hard to digest, so if you have to eat late, opt for lighter fare.
And temporarily skip dessert too for the challenge. Studies show sugar is linked to restless, disturbed sleep.
If you want a light snack before bed, that’s OK. The National Sleep Foundation recommends munching on a handful of nuts; a few cherries (which are high in sleep-friendly melatonin); a banana (which contains muscle relaxers potassium and magnesium) and decaffeinated teas such as chamomile, ginger or peppermint.
sleepy facts
Although many people believe it, tryptophan, an amino acid found in turkey, doesn't actually make you sleepy because the amount isn’t very high and is canceled out by other amino acids in the bird. Tryptophan does increase serotonin levels, though, and that has been shown to decrease depression, irritability and anxiety.
did you know?
On average, richer people sleep better than poor people. In part this is due to money anxiety being a leading cause of insomnia.
healthy hint
Sleep deprivation will adversely affect you faster than food deprivation. If you fasted for five days, you’d be hungry, weak and thinner, but unless you were malnourished to start, you’d be fine. Go without sleep for five days and you are likely to start hallucinating.
quote of the day
'' -----
"I love sleep. My life has the tendency to fall apart when I'm awake."
-- Ernest Hemingway
quirky sleep solution
The mindfulness and meditation app Headspace has free "sleepcasts," 45-minute or so audio guides that help you visualize calming experiences, like walking through a sleepy town or hanging out by a desert campfire.
nighty night
We have one more bonus edition coming to you, on the risks and rewards of napping.
But before we close out this series on getting better sleep and why it’s so important, let me add that the causes of sleep problems can be manifold and some quite serious.
The suggestions in the series can help many people, dramatically, but if you experience sleep apnea (a potentially harmful sleep condition in which people stop breathing for brief periods throughout the night), or restless legs syndrome (in which your legs move frequently during the night), sleepwalking (in which you manage to get past your body’s restrictions and walk around while asleep), or chronic insomnia (where you go without sleep for hours in the night, even after this course of challenges), you should talk to a professional for more intervention options. Serious causes of sleep deprivation call for serious remedies. Don’t put it off, please.
We hope you’re sleeping like a baby (if babies actually slept soundly though the night) and if you didn’t really work on one of the previous challenges, consider going back and trying again. The only thing you have to lose is more sleep.
The sleep advice no one tells you
Sleep better without sacrificing your tech.
If you’ve ever had a terrible, or even middling, night’s slumber — which studies and surveys suggest is a fair number of people — you’re well aware of the effects of poor sleep. Aside from the sluggishness and lethargy, lack of sufficient shut-eye can blunt thinking and reaction time and negatively impacts judgment. Long-term sleep deprivation has been linked with higher likelihoods of depressive moods, anxiety, diabetes, and obesity.
Difficulty sleeping can be attributed to a variety of factors and isn’t a reflection on how optimized or streamlined your life is. Shift work, children’s inconsistent sleep schedules, stress, bright light in the evening (from both home lighting fixtures and tech), the pandemic, and sleep conditions like insomnia and sleep apnea can all plague a person’s ability to get adequate rest. Sleep deprivation is, ultimately, a systemic issue, and people shouldn’t feel broken for the societal issues impacting sleep.
Despite all of the modern obstacles to sleep, improvement in your quality and quantity of sleep is possible — and you don’t have to lock your phone in another room to achieve it.
Listen to your body
When it comes to sleep, most quantifiers are highly subjective. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends adults get between seven and nine hours of sleep a night, “but the magic number is really dependent on the person,” says sleep psychologist Jade Wu, author of the forthcoming book Hello Sleep: The Science and Art of Overcoming Insomnia Without Medications.
Instead, people should pay attention to how they feel when they wake up and throughout the day, says Vanessa Hill, behavioral scientist, creator of the YouTube series BrainCraft, and researcher at Central Queensland University. Fatigue during the day is a sign your body isn’t getting enough sleep. Survey yourself as to why: Going to bed too late? Trouble falling asleep? Difficulty staying asleep?
To help evaluate how rested you feel during the day, Wu stresses the importance of knowing the difference between “sleepy” and “tired.” Sleepiness manifests in the body: droopy eyelids, an overall heaviness, the entire machine wants to shut down. Tiredness can also present physically, but it often stems from a lack of mental energy, a dip in motivation or inspiration. “If you’re sleepy during the day, that means you did not sleep last night or didn’t get good quality sleep,” Wu says. “If you’re tired during the day, that may not be because of poor sleep. It may be because you’re depressed or bored or dehydrated.”
The cure for sleepiness, Wu says, is, simply but perhaps not obviously, to sleep. Tiredness can be overcome by taking a break during the work day, drinking some water, spending time with friends, or going dancing — not sleeping. “Going to bed might not be the answer and in fact, that might backfire,” Wu says, “because if you’re tired but not sleepy yet and you go to bed, you’re going to have insomnia.”
Rather than forcing yourself into bed at a set time every night and struggling to slip into slumber, take a cue from your body and hit the sheets only when you’re sleepy, Wu says. “Then, we give our bodies a chance to tell us, ‘Here’s what I need,’” she says, “instead of us imposing our idea of how much sleep we need.”
When it comes to the ideal conditions for sleep, try to keep your room as dark, cool, and quiet as possible, Hill says. Again, let your body dictate the most comfortable temperature, which can be different for everyone depending on the weight of their sheets and blankets, what they wear to bed, if they sleep alone or with a partner and pets, and if they run hot or cold. Hill is a proponent of blackout curtains and a white noise machine or smart speaker for keeping light and extraneous sound out of your sleep sanctuary. If you aren’t up for purchasing a new device, iPhones also have a white noise function, and lots of white noise apps are available to download.
However, don’t feel pressured to download sleep tracking apps to measure and analyze your sleep data as it can feed into an unhelpful fixation. “It’s not useful to try to optimize your sleep just for the sake of it,” Hill says.
Fix one thing at a time
Once you’ve figured out the nature of your sleep issues, you’ve got to determine what’s causing them in the first place. This can be difficult, Hill says, because so many factors influence your ability to get shut-eye: screen habits, exposure to light, diet, stress, anxiety, inconsistent work hours. “People need to remember, you can’t change everything,” Hill says.
Out of all the potential deterrents to sleep, figure out which is having the greatest impact. Does work stress keep you up at night? Do you get caught in a TikTok wormhole until the wee hours of the morning? Do your neighbor’s bright backyard lights shine into your window? Does your partner snore? Focus on changing one thing at a time and you’ll be much more likely to maintain that change, Hill says. Potential fixes include listening to a guided meditation before bed to relieve stress, swapping out TikTok for a book, or helping your partner treat their snoring (which may involve a doctor’s visit). Wu also says not to discount sleeping separately from your partner should you have the space if your sleep is affected by sharing a bed. Again, if these solutions are not feasible for you because of space, finances, or work, it is not your fault. Our built environment’s negative impact on sleep is not on you to fix.
It’s also not on you to spend a lot of money, especially at first. Tons of products, devices, and apps are marketed as must-haves for improving sleep, but Hill says to simply do less: cut back on screen time, caffeine (particularly in the afternoon and evening), and alcohol before bed.
Set yourself up for success during the day
A good night’s sleep starts when you’re awake. Sunlight, especially in the morning, helps regulate the circadian rhythm and allows people to fall asleep more quickly and experience less disturbed sleep. Wu suggests getting anywhere from 20 to 30 minutes of sunlight a day to counteract the effects of looking at screens during the evening. “If you go outside during the day and get sunlight, then your screen in the evening will not impact your sleep,” she says, “because the point is that you need to have a big contrast between day versus night in terms of how much sun exposure or how much light exposure you get.”
According to Hill’s research, people often delay their bedtime because they don’t have enough “me time” or time spent socializing during the day, and, as a result, they stay up late catching up on news, scrolling social media, or texting friends. To combat this, Hill suggests interspersing a few short moments of solitude or social interactions during the day — think five minutes of meditation or social media here, a quick 30-minute phone call with a friend there — so you don’t feel the need to binge at night.
In an effort to help combat perhaps one of the most frustrating aspects of sleep — waking up in the middle of the night unable to fall asleep again — Sara E. Benjamin, an instructor of neurology at Johns Hopkins Center for Sleep, says to have a plan for what you’ll do in such situations. You might want to be prepared to put on headphones and listen to a podcast, watch some TV, or have a routine of breathing exercises you turn to in times of stress. Using your phone is fine, but be intentional with its use in your plan and set a time limit for how long you’ll use it. The danger, Benjamin explains, is when people don’t have a plan, reach for their phone, and end up scrolling for hours.
Have a routine
More important than maintaining a consistent bedtime is waking at the same time every day, Wu says, even on the weekends. With an alarm, you have more control over when you rise; at night, you can’t control the hour at which you get sleepy. Waking happens more suddenly than falling asleep and is an effective start to the 24-hour circadian cycle. “When we wake up,” Wu says, “we get up, we become vertical, we open up the blinds, and we get sunlight in our eyes, we start moving, we have breakfast. All of these things tell our metabolism, tell the light-sensing parts of the brain, tell our blood pressure, everything in our bodies that this is the morning.” Your morning routine should include plenty of bright light, Benjamin says, either from natural light or sunrise lamps or SAD lights.
While bedtime should be dictated by when your body naturally gets sleepy, there are things you can do to encourage this process. Successful nighttime routines should help you relax and be easy enough to maintain every day, Hill says, which can include dimming your lights two hours before bedtime, listening to music, meditating, doing light stretches, breath work, having a hot cup of tea, or taking a shower. Just don’t make your nighttime routine another to-do list item. “I don’t think it’s fun to be ‘that girl,’ the internet trend where people have their lives broken up into a spreadsheet, every 15 minutes is accounted for,” Hill says. “I don’t think that’s realistic for everybody to actually maintain.”
It’s important to give your brain time to power down, so don’t try to squeeze in last-minute work or consume stressful or action-packed media. Those things will just wake you up.
Even your naps should have some routine. Crucial for new parents or shift workers, siestas can help improve memory and workplace and physical performance. But too long of a nap too close to when you typically get sleepy can delay your bedtime. Hill says a 30-minute snooze around lunch is beneficial. Fight through the urge to collapse on the couch after work since napping in the early evening would bring you too close to bedtime. If you’re going to become a napper, make sure your rest periods occur around the same time every time you nap so it becomes a part of your schedule.
Be smart about tech
In today’s always-connected world, sleep advice banishing all devices and smartphones to another room is unrealistic. “I need to have my phone next to me because I’m on call for the sleep lab,” Benjamin says. “I can’t leave my phone in another room.”
This isn’t permission to doomscroll through the night. Think about the type of media you’re consuming and what device you’re using. TikTok and other forms of social media, bright lights, and anxiety-inducing shows, movies, or video games are going to arouse your brain and keep you awake. On the contrary, passive media, like podcasts, music, a slow-paced TV show, and books will help you wind down, Hill says. Make sure any screens have the brightness turned down or are in night mode. “Personally, I keep an iPad that is not connected to the internet next to my bed,” Hill says. “It has meditations on there, it has some podcasts on it, and I have a Kindle as well. So as a sleep scientist, I’m breaking all the traditional rules because I have two devices next to my bed, but things that have a heavy night shift on the screen, a very, very dim light.”
Even if you use your phone for white noise, an alarm, or a sleep app, turn on Do Not Disturb once you get into bed so you’re not distracted by texts or push notifications as you’re falling asleep and throughout the night.
Devices are often painted as the villains of sleep hygiene, but it’s possible to make them work for you rather than against you. “Sometimes we think we need to be a monk in the hour before bedtime,” Wu says, “but it doesn’t have to be like that.”
Even Better is here to offer deeply sourced, actionable advice for helping you live a better life. Do you have a question on money and work; friends, family, and community; or personal growth and health? Send us your question by filling out this form. We might turn it into a story.
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