Adults generally need seven to nine hours of sleep. If you are regularly getting less, or waking unrefreshed, these habits have the best evidence behind them.
1. Wake up at the same time every day
Your body clock anchors on your wake time. Keep it within about an hour on weekends and your bedtime will start to settle on its own.
2. Get morning light
Ten to twenty minutes outdoors in the morning — even on a cloudy day — helps set your clock so you feel sleepy at the right time at night.
3. Mind the caffeine clock
Caffeine can stay in your system for many hours. For most people, a cut-off around early afternoon helps. That includes strong tea and cold coffee.
4. Keep alcohol away from bedtime
Alcohol can make you drowsy but fragments sleep in the second half of the night.
5. Make the room cool, dark and quiet
A slightly cool room, blackout curtains or an eye mask, and earplugs or a fan for steady background noise all help.
6. Give your brain a runway
Thirty to sixty minutes of wind-down — dim lights, a book, a shower — tells your body the day is over.
7. If you cannot sleep, get up
Lying awake for long stretches teaches your brain that bed is for worrying. Get up, do something calm in dim light, and go back when sleepy.
Try it yourself
