Guiding You to
Better Sleep
How Much Sleep Do You Need?
Age, gender, lifestyle, general health, and many other factors impact how much sleep you may need. Do you get enough restful sleep?
Personalized Sleep Calculator
We created this sleep calculator because we believe people should know when they should wake up and what time they should go to bed based on the latest sleep research.
Quick Guide to Better Sleep
1. Understand Your Circadian Rhythm
Your circadian rhythms are physical, mental, and behavioral changes that follow a daily cycle, mainly influenced by light and darkness. Circadian rhythms are found in most living things, including animals, plants, and many tiny microbes.
The Impact of Light on Sleep
Your brain sets its circadian rhythm by its exposure to light. Don't expose yourself to bright lights (specifically blue light) within 1-2 hours of going to bed. Expose yourself to sunlight early in the morning and throughout the day, and exercise early in the morning outside if possible.
Sleep Consistency
Go to bed and wake up at the same time every night (including the weekends). Respect your chronotype or tendency to go to bed earlier or later when figuring out the best time for you to go to bed every night.
Naps
Limit your naps to 20 minutes at the most, and don't nap late in the day. The best time is around 1-1:30 pm if you're an early riser, or 2:30-3 pm if you're a late riser.
2. Diet & Exercise
Exercise and diet can have a profound impact on sleep quality. The main impact is on hormones in the body. These are complicated subjects, but we dig in deeper to the fundamentals below.
Diet
Avoid eating a lot at night; a small snack with protein and carbohydrates is best. Caffeine late in the day and nicotine at any point in the day act as stimulants and can keep you awake. Be careful with sugar. It can prevent quality sleep, especially if consumed in the evening.
Alcohol and Marijuana Use
Though many use alcohol to relax before bed, there's evidence that it will prevent you from getting quality sleep because it significantly reduces stage 5 sleep or REM (rapid eye movement). Be careful with alcohol and marijuana consumption. You may fall asleep faster, but the overall quality of your sleep suffers.
Exercise
People who exercise regularly sleep better at night, and the more vigorously you exercise, the more you benefit. There is even a relationship between sleep and athletic performance. It is ideal to exercise early in the morning. Journal your sleep quality every night and experiment to see how your exercise schedule affects your sleep quality. Most people do better with morning or afternoon workouts, though you could be one of the rarer ones, who sleep better after an evening workout.
3. Stress & Your Night Routine
Understand that whatever you do during the day can affect your sleep. If you’re experiencing stress and adrenaline at your job, at school, or in your relationships, it can hurt your sleep.
Attitude
Do your best to reduce the overall levels of stress in your life. Your state during the day will affect your state at night. Have a relaxed attitude toward sleep. Tell yourself that if you don't sleep well one night, you'll make it up some other time.
Pre-Sleep Routine
Adopt a pre-sleep ritual that helps calm you down and tells your brain that it's time for sleep. If you experience a lot of stress during the day, find ways to release the stress before you go to bed. You can try journaling to let go of some of the stress, reading something that’s not stimulating. There are also several things that you can try to reduce stress, such as reading, meditation, stretching, and taking a bath.
4. Your Bedroom
Sleep environment is critical to sleep. You can do everything else right, but if you walk into a bedroom with polluted air, bright lights, and an old mattress, you may find that the sleep you can muster is low quality.
Light and Sound
Make sure your room is really dark. If you can't get it dark, wear a sleep mask. Your room should be quiet. If it isn't, wear earplugs, use white noise, and/or add items to your walls and room to deflect and/or absorb sound.
Your Bed
Your mattress shouldn't be making you hot. If it is, get a cooling mattress topper or change your mattress to a cooling mattress. Make sure that your mattress is the right firmness. Try sleeping on different mattresses (like if you travel and sleep in a hotel) to see what works best for you. Or you could take advantage of the many mattress companies who offer a 100-night in-home trial. Experiment with different pillows to find the one that works for you.
Air Quality
This doesn't usually show up on recommendations for sleeping better, but researchers from the University of Washington found that people who lived in high pollution areas were 60% more likely to sleep poorly compared to those who lived in areas with cleaner air. Consider the air quality of your room, especially if you have any breathing issues such as asthma or allergies. For more information, check out our guide on how to create the perfect sleep environment.
5. Pain When Sleeping
You can be doing everything else right, but it can be a really big challenge to fall asleep and stay asleep if you ultimately are in pain when you're lying down. If you're struggling with pain when you are trying to sleep, know that you aren't alone. There are many types of pain, but our experts have explored a few of the most common situations.
Back Pain
There is no perfect sleep position for everyone suffering from back pain. Sleep in a position that leaves you the most comfortable. Focus on lying in positions that create spinal alignment. Sometimes that means that you need to add support pillows to create that alignment. You'll also need to find the right firmness in a mattress for your sleep type to alleviate back pain. Oftentimes we find that people with an old mattress sleep out of alignment as the material breaks down with time.
Neck Pain
Up to 70% of people experience neck pain with some degree of regularity. Like with the rest of the spine, this pain is usually caused by events and habits throughout the day like sitting with poor posture. Maintaining a neutral spine with a proper neck pillow is key to allowing your neck to decompress at night. Make sure to try out as many as possible, until you find one that is right for you. Shoulder width, head size, weight, and sleep temperature are a few of the most important considerations you should keep in mind as you look to improve your neck pain at night.
We've done our research
Our recommendation for best mattress by category.
Our Experts
Education
Paola graduated from the University of Guadalajara, Mexico.Experience
Dr. Cuevas has over 18 years of veterinary and animal behaviorist experience and has worked with various species, from companion animals to exotics. She has skills in nutrition, microscopy, clinical pathology, diagnostic imaging, and endoscopy, as well as extensive experience in positive reinforcement animal training.
Kat Duff is the author of The Alchemy of Illness (Pantheon, 1993) and The Secret Life of Sleep (Beyond Words and Oneworld, 2014).
She writes at the intersection of the natural world and the human imagination as it occurs in our everyday experiences, and maintains a blog at SecretLifeOfSleep.com. She lives in northern New Mexico where she works as a counselor.
Sources and Partners
Below you'll find some of our most trusted sources we use when researching sleep topics and creating educational resources, tools and product guides. For any topic we cover we look for scholarly sources, medical experts and peer reviewed studies with conclusive results to support our work.
Frequently Asked Questions
A:If you have trouble falling or staying asleep and conventional remedies have failed you, Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response (ASMR) is a safe alternative option to try.
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