The sleep hygiene checklist

Sleep hygiene is an unglamorous name for a powerful idea: the collection of habits and conditions that make healthy sleep more likely. No single item on the list is magic. Together, they are the closest thing sleep science has to a recipe. Run through this checklist honestly, fix the weakest two or three items, and most people notice the difference within a fortnight.

1. Keep a consistent schedule

Go to bed and wake up at roughly the same time every day — weekends included, within about an hour. Consistency is the master lever: the body clock runs on regularity, and a steady wake time anchors everything downstream, from evening drowsiness to morning alertness. If you fix one thing, fix this.

2. Build a wind-down routine

Spend the last 30 to 60 minutes before bed on calm, predictable activities: dimming the lights, gentle stretching, reading, a warm bath or shower. The ritual matters more than its contents — repetition teaches the nervous system that these cues mean sleep is coming. Avoid working, arguing or problem-solving in this window.

3. Set a screen curfew

Turn off screens 45 to 90 minutes before bed, or at minimum switch to night mode and low brightness. It is not only the light: feeds are engineered to provoke, and provocation is the opposite of drowsiness. Charge the phone outside the bedroom if willpower is in short supply — removing temptation beats resisting it.

4. Make the room a cave

Cool, dark and quiet. Lower the temperature a degree or two, eliminate light leaks with better curtains or a sleep mask, and mask sudden noise with earplugs, white noise or a fan. Reserve the bed for sleep: no laptops, no late-night TV marathons in it. The bed should be a cue, not an office.

5. Mind the daytime levers

Sleep is built during the day. Get outdoor daylight within an hour of waking. Move regularly — 20 to 30 minutes most days — finishing vigorous exercise well before bedtime. Keep caffeine to the morning and early afternoon, keep naps short and early, and go easy on evening alcohol, which fragments the second half of the night.

When hygiene is not enough

Sleep hygiene resolves habit-driven sleep trouble, which is most of it. But it does not treat sleep disorders. If you do everything right for a few weeks and still struggle — or if snoring, gasping, restless legs or severe daytime sleepiness are involved — see a clinician. The checklist is the foundation, not the whole building.