Anchor the morning
The wake time matters more than the bedtime. Your body clock is set chiefly by when you get up and when you first see bright light, so pick a wake time you can hold seven days a week and stay within an hour of it on weekends. Sleeping until noon on Sunday is the reason Monday feels like jet lag. Get outdoors, or at least to a bright window, within the first hour of the day.
The room
Keep the bedroom between about sixty and sixty-seven degrees, which is cooler than most people expect. Make it dark enough that you cannot see your hand, with blackout curtains or an eye mask, and cover or remove small indicator lights. Charge your phone in another room and buy a ten-dollar alarm clock, because a phone on the nightstand is the last thing you look at and the first. Reserve the bed for sleep and sex.
What you consume
- Caffeine lingers for many hours, so have your last cup by early afternoon, or at least eight hours before bed.
- Alcohol helps you fall asleep and then fragments the second half of the night, so stop a few hours before bed and keep it moderate.
- Exercise improves sleep at almost any hour, although a hard session in the last hour or two before bed keeps some men awake.
- Keep naps to about twenty minutes, taken before mid-afternoon.
When you cannot sleep
Lying awake and trying harder makes it worse. If you have been awake for what feels like twenty minutes, get up, sit somewhere dim, and read something on paper until you feel drowsy. Do not check the time. A short wind-down in the last hour helps: dim lamps, a warm shower, and tomorrow's tasks written down so they stop circling. One bad night needs no repair. Get up at the usual time and the following night will take care of itself.
When to see a doctor
Loud snoring with pauses or gasping, or heavy daytime sleepiness despite enough hours in bed, points to sleep apnea, which is common, underdiagnosed and treatable. Insomnia on three or more nights a week for three months also deserves a visit. The first-line treatment is a structured behavioral program, not a pill.
Note Drowsy driving causes thousands of crashes every year. If your eyelids are dropping at the wheel, pull over somewhere safe and sleep for twenty minutes, because an open window and a loud radio do nothing.
