7 Tips for a Better Bedtime Routine

A consistent bedtime routine is one of the most important things you can do to ensure high-quality sleep. Whether you have all evening to wind down or just a few minutes, a few simple steps can make it easier to drift off to dreamland so you get a full night’s rest.

“What you do in the few hours before bed sets the stage for how quickly you fall asleep and how restorative your sleep is,” says William Lu, MD, a San Francisco–based sleep medicine physician and the medical director at Dreem Health. “Doing the same things in the same order every night trains your brain to associate those activities with sleep.”

Read on to find out our sleep experts’ favorite tips to prepare for bedtime so you can get a restful night’s slumber.

1. Quiet Your Mind

If you head to bed when you’re overstimulated or having racing thoughts (when your mind is going a mile a minute), your sleep may end up delayed or interrupted, especially for those who have insomnia, according to a small study in France.

Sleep experts say it’s important to incorporate regular bedtime activities that help you calm your mind so your brain knows it’s time to rest.

“If your mind is busy, jot down tomorrow’s to-dos or practice a breathing exercise to clear your head,” Dr. Lu suggests. Other ways to tame your thoughts include journaling and meditation.

2. Calm Your Body

As you quiet your busy brain, it’s also a good time to help your body wind down with calming activities, such as gentle stretching and taking a warm shower. These activities may help lower adrenaline, cortisol, and heart rate, making it easier to relax and drift off.

High levels of the stress hormones cortisol and adrenaline prepare your body for action, not rest. In addition, high cortisol levels at night may interfere with circadian rhythm since this is when levels are naturally at their lowest for most people.

Avoid activities that are overly stimulating before bedtime — like answering work emails, scrolling through your social media, or watching exciting TV shows — which keep your brain active and may give you an adrenaline surge that can delay bedtime.

“Winding down with calming, predictable activities helps lower both cognitive and physical arousal, which can significantly impact how smoothly you transition into sleep,” explains Michael Gradisar, PhD, a clinical psychologist based in Australia specializing in sleep research and disorders and head of sleep science for the app Sleep Cycle.

3. Darken Your Bedroom

Carleara Weiss, PhD, RN, a research assistant professor at the University of Buffalo who studies sleep disturbances, recommends reducing exposure to bright light at least 30 to 60 minutes before bedtime. Before you hit the hay, she recommends omitting any dim lights from sources such as electronics or street lights. This may mean taping over lights on things like chargers or TVs, turning the clock away from you, and getting room-darkening shades.

One small study reported that exposure to light sources that affect your circadian rhythm, such as blue light, within three hours of bedtime may throw off your natural sleep-wake cycle and lead to poorer sleep quality.

Research shows that exposure to light during sleep can negatively impact when you fall asleep and how long you sleep because the light can affect natural circadian rhythms.

As a bonus, a very dark bedroom may improve your sleep quality and cardiometabolic health markers such as insulin levels.

4. Keep It Cool

One of the ways our body prepares us for sleep is by reducing our internal temperature. Dr. Gradisar says, “Cooling the body supports the natural drop in temperature that helps trigger sleep.”

One way to do that is by achieving ideal bedroom temperatures, which may improve sleep efficiency and restorative, slow-wave sleep. This stage of sleep plays a key role in memory processing, immune health, and learning through the formation of new neural pathways.

The National Sleep Foundation recommends keeping your thermostat set between 60 and 67 degrees F to promote sleep.

Of course, each person’s ideal temperature for sleep will vary based on age, personal preferences, and conditions or medications that affect thermoregulation (such as menopausal hot flashes).

5. Minimize Disturbances

“Minimize disturbances from your sleep environment or bed partner,” Gradisar says. Older research has suggested that about a third of awakenings are caused by partner movement.

“Try the Scandinavian sleep method with separate duvets,” suggests Gradisar. Sleeping with separate bed coverings minimizes disturbances caused by partner movement and blanket hogging and allows for individual preferences in blanket weight, which may lead to a more restful night.

6. Put Electronics Away

The use of electronic devices in bed is another common culprit that may interfere with our sleep. Smartphones, tablets, or laptops at bedtime can be detrimental to our sleep routines because they may delay bedtime and lead to reduced sleep quality, according to research out of Saudi Arabia.

Lu says it’s best to turn off screens and silence notifications at least 30 to 60 minutes before bed. This simple change may improve sleep quality and daytime sleepiness.

7. Be Consistent

Consistency is key when it comes to building healthy bedtime habits. “You can classically condition yourself to achieve sleep more easily with consistent rituals leading up to bedtime,” says Lu.

Our experts recommend aiming to go to sleep within the same 30 minutes every night. “When you repeat a set of relaxing activities, say shower, journal, dim the lights, your brain learns to associate them with sleep,” Gradisar says, “This consistency strengthens your mind and body’s ability to learn to sleep.

While there isn’t a one-size-fits-all optimal amount of wind-down time, research suggests that between 30 and 90 minutes typically works for most people, Dr. Weiss explains. “Scientists and clinicians with training in behavioral sleep medicine, like myself, usually use 60 minutes as a benchmark and adjust that according to the patient’s routine,” Weiss says.

Even when you’re short on time, take 20 or 30 minutes to create some space between your busy day and sleep, Weiss states. “Using the short time available wisely and intentionally to make this transition will help create a compact, yet effective bedtime routine,” she says, adding that consistency is key to helping your biological clock establish a new rhythm.

If you’re consistent with your relaxing bedtime routine and still wake up feeling unrested, it could be a sign of an underlying sleep disorder like sleep apnea or insomnia, Lu says. That would be worth mentioning to a sleep medicine specialist so you can find a solution for better rest.

The Takeaway

Create a simple, consistent bedtime routine to significantly improve sleep quality.
Bedtime routines should ideally begin 30 to 60 minutes before sleep.
Quiet your mind, darkening your room, keeping the room cool, and minimizing any potential nighttime disturbances can help you fall asleep and stay asleep, according to research and sleep experts.
If you wake up feeling unrested despite maintaining a consistent nighttime routine, you should consult your healthcare provider or sleep medicine specialist to see if a medical condition or other health issue is interfering with your sleep.