Most sleep advice is about the evening. The thing that moves the needle most is the morning: one wake-up time, kept. Everything else is smaller and sits on top of it.
Start here
The rhythm
The rhythm
Same wake-up time, every day
Pick a wake-up time and keep it, weekends within an hour. Bad night or not.
no timeEvidence: decent
The rhythm
The lie-in doesn't pay the debt back
Set this weekend's alarm no more than an hour after your weekday one. Get the missing sleep on ordinary nights, not on Saturday morning.
no timeEvidence: decent
The rhythm
The tracker isn't the doctor
For one week, don't open the sleep score in the morning. Judge the night by how you feel mid-morning.
no timeEvidence: worth trying
Before bed
Before bed
Alcohol is not a sleep aid
If you drink, stop three hours before bed. On a bad-sleep week, none.
no timeEvidence: solid
Before bed
Cool the bedroom
Tonight, turn the bedroom heating down or open the window before bed. Cool room, warm covers.
no timeEvidence: decent
Before bed
Melatonin is modest, not magic
Before you try melatonin, keep one wake-up time and get morning daylight for a week. If you still want it, ask a pharmacist or doctor first.
no timeEvidence: decent
Before bed
No caffeine after lunch
Last coffee before 2pm. Earlier if you're a bad sleeper.
no timeEvidence: decent
Before bed
No news first or last
No news or feeds in the first thirty minutes of the day or the last thirty before bed.
no timeEvidence: worth trying
Before bed
Phone out of the bedroom
Charge it somewhere else. Buy an alarm clock if that's the excuse.
no timeEvidence: decent
Before bed
Write three lines before bed
Three things on your mind, one line each, plus one sentence on what you'll do tomorrow. Then close the notebook.
5 minEvidence: decent
In the night
In the night
Awake in bed? Get up
Lying awake for what feels like twenty minutes: get up, sit somewhere dim, do something dull, go back when sleepy.
20 minEvidence: solid
In the night
Sleep on your side
If you wake in the night on your back, turn onto your side. Pillow between the knees if the hips complain.
no timeEvidence: worth trying