How to Find and Follow a Sleep Routine That’s Right for You Everyday Health MenuNewslettersSearch Sleep 7 Tips for Finding the Sleep Routine That s Right for You When it comes to sleep, your body loves consistency. Here’s how to figure out what sleep schedule works best for you and how to stick to it. By Jessica MigalaMedically Reviewed by Samuel Mackenzie, MD, PhDReviewed: November 24, 2020Medically ReviewedSleep experts say hitting the pillow and waking up at the same time from day to day helps you fall asleep faster and wake up more easily. Ruth Black/StocksyYour body and brain thrive on routine — and part of what sets that routine is a consistent sleep schedule. “Your brain releases hormones that make you sleepy and awake at certain times,” says Samantha Anders, PhD, a Minneapolis-based psychologist in private practice who treats insomnia and sleep disorders. The more you stick to that schedule, the stronger those sleep and wake signals get (meaning you spend less time tossing and turning before sleep when you turn in and feel more alert when it’s time to wake). So what’s the ideal schedule for you? The recommendation from the National Sleep Foundation is for adults to get 7 to 9 hours of sleep at night — note that sleep needs change slightly for people of different ages. But health organizations recommend sleep ranges (rather than a specific amount) because we’re all slightly different, too. “Everyone has a different natural rhythm when it comes to their sleep, which is partly hereditary,” says Dr. Anders. Of course, behavioral habits and lifestyle factors come into play. For example, you may need to wake up at a certain time for work or to get kids off to school, which helps train your body to follow a certain schedule. You may be on electronic devices late at night, and the blue light they emit can shift your clock to a later bedtime. How to Tell if You re Getting Enough Sleep If you’re getting the amount of sleep you personally need, you’ll feel awake and alert all day long. While it’s natural to experience a slight dip in energy in the afternoon, you should not be struggling to stay awake at 3 p.m., says Anders. “You should feel with-it and be able to think clearly.” Another hint that you’re on track with a sleep schedule that’s working for you is if you feel really sleepy before bedtime. But, it’s worth pointing out that there are a lot of factors that affect your biological clock and make you feel more or less awake, whether you’re getting enough sleep or not, says Anders. “Light and stimulation are two big ones,” she explains. What foods you’re eating or drinking, when you’re physically active (or not), stress, and when you’re exposing your eyes to a lot of blue light (either from the sun or screens), can affect how sleepy or awake you feel, too. For example, even if your body is ready for sleep in the evening, artificial light as well as staring at a phone or TV sends signals to the brain to stay awake, says Anders. If you’re feeling anxious about meeting a big deadline at work, stress signals may be overriding signs from your body that you’re actually overtired. RELATED: Study Finds Growing Rates of Cellphone Dependence in Young Adults — and a Link to Worse Sleep If you’re still unsure whether or not your sleep routine is working for you, think back to the last time you took a weeklong vacation and didn’t have to set an alarm. How much sleep did you need then? Where did your natural sleep patterns fall when you had extended time off and didn’t have to sleep at specific times for work or school? Paying attention to where your body naturally falls when it’s not affected by these external factors will help you uncover the pattern that works best for your body, as well as how much sleep your body really needs. And if you stick to that pattern (more on how to do that below), the better you’ll feel and function. The more consistent you are with your sleep the better you’ll feel — and the easier sleep will come, says Alex Dimitriu, MD, a dual-board certified doctor in psychiatry and sleep medicine in private practice in Menlo Park, California. “Everyone thinks that sleep is a one-night commitment, but the annoying thing about sleep is that one night alone will rarely make up for past sleep deprivation,” he says. Consistent sleep benefits your long-term health, too. Case in point: A study published in August 2019 in Diabetes Care found that irregular bed and wake times were linked to metabolic problems like high blood pressure, cholesterol, and blood sugar; for every one hour of variability in sleep schedule, the risk of having metabolic syndrome rose by 27 percent. My Sleep Schedule Isn t Working for Me — but I Don t Have Time to Change It If you struggle to prioritize sleep over other responsibilities (or late-night Netflix), and are looking for some additional motivation, focus on what sleep does for you, says Anders. When you get enough do you feel happier? Do you eat better and do better at your job? “It has to be your own individual motivation. Determine how sleep affects what you care about in your life, and it will be easier to make it a priority,” she says. RELATED: How to Start a Self-Care Routine You’ll Follow Of course, sometimes it’s not a matter of not being motivated to sleep — it’s a matter of other obligations getting in the way, like crying babies, second jobs, night school, and so much more. It’s helpful to know that the more consistent you can keep your sleep schedule when you can and the fewer nights you cut your sleep short, the better your body will feel in the short and long run. For Jennifer Ashton, MD, the chief medical correspondent of ABC News, a consistent sleep-wake schedule wasn’t a problem; it was the duration of slumber that had fallen short for her in the previous few years. Dr. Ashton suspected she’d thrive on getting more than the seven-ish hours she was currently logging with her early wake-up times for Good Morning America. “I was curious to know whether trying to get that extra thirty minutes to an hour back would make any difference in my energy, appetite, workouts, or mental acuity,” she wrote in her book The Self-Care Solution: A Year of Becoming Happier, Healthier, and Fitter — One Month at a Time. RELATED: What Is Self-Care and Why Is It So Important for Your Health? One thing that helped Ashton determine how much sleep she should get was Sleep Cycle, an app that uses sound and movement to track how much you sleep at night. With the data it provided, she was able to connect the dots on how much sleep she got at night and how she felt the next day. Ashton noticed that when she got at least eight hours of sleep, she was “noticeably more energetic” than with her normal seven hours. After a month of trying to make those daily eight hours of sleep a priority, Ashton reaped big rewards, she says: “I was more productive, efficient, effective, and — a new adjective for the month — noticeably happier. With more sleep, I felt better about myself and life at large,” she wrote. 7 Tips for Optimizing Your Sleep Schedule You know you should stay off your phone before bed and not eat too close to bedtime. But what can you do to specifically figure out the length and timing of sleep that works best for your body? What cues should you pay attention to from your body? Here’s what Anders and Dr. Dimitriu say. 1 Give Yourself 8 Hours No matter when you set your wake and bedtime, allow an eight-hour window for sleep, says Dimitriu. You may end up getting less (and you will likely spend some time falling asleep) but make sure the opportunity to sleep is there. 2 Set Your Bedtime by Your Wake Time Look at what time you need to get up. This time should give you enough time in the morning so you can get ready for your day without feeling rushed and should allow you to get to work or school on time. From there, count backward eight hours, and boom, that’s your ideal bedtime, says Dimitriu. 3 Find What s Right for Your Body and Your Schedule Notice how there’s no guideline that you must go to bed at 10 p.m.? “Everyone has a different natural rhythm, and it’s partly hereditary,” says Anders. Some people are night owls and prefer a later bedtime, and there are those who are larks who feel more energized waking up before or with the sunrise, and therefore tend to hit the hay earlier. That said, your professional, educational, or family responsibilities may not fit in line with your biological clock. If you tend to go to bed late (say, 1 or 2 a.m.) and that’s preventing you from getting the sleep you need because you have to be awake at 7 a.m. to start your job, you need to shift your circadian rhythm back so that you can go to bed earlier, says Anders. Limit the amount of blue light (emitted from electronic devices) you get within two to three hours of bedtime. If that’s not possible, at least wear blue-blocking glasses, she says. Electronic devices tend to keep you awake for other reasons (work or the content you’re consuming may be alerting), so it’s still preferable to work on a screen-reducing strategy. 4 Beat the Clock Even when Ashton was busy with social or work events, she’d make sure that those things fit around her sleep schedule — not the other way around. This helped her stick to her commitment to get more sleep while not feeling like she was missing out on anything. “I knew that if I wanted to keep sleeping for eight hours, I had to focus on continuing to go to bed earlier rather than trying to sleep later the next day. With GMA, I can’t really mess around with my wake-up time: It’s usually 5 a.m. or 5:20 a.m. at the latest, although it can be as early as 4:20 a.m.,” says Ashton. As a result, she knew that for eight hours of sleep, she had to be in bed between 9 and 9:30 p.m. As a result, when out with friends, Ashton says she’d leave at a reasonable time and then get ready for bed as soon as she got home. If she was finishing work or other projects, she’d challenge herself to stay focused and work with efficiency to finish up before bedtime. 5 Keep Your Routine Intact on the Weekends Saturday and Sunday are not the days to sleep in two or three hours — that can throw off your sleep routine. Come Sunday night, you won’t be tired for your normally appointed bedtime. A half hour of sleep-in time on days off is reasonable, says Dimitriu. 6 Brush Your Teeth Early in the Evening Consider this one a small hack that helps you avoid late night snacking. “Late night snacking keeps you up,” says Dimitriu. Not only can certain foods cause heartburn or contain caffeine that keeps you awake (like chocolate), but eating before bed can be taxing on your digestive system, which diminishes sleep quality, too. 7 Cut Yourself Off From Caffeine by Noon You may have heard this unofficial rule before, but do you know why? Caffeine has a “half-life” of four to six hours, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). That’s how much time it takes for your body to metabolize half the caffeine. So, for some people, if they drink 20 ounces of coffee at noon, by 6 p.m., it’s as if 10 ounces is still in their system, says Dimitriu. While many people can drink coffee at night and have no problem, for most of us, having coffee in the later afternoon will cut into our sleep — and throw off this all-important sleep routine. NEWSLETTERS Sign up for our Healthy Living Newsletter SubscribeBy subscribing you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. 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