Sleep Hygiene Essentials: Tips to Fall Asleep and Enjoy Quality Sleep

You know that feeling when you wake up after a terrible night’s sleep, and the entire day feels like a slow-motion car crash? Yeah, not ideal. Quality sleep is the foundation of good health, better productivity, and not snapping at your coworkers for breathing too loudly.

If you’ve been struggling to get a full, restful night’s sleep, your sleep hygiene might need an upgrade. Here’s what science (and common sense) have to say about improving your nighttime routine.

A sleepless night can increase anxiety by up to 30% the next day. This finding is based on research from the University of California, Berkeley, which demonstrated that a single night without sleep can lead to a 30% rise in anxiety levels.

Put Your Phone in Time-Out

There’s actual research suggesting that even having your phone within arm’s reach at night can mess with your sleep. Your brain is basically on high alert, thinking it might need to check a notification, and that low-grade anxiety can keep you from fully winding down.

Solution: Put your phone in another room or at least across the room. Bonus: This forces you to get out of bed when your alarm goes off.

No Late-Night Snacking (Sorry, Midnight Fridge Raiders)

Eating within two to three hours of bedtime is like telling your body, “Hey, we’ve got work to do!” instead of, “Let’s shut down for maintenance.” Digestion requires energy, and if your system is busy breaking down that late-night pizza, it won’t prioritize sleep.

Solution: Aim to have your last meal at least three hours before bed. If you must snack, go for something light like a banana or a handful of nuts.

Read a Book Instead of Watching Chaos Unfold

Scrolling through TikTok, doomscrolling the news, or watching a true crime documentary about an unsolved murder right before bed? Not great for relaxation. However, passive screen use (like watching a familiar sitcom at low volume) is less disruptive than engaging with emotionally charged content.

Solution: Swap social media and crime shows for a book or a low-stimulation TV show. If screens are necessary, use blue-light filters or dim settings.

Caffeine Cutoff Time: When Should You Stop Drinking Coffee?

Caffeine has a half-life of about 5 to 6 hours, meaning if you chug a coffee at 4 PM, half of that caffeine is still in your system by 10 PM. For sensitive sleepers, this means staring at the ceiling while regretting that post-dinner espresso.

Solution: Stop caffeine intake at least 6 hours before bed (some experts recommend even earlier). Switch to herbal tea or decaf if you still want a warm drink in the evening.

Taming the Nighttime Overthinking Monster

If your brain loves to throw a greatest-hits reel of awkward moments and existential crises at you right before bed, you’re not alone. But overthinking doesn’t have to steal your sleep.

Two science-backed techniques to calm your mind:

Stream of Consciousness Journaling

Spend five minutes brain-dumping your thoughts onto paper—no structure, no overthinking. Just let it out.

Research indicates that writing about worries can promote better sleep. Fifty-seven healthy young adults (ages 18–30) participated in a controlled study, writing for five minutes before an overnight sleep recording. Those who wrote to-do lists fell asleep significantly faster than those who reflected on completed tasks. More detailed to-do lists led to quicker sleep onset, while detailed reflections on completed activities had the opposite effect. Thus, writing a specific to-do list for five minutes at bedtime may enhance sleep onset.

Cognitive Shuffle Technique

Dr. Luc Beaudoin, a cognitive scientist at Simon Fraser University, created the “Cognitive Shuffle” technique (also called Serial Diverse Imagining, or SDI) to help quiet a racing mind before bed. The idea is simple: picture random, unrelated words or images—like a banana, a spaceship, or a mountain—to keep your brain too busy for anxious thoughts. A study presented at the SLEEP 2016 conference tested this method on 154 university students who struggled with overthinking at night. The results showed that SDI helped calm their minds and improved their sleep quality.

Sleep Like You Mean It

Getting good sleep is about timing and helping your body know when it’s time to sleep. We can do this by keeping the lights low, eating earlier in the day, and taking some time to relax before going to bed. Keep your phone out of reach, avoid late-night snacking, pick up a book instead of scrolling, cut caffeine early, and trick your brain into shutting up at night.

Try these tips, and you might just wake up feeling like a well-rested superhero.

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