Sleep Hygiene: Simple Habits That Make Falling Asleep Easier

Sleep hygiene is the set of daily habits that shape how you sleep. Which ones matter most, where to start, and when habits are not enough.

Sleep hygiene sounds clinical. It just means the habits around your sleep: when you go to bed, what you do in the hours before, and what your bedroom is like. None of it is complicated. The hard part is doing the same few things most nights.

Most adults need at least seven hours of sleep a night, according to the CDC. Plenty of people get less, and many of them spend part of the night awake in bed. Small changes to the day often help more than anything done at 11 p.m.

Keep the same wake-up time

If you change one habit, change this one. Get up at about the same time every day, weekends included. Your body clock sets itself around the time you wake and see daylight, and a steady wake time makes it easier to feel sleepy at a steady bedtime.

Sleeping in on Saturday feels good. It also shifts your clock, and Sunday night is harder as a result. If you need to catch up, an extra half hour is gentler than three.

Use morning light

Get outside within an hour or so of waking, even for ten minutes. Daylight in the morning is one of the strongest signals your body clock gets. A cloudy day outside is still much brighter than a lit room indoors.

Watch the afternoon

Caffeine stays in the body for hours, so a 4 p.m. coffee can still be working at bedtime. Long or late naps take the edge off the sleep pressure you build during the day. If you nap, keep it short and before mid-afternoon.

Exercise helps most people sleep better. Earlier in the day is easier for some. Others sleep fine after an evening walk. Notice what works for you.

Give yourself a wind-down

The hour before bed works best when it is dim and a little boring. Lower the lights. Put the phone on the charger outside the bedroom if you can. Read something on paper, take a warm shower, change into the pajamas you like. Doing the same steps in the same order each night tells your body what comes next.

Set up the bedroom for sleep

Sleep experts generally recommend a bedroom that is cool, dark and quiet.

• Cool. Many people sleep best somewhere in the 60s Fahrenheit. Breathable sheets and pajamas in a natural fiber like cotton help if you run warm.
• Dark. Blackout curtains or an eye mask block streetlights and early sunrise.
• Quiet. A fan or white noise covers sounds you cannot control.

Keep the bed for sleep and intimacy. Work, email and long scrolling sessions belong somewhere else. Over time your brain links the bed with being awake if you spend a lot of awake time there.

If you cannot fall asleep

Lying in bed for an hour, watching the clock, rarely ends well. If you have been awake for what feels like twenty minutes or so, get up. Go to another room with dim light and do something quiet until you feel sleepy, then go back to bed. It feels backward. It is one of the techniques sleep clinicians use most.

Start with two changes

Trying to fix everything at once usually lasts a week. Pick the two habits that seem easiest. A fixed wake time and a phone outside the bedroom are a good pair. Give them two or three weeks before you judge the result.

Comfort matters during that time too. If your pajamas twist, bunch or trap heat, you will notice it at 2 a.m. Our Sensory Finder lets you browse the whole collection by style, color and size.

When habits are not enough

Good habits help many people. They do not treat medical sleep problems. Talk to your doctor if you have trouble sleeping three or more nights a week for several months, if you snore loudly or someone has seen you stop breathing in your sleep, or if you feel very sleepy during the day even after a full night in bed. Insomnia, sleep apnea and other conditions are common, and there are effective treatments for them.