The end of summer is a stressful time for many of us, and if you’re suddenly waking up in the middle of the night, staring at the ceiling, you’re not alone. Many of us on the Tom’s Guide Sleep Team are in the same boat, waking up at 3 a.m. thanks to impending back-to-school routines and stresses, and other big life changes.

Neurologist and sleep medicine specialist Dr. Pedram Navab knows just what it’s like to live with broken sleep at night—a near-fatal car accident, caused by his own extreme fatigue, inspired him to dedicate his career to solving chronic sleep deprivation and insomnia.

According to Dr. Navab, author of the forthcoming new book The Alchemy of Sleep, calming stress before bed is the best way to stop waking up through the night. And you don’t need any fancy sleep tech to do it either. Here Dr. Navab reveals the simple yet effective 3-step routine he uses to calm racing thoughts, fall asleep fast, and sleep through until morning.

3-step routine for better sleep

1. Set a consistent wake time

“The most important advice that I give to my patients all the time is to keep a consistent schedule," explains Dr. Navab. "Basically, try to wake up at the same time each morning. Try to go to sleep at the same time each night."

Routine is the foundation of good sleep. It's even been linked to longer lifespans; a study by Vitality found going to sleep within a set one hour time frame five nights a week was a key indicator of mortality.

"Sleep likes that routine," says Dr. Navab. "That's why we do so well with a sunrise and sunset time. Because our body runs on the circadian rhythm in tune with the natural rhythm of the sun rising and sun setting."

He notes that a set wake up time allows you to "start that rhythm again." So no oversleeping, even when you're dog-tired. By getting up early, you leave plenty of time for sleepy-chemical adenosine to build up. As a result, you're more likely to drop off quickly the next night.

"Keeping that consistent schedule as much as you can is probably the biggest factor in helping you sleep better,” explains Dr. Navab.

2. Write down 3 things from your day before bed

Find yourself waking up at 3 a.m. in a cold sweat over your to-do list? Or unable to go to bed until you've finished that one last task? Dr. Navab has a fix.

"I tell [my patients], write down one thing that went well today, one thing that could have gone better," he advises.

There's a reason why your thoughts start to race when you climb into bed. Without the hustle of day-to-day life to keep you busy, your brain is free to recall all the anxieties normally kept bubbling under the surface.

"At night, when you're lying alone, it's you and your brain, and you just start thinking," he explains. "So that's why I like the idea of writing one thing that went well, one thing that went badly, things that you could have done differently, to set that day apart. And the next day is the new day."

He describes it as the "tabula rasa" — a blank slate.

3. Get sunlight first thing

Your alarm's gone off and even though you're tired, you know if you want to keep up your new routine, you need to get out of bed.

Dr. Navab's final tip is just what's needed to feel fresher on groggy mornings: a little dose of sunshine.

"Try to get out there and get some sun when you wake up in the morning, at least half an hour," he says. "Even on cloudier days, because you're still getting a little bit of light."

He notes that sunshine in the morning helps "reset your circadian rhythms". This is because light signals to your body clock that it's time to get up, clearing away the fatigue of sleep inertia.

Keeping healthy circadian function helps with sleep "in general", according to Dr. Navab. It's almost like winding up a watch; it keeps your internal body clock ticking along in time.

What is 'adjustment insomnia' — and why might it be behind your poor sleep?

The end of summer often brings with it a change in routine, particularly for parents and children. You have a new schedule to get used to, new routines to learn, and new pressures rearing their head.

As a result, the relaxed sleep you enjoyed all summer is now taking a downturn.

Upheaval can have a negative impact on your sleep, a phenomenon Dr. Navab describes as "adjustment insomnia." (Often known as short-term insomnia or acute insomnia.)

According to the American Medical Association, roughly one-third of Americans will experience acute insomnia in their lifetime. It can be triggered by a range of factors, with stress a frequent cause.

Following Dr. Navab's tips can help you get your sleep back to its best. And set you up with the healthy routine you need to weather the next sleep storm (...it'll be the holidays before you know it.)

When to speak to a doctor about your sleep?

If you've been experiencing long-term sleep deprivation (three months or longer), your sleep has taken a sudden downturn with no obvious cause, or you suspect you're experiencing sleep apnea, we recommend speaking to a healthcare professional.

If you're anything like me, you need complete darkness and silence to sleep, blocking light and noise with eye masks and ear plugs. I couldn't think of anything worse than falling asleep in front of a TV emitting sounds and bright moving pictures.

So, imagine my surprise when I checked the results of our recent Tom's Guide poll that asked the question: "Do you fall asleep in front of the TV?". 59% of over 700 respondents admitted to dozing off with the TV on, with a third sharing that they do it most nights.

I asked two psychologists to explain the reasons behind this common TV habit. And I also called on a board-certified medical doctor to share how sleeping with the TV on can affect your sleep quality — and the simple methods to try instead if you need background noise to fall asleep (or sleep through the night).

Falling in front of the TV: Why do so many of us do it?

Before I delve into the psychology behind sleeping with the TV on, I decided to get some first-person perspectives from those who habitually fall asleep in front of the TV.

So, is it a habit that occurs by accident when they're trying to watch a TV show, or is bedtime TV an intentional sleep aid?

Turns out, it's both.

"I have actually made this habit that I need to hear something to get sleepy," says travel blogger Jatin Chhabra, who says it took him hours to fall asleep after recently switching to an earlier bedtime.

"So, for 2 hours, I watch TV, or sometimes just hear it," he explains. "Some content is helpful, but interesting and funny stuff never makes me sleepy."

Similarly, publicist Alice Wu likes to use "long" and "monotone" TV to drift off, a habit that began when she used to have a baseball game playing in the background to fall asleep.

"These days, having the TV tuned into a nature show is a way for me to calm down and relax at the end of the day," Wu says. "I enjoy the descriptive commentary in nature shows, and eventually I turn the volume down and kind of just drift off to sleep."

On the other hand, we have Sleep Editor Nicola Appleton, who tells me that her nocturnal TV habit isn't actually intentional.

"Falling asleep in front of the TV was always something of a guilty pleasure for me, particularly on the weekend when I’d ‘treat’ myself to a later night," she explains. "I’d settle down to re-watch one of my favorite shows or films, but I’d end up practically sleeping through the whole thing."

1. Stops overthinking and quiets racing thoughts

"I don't necessarily need to have the TV on to fall asleep, but I do find that if I'm feeling particularly wired, it helps me for some reason," Wu tells me. "I haven't been able to pinpoint why, it just does."

If you intentionally have the TV playing in the background to fall asleep, you may likely relate to that experience.

In fact, according to Dr. Shelby Harris, board-certified clinical psychologist with Better Sleep, watching TV to fall asleep when you're feeling "wired" isn't at all unusual.

"The steady background noise can quiet racing thoughts and ease the transition from wakefulness to sleep," says Dr Harris.

Dr Nicola Cann, a sleep psychologist, says that TV can serve as a distraction from anticipatory anxiety or overthinking about something you've already done.

"TV can also serve as a useful distraction for those of us who are prone to rumination before bed," Dr. Cann says. "It gives us something else to focus on so that we don’t start replaying that awkward conversation with our boss, or worrying about the busy day we’re going to have tomorrow."

2. Some shows are relaxing or just plain boring

If you find that you can power through a brand new show, but end up drifting off when your rewatching a new one, then it's likely that you only fall asleep in front of the TV when the content is soothing or uninteresting.

"Watching TV can help us wind down by reducing cognitive arousal," says Dr. Cann. "Shows that are familiar or predictable are especially good for this because they can be relaxing without being too engaging."

"Familiar shows offer a sense of comfort, predictability, and companionship at the end of the day — a soft landing after hours of demands and decisions," Dr. Harris adds.

3. TV becomes a sleep cue over time

Dr. Cann says that sleeping with the TV on, while calming, can also turn into an unhelpful sleep cue if it happens frequently enough over time.

"If we repeatedly watch TV when we’re becoming sleepy our brains learn to associate the sofa and TV time with sleepiness," the psychologist explains. "Then it can be harder to fall asleep without the TV."

4. You're not going to bed when you're sleepy

However, needing to have the TV on to fall asleep differs from accidently falling asleep while watching TV. If you find yourself in the latter camp, the answer to why you're falling asleep in front of the TV may be simple: you're tired.

"Of course, people falling asleep in front of the TV might simply be sleepy," says Dr Cann. "If you’re regularly falling asleep in front of the TV then it’s worth asking yourself: are you getting enough sleep, and are you going to bed when your body is ready for sleep?"

Falling asleep in front of the TV: Why should we stop?

So, why is falling asleep in front of the TV so bad anyway? I asked Danielle Wall, MD, a board-certified internal medicine physician and Sit 'n Sleep's resident medical reviewer.

Here she explains how TV may be ruining your sleep despite helping you to fall asleep.

1. Lowers sleep quality

Let's face it: TV's are noisy, light boxes designed to stimulate the senses, and that spells trouble for our sleep.

"Falling asleep with the TV on can make it harder to create the dark, quiet environment that generally supports consistent sleep," says Dr. Wall.

"Light from the screen, changes in volume, and shifts in programming can continue providing stimulation after you begin drifting off and may contribute to disrupted or lower-quality sleep," the medical doctor adds.

Indeed, a 2021 study found that sleeping in a room with even a trace amount of light can lead to nighttime awakenings, while research has shown that nocturnal noise fragments sleep.

2. Causes daytime fatigue and poor health

If the light and noise from the TV ends up waking you up at 3 a.m., that means you'll be waking up with a lot less energy.

"When sleep is shortened or interrupted, people may notice the effects the next day through lower energy, difficulty concentrating, irritability, or changes in mood," says Dr Wall.

Research also shows that lower quality sleep can affect health in general, with one study finding that getting less than seven hours of sleep can reduce our life expectancy even more than poor diet or lack of exercise.

"If poor-quality sleep becomes a regular pattern, it can also affect overall well-being over time," the M.D. explains.

3. Makes it harder to fall asleep in bed

Dr. Cann also explains that sleeping in front of the TV can affect something called sleep pressure (or sleep drive), which is the biological urge to go to sleep.

"While we’re awake, sleep pressure gradually builds, increasing feelings of sleepiness," the psychologist explains. "If we’ve built it up throughout the day, we’re more likely to fall asleep easily and stay asleep when we go to bed."

According to Dr Cann, falling asleep in front of the TV can eat into that sleep drive that you’ve been building, potentially making it harder to fall asleep when you eventually go to bed.

"The longer or later that accidental sleep is, the more likely it is to interfere with your subsequent sleep," she warns.

Falling asleep in front of the TV: How to stop

It's all well and good to point out the consequences of sleeping with the TV on, but a habit can be hard to beat when it's (a) accidental or (b) needed.

1. Disable autoplay, set a timer, and switch off the TV

If you're someone who drops off while watching the tube, it's best to start setting yourself limits rather than cutting out nighttime TV altogether..

"If someone is used to sleeping with the TV on, they do not necessarily have to change the habit overnight," says Dr Wall. "A sleep timer is a good first step so the television turns off shortly after they fall asleep."

Dr. Harris advises using a sleep timer so the TV shuts off after 20 to 30 minutes.

"Keep the screen dim, and avoid particularly stimulating content such as news, crime shows, or anything emotionally intense," the board-certified psychologist advises.

If you're gripped by a new show and have a weakness for binge watching, Dr Cann recommends having "stopping points" to minimize the risk.

"Don’t start a movie when you know it’ll end too late for you," the psychologist suggests. "Disable autoplay features so you’re not tempted by 'one more episode.”

Once you've reached a stopping point, according to Dr Wall, the best thing to do is "turn off the TV" and "keep the lights dim".

"Avoid picking up your phone or doing another activity that wakes you back up," says the doctor. "The goal is to take advantage of that natural sleepiness rather than resetting your brain into wake mode."

2. Find a new way to relax

Creating a relaxing nighttime routine is important if you want to improve your sleep — but what if your wind-down routine consists of a late-night binge-watch?

"For some people, having the TV on becomes part of their usual wind-down routine," says Dr Wall. "Over time, the brain can begin to associate that background sound and familiar content with relaxation and sleep."

To break this association, Dr Wall suggests building healthier sleep cues.

"Creating a consistent wind-down routine with dimmer lighting, reading, or another relaxing activity can also help teach the brain to associate different cues with sleep," she suggests.

3. Switch to audio only

Sometimes, the sound of the TV can be sleep inducing, rather than the TV screen itself.

"If the sound itself is comforting, try replacing the TV with white noise, calming audio, or another option that does not include a bright, changing screen," suggest Dr Wall.

Dr Harris agrees: "Try a familiar podcast, audiobook, sleep story, calming music, white or brown noise, or another audio-only option with a timer."

She suggests that, over time, you can gradually shorten the amount of time the audio plays as your brain becomes more comfortable falling asleep without it.

"The goal is to preserve the sense of familiarity and background sound while minimizing light and unexpected stimulation," Dr Harris explains.

I tried out the audio method — here's what happened

I decided to follow the three sleep doctors' advice and try out a sleep podcast to fall asleep. Using the Jabees PEACE Duo Pillow , I chose the Sleep With Me series.

The Sleep With Me podcast has the tagline, "Bedtime stories to help grown ups fall asleep in the deep, dark night.

It features bedtime stories for adults that are designed to be so rambling and monotone that they take your mind off racing thoughts and bore you to sleep.

The mental health podcast features a library of insipid stories, so I selected one at random: The Orlando Convention Center. If you would like to know what the story is about, then look it up yourself because I have no clue.

Once I put it on, and my pillow speaker muffled the narrator's voice, it slowly turned into (metaphorical) white noise to me.

According to my Oura Ring 5, I fell asleep in under 10 minutes (9, to be exact) mention. The voice was so single-toned and tedious that I didn't take much notice to what the story was about. Basically, it was so boring that I fell asleep.

However, I forgot to heed Dr Harris's advice that I use a timer. Spotify autoplayed fortwo and a half episodes until I suddenly woke up at 2 a.m., with the podcast still droning on.

I don't usually wake up at 2 a.m., so I am going to have to blame the podcast (for waking me up) and myself (for not setting a timer).

However, if you need sound in the background to fall asleep, then I definitely think this sleep podcast is a great alternative to a TV screen. Just remember to set a timer first so you don't wake up to the sounds of someone talking about a craft fair.

3 top-rated products to stop you from using TV for sleep

The brain doesn't come with an off switch, although I could use one at bedtime. My laptop is asleep, my phone is on do not disturb, but my mind is still buzzing away. These racing thoughts lead to bad sleep and 3 a.m. wake ups.

As Dr. Shelby Harris, psychologist with BetterSleep, explains, there are two big factors behind nighttime stress. And they're things none of us can avoid: the past and the future.

But although I can't power down my mind, Dr. Harris explains that there are ways to press pause on busy thoughts. Her pre-bed hacks are helping me drift off without anxiety. And I've found a way to supercharge her advice.

Key takeaways

• When we're in bed, mental noise fades, leaving you free to worry about the future and overthink the past.
• These anxieties keep the brain engaged, when it should be winding down.
• Simple writing tasks such as to-do lists and gratitude journals can redirect your thoughts to calmer, more sleep-inducing thought patterns.

The 2 factors that keep you awake

"At night, the mental noise of daily life fades and that quiet can actually work against us," says Dr. Harris, behavioral sleep medicine specialist.

Now that humdrum responsibilities aren't keeping the brain occupied, the stage is set for an onslaught of racing thoughts. She breaks it down into two problem areas: regretting the past and worrying about the future.

"Without the distraction of our to-do lists, unresolved thoughts move to the front," explains Dr. Harris. "Regrets about the past pull us into rumination, replaying conversations and decisions on a loop."

That's why that embarrassing moment from third grade you forgot about returns in technicolor when you're tucked up in bed.

And if the past wasn't bad enough, the future can also intrude on your rest.

"Worries about the future do something similar, but in the opposite direction — instead of rehashing what happened, we're mentally rehearsing what might happen, running through scenarios and trying to problem-solve before a problem even exists," says Dr. Shelby.

It's that itchy, restless feeling that compels you out of bed at 3 a.m. to start sending emails.

"Either way, the brain stays cognitively engaged at exactly the moment it needs to be powering down."

How to-do lists and gratitude journaling can help combat 3 a.m. wake ups

We can't just wipe our brains clean at bedtime. But good sleep hygiene can prevent unwanted thoughts from ruining your rest. Dr. Harris recommends adding a simple writing habit to your bedtime routine.

Gratitude journaling can help you stop overthinking the past

Life rarely seems gloomier than at 3 a.m. To help transition your thought patterns to a happier place, Dr. Harris recommends gratitude journaling.

"Gratitude journaling can be helpful because it shifts attention away from threat, unfinished business, and negative thought loops toward more positive or grounding experiences," she explains.

A gratitude journal is a place to write down happy reflections from the day. These can be small things — like that perfect cup of morning coffee — that made you smile.

"For someone whose mind tends to spiral at bedtime, that change in focus may make it easier to disengage from stressful thoughts," says Dr. Harris.

"That said, if journaling becomes another task you feel you have to complete perfectly, it can have the opposite effect. The goal is not to force yourself to think positively, but to give your mind something calmer and less activating to focus on."

To-do lists stop you from worrying about the future

"Writing down what needs to be done can give the brain a sense that those tasks have been captured and don't need to be actively rehearsed," says Dr. Harris.

These to-do lists shouldn't be unwieldy. She recommends keeping it "brief and actionable" rather than turning it into an opportunity to problem solve.

So instead of detailing a 10-step plan to reconfigure your pension, your to-do list will act as a reminder that tomorrow you need to look into your savings.

"I often recommend treating a bedtime to-do list as a way of telling your brain, 'I don't need to solve this right now. It's written down, and I can deal with it tomorrow'," she says.

For college students (or parents of college students), these writing tasks are a good way to stay on top of burgeoning responsibilities and protect your sleep. After all, a study has found sleeping better can increase grades. And I have a hack to make it work even better...

My hack to supercharge your pre-bed ritual

I highly recommend handwriting your to-do lists and gratitude journals — don't just type them into your notes app. Research suggests that handwriting is better than typing for memory retention and it protects you from the bright lights and stimulation of your phone.

But recently I've switched from my trusty notebook to a reMarkable. This tablet and stylus works like a notebook but the final result can be uploaded to your online workspace.

The reMarkable can even read your handwriting and convert it into text. (Although my messy writing has resulted in some mistranslations.)

The big advantage is that I can easily turn my scribbled to-do lists into online documents. This is particularly useful for work-related lists, as I can collate my cluttered evening thoughts into something actionable the next day.

Speaking of clutter; mess is bad for your sleep, as it adds to the sense of unfinished business. Piles of half-scribbled to-do lists are particularly liable to trigger that sense of panic. A tablet like the reMarkable, or a well organized notebook, keeps everything in one tidy place.

Sleep expert's tips for reducing anxiety before bed

Good sleep hygiene is based around activities that you find relaxing, so if to-do lists and gratitude journaling aren't your jam, Dr. Harris has other suggestions to wind-down before bed.

"You can try slow breathing, progressive muscle relaxation, or a quiet, low-stimulation activity," she advises. "I’m also a fan of practicing mindfulness meditation for just five minutes during the day."

She explains that these habits teach you to gently direct your attention away from anxious thoughts, towards a calmer, relaxing headspace.

"Over time, this helps strengthen your ability to let go of busy thoughts, she says. "Practicing during the day can make it easier to do the same thing when your mind starts racing in the middle of the night."

"The broader goal is to reduce cognitive arousal rather than fight with your thoughts — because trying to force yourself to stop thinking can sometimes make those thoughts even more persistent."

Our fave products to help you sleep through the night

For me, the debate over morning showers vs evening showers has one clear winner. Evening showers help me unwind and wash away the sleep-disrupting allergens collected during the day. Morning showers just add another step to my pre-work routine. However, there is one drawback to an evening shower: harsh bathroom lighting.

Exposure to bright bathroom light bulbs in the evening has been found to shift circadian rhythms about two hours later per day, making it harder to fall asleep. In other words, your sleep-wake cycle thinks it's still daytime, so you can't drop off.

And that's where the Auria Glow Lamp, now $49.99 at Amazon, comes in. This dark showering device swaps overstimulating LED bulbs for a soothing amber glow. It's gone viral but does it work? I tested it out to see if the Auria Glow lamp (and dark showering) can help me sleep.

Key takeaways

• Exposure to harsh bathroom lighting before bed has been shown to suppress the production of melatonin, a hormone that signals it's time to sleep.
• The dark showering trend, however, is said to support melatonin production by replicating the natural conditions at the end of the day.
• The Auria Lamp is designed to be used while showering, switching your overhead light for a warm amber glow that mimics a sunset.
• However, while the Auria Glow Lamp is more relaxing than bright LED bulbs, further research is needed on its effectiveness.

What is the dark showering trend and how does it improve sleep?

Dark showering is pretty self-explanatory; it's when you take shower in the dark.

While the dark showering trend originated on (where else?) TikToK late last year, it mirrors time-honored bathing customs from Japan, India, and ancient Rome. And there's a good reason why dark showering traditions have stood the test of time: they really can help you sleep.

"The 'dark showering' trend can improve sleep for a couple of reasons," explains Sam Sadighi, a certified sleep practitioner at Get Laid Beds. "Bathroom lighting is renowned for being bright, which isn't going to help our melatonin production."

Melatonin is a hormone that makes us feel tired and its production heavily relies on light (or lack thereof).

"Showering in dim lighting helps, as our brain expects our surroundings to be dark approaching bedtime and will help our melatonin production," she explains.

A 2023 study found that reducing blue light exposure shortened sleep latency (how long it takes to fall asleep) and helped prevent melatonin suppression.

Another argument in favor of dark showering is that a warm shower (counterintuitively) drops our body temperature before bed, echoing how our core body temperature naturally drops before sleep.

"That's one of the reasons why it's harder to sleep when the ambient temperature is hot," explains Sadighi. "Having a very warm shower before bed will help to lower your core body temperature, which will help sleep by drawing heat from your core."

What is the Auria Glow Lamp?

Sadighi points out there is one major flaw with showering in the dark. You can't see.

"The main issue with showering in low light is ensuring that while the lighting is dim, it isn't so dim that you can't see what you're doing," says the sleep consultant.

To counteract this, the waterproof Auria Glow Lamp aims to light up your bathroom. But instead of a harsh blue light, it emits a warm amber glow.

Amber lighting, the color of a toasty fireplace, has been shown to help people fall asleep faster and experience fewer awakenings — making it the perfect alternative to showering in darkness.

The lamp comes in two different projection styles, depending on whether you want to keep the dome on or take the dome off. Below is dome-on mode, which gives you a diffused candlelight-mimicking glow.

If you decide to take the dome cover off, you'll get a more ethereal, wave-like projection, with wisps of light cascading along your walls (sounds dramatic, but it's true).

Auria says the Glow Lamp "lowers cortisol, supports melatonin, mimics sunset light and calms nervous system".

"You already know the power of a dark shower," claims Auria's website. "Now add the warm, amber glow that helps your nervous system finally exhale."

While the science behind the dark showering and warm lighting checks out, will the Auria Glow Lamp really work miracles on my sleep?

Putting the Auria Glow Lamp to the test — see the results over 3 nights

Night 1

The first night, I decided to try the Glow Lamp without the dome, as this was the projection style that seemed the most exciting to me. This projection style creates an underwater feel, with the lamp spilling golden waves over the wall. Here's what it looks like in action:

The Auria Lamp made me feel as if I were showering in an enchanted lagoon — one with passionfruit-scented shower gel and volumizing shampoo.

It certainly created a relaxing mood before bed, but was it enough to boost my sleep score from the previous night?

According to my Oura Ring 5, it was. I scored an 82/100, 5 points more than the previous night. "Your Sleep Score was above your typical range last night. Hopefully you feel in your energy levels!" the smart ring told me.

Night 2

On the second night, I tried the lamp with the dome on, which created a soft, muted glow. This projection style is more luxury spa than mermaid cove, and I can see why some users prefer this lightning mode when conducting their nightly ablutions. Here's what the Auria Lamp looks like avec dome:

Again, the lamp delivered a tranquil shower setting, and I definitely felt ready for bed afterwards. However, I didn't get the perfect sleep. But it had nothing to do with the Auria Glow...

At 3 a.m., I woke up with menstrual pain, which kept me awake until 4 a.m. This significantly impacted my sleep score (a "fair" 68) but it can't be blamed on the Auria. So instead, I'm focusing on my sleep before my 3 a.m. rude awakening.

My sleep latency was shorter than the previous night, meaning I fell asleep two minutes quicker. Meanwhile, all the deep sleep I experienced happened before 3 a.m, racking up to 1 hour and 24 minutes. Not bad considering that, according to the Oura App, the optimal amount of deep sleep is between 1 hour and 1.5 hours.

Night 3

On the third night, I still had pretty bad cramps, meaning I showered and went to bed later. I decided to bring the lamp closer to the shower, to change the lighting effect. (It's completely showerproof so you can actually bring it in beneath the stream if you want.)

I used dome-off (mermaid) mode this time around and found that the warm relaxing shower did relive stress. I felt my muscles relaxing, which also provided some pain relief.

So, the good news is that my sleep score crept up into "good territory" again (73/10) and my sleep latency was shortened by another 2 minutes. My REM sleep could have been longer, but my deep sleep was still in the optimal range at 1 hour and 19 minutes.

Does the Auria Glow Lamp actually work?

Considering that cramps ravaged my sleep on nights 2 and 3, I still managed to fall asleep fast and get plenty of deep sleep after using the Auria lamp.

It definitely helped me unwind before bed and created a relaxing, sleep-inducing atmosphere. It was nice to take a break from the harsh LED lightning in my bathroom, and I will definitely keep showering in the glimmer of the Auria Glow.

Overall, I think sleep expert Sadighi summed up the lamp: "The Auria Glow Lamp does look good. However, honestly? I'm not sure it would be a magic elixir to help sleep, but it's absolutely not the worst sleep aid on the market"

3 top-rated products to boost melatonin for sleep

Heading to college? You've probably crossed all the sleep essentials off your dorm room checklist: pillows, comforter, sheets. But what about a mattress topper? Dorm beds are notoriously uncomfortable and throwing a brand new bedspread over a mattress that's seen better days won't fix it.

The best mattress toppers can give dorm beds a shiny new makeover. While in an ideal world you'd be bringing one of the best mattresses to your dorm, mattress toppers are lighter, cheaper, and easier to set up. In fact, many bed toppers are designed with students in mind.

I'm a mattress topper tester and I'm sharing the five key reasons why every dorm bed needs a mattress topper — yes, even the brand new ones. Plus, I'll explain how to choose a mattress topper that's right for you in the upcoming Labor Day mattress sales, so you can stop poor sleep from getting in the way of your grades.

Key takeaways: At a glance

• Mattress toppers protect against all kinds of mess and germs.
• They also changing the bed's feel and firmness for better comfort and support.
• When choosing a mattress topper, make sure it contains foam, has some form of temperature control, and is not too thin or thick.

5 reasons why a mattress topper is a dorm room essential

1. Adds a germ barrier

The average lifespan of a mattress is seven to 10 years, so in all likelihood, multiple people have used that dorm mattress before you. As someone who has had to sleep on quite a few second-hand mattresses in her time, I'm unfortunately familiar with mysterious bed stains.

But stains are inevitable because mattresses collect everything, from sweat to spilled drinks, like stamps. Even if the person before you used a mattress protector and never ate in bed, bodily fluids like natural oils can still seep through and leave stubborn, yellow mattress stains.

That's where a mattress topper steps in. Toppers act as a thick germ barricade, protecting you against a grimy dorm mattress. Many toppers also have hypoallergenic, deodorizing, and antimicrobial properties. Consider one infused with antibacterial copper, such as the ViscoSoft Active Cooling Copper Topper or the Molecule CopperWELL Mattress Topper.

2. Softens hard beds

Even if you're the first one to sleep on your dorm mattress, you still might run into issues. New mattresses haven't gone through a break-in period, meaning they're can be unusually firm. You might feel like you're sleeping on a plank of wood (particularly if you're used to a well-used mattress at home).

Luckily, most mattress topper are made from body-contouring foams that are perfect for softening hard beds. Memory foam mattress toppers are also great for soothing side sleeper pressure points, moulding to your shoulders and hips.

3. Controls temperature

According to the Farmer's Almanac, we're in for more hot weather this fall. While many newer dorms are equipped with air conditioning, a large number of older, historic campuses have restricted AC or no AC at all.

If you find yourself struggling to sleep in a hot dorm room, the next best thing to a massive fan is a cooling mattress topper. Most mattress toppers have some degree of temperature regulation, but some go one step further and utilize state-of-the-art cooling tech. For example, Helix mattress toppers have GlacioTex covers, which are designed to dissipate body heat.

4. Adds support

If your dorm mattress has passed through a few users, it might have developed lumps and dips. A firm mattress topper can add support to an overly soft or sagging bed.

Choosing a firmer designs is also better for stomach and back sleepers, who need more lumbar support to avoid lower back pain.

Some mattress toppers, such as the Puffy Deluxe Mattress Topper, come in different firmness options. If a mattress topper doesn't have a choice of feels but does come in a variety of heights, go for the thinnest one for firmer support.

5. Protects the mattress

As I mentioned above, mattress toppers act as a barrier against germy dorm beds. That means they also protect the dorm mattress from your germs.

If you're someone who's accident-prone or likes to snack in bed, a mattress protector can provide a buffer between you and the mattress. That means when it comes to move out day, you won't be stuck with a fine for a replacement bed.

Many (but not all) mattress toppers come with removable, machine-washable covers, such as the Tempur-Adapt+ Cooling Mattress Topper. This means you can launder the topper's cover without having to clean the mattress itself.

Finish with one of the best mattress protectors for full safeguarding.

3 steps to choosing the right mattress topper

1. Choose a topper between 2" and 4" thick

A mattress topper's thickness is important when finding the right one for you. Too thin or too thick can both come with problems.

A too-thin mattress topper is unlikely to make any difference to the feel of the bed, while a too-thick mattress topper will be too squidgy and add unnecessary height to your mattress.

As a rule of thumb, don't choose anything thinner than 2" or anything thicker than 4".

2. Make sure it has foam

If you've been trawling Amazon for some cheap mattress toppers, you may find quilted ones that look good but appear awfully thin. That's because these are mattress pads, not mattress toppers.

These are often foamless — sometimes labelled as microfiber, synthetic-filled, hollow fiber, or down alternative mattress toppers — and the bad news is they make no difference to the feel of your bed whatsoever.

Instead, look for a mattress topper that is clearly labelled as containing foam, either memory foam or latex foam, to ensure it's capable of providing a thick layer of comfort.

3. Look for cooling materials

And last but not least, look for cooling materials or design features that keep your bed temperature neutral.

Some cooling features are better than others, however. For instance cooling gel-infused foam is no match against a specialist cooling cover made of GlacioTex or PCM.

Also, some materials are naturally cool, such as organic latex foam or moisture-wicking, breathable cotton or wool.

3 top-rated mattress topper deals

Two months ago, I got my hands on the Oura Ring 5, which you can buy from $399 at Amazon. It's a sleek smart ring that delivers gold standard sleep tracking analysis. But could the Oura Ring actually help me sleep better, or merely hold a mirror up to it?

I was wearing the Oura Ring when a sleep doctor helped take my rest from six to seven hours of sleep in a week. And I can now see why it's considered to be one of the best sleep trackers on the market.

From keeping me moving throughout the day to pinpointing my optimal bedtime, the Oura Ring has helped me reach my seven-hour sleep goal, and even helped me pay back a chunk of my sleep debt. Here's a closer look at the top three things the Oura Ring did to help me increase my total time asleep, plus the three hidden Oura features that can help you boost your rest.

Key takeaways

• The Oura Ring 5 provides helpful feedback to optimize your sleep.
• Its activity reminders encourage healthy habits that improve sleep quality, while bedtime reminders help you to optimize sleep timing.
• Sleep and health metrics also help to pinpoint the reason for any sleep issues, with its 'latency' and 'time asleep' metrics showing when you need to go to bed and wake up to hit your sleep duration target.
• Other Oura Ring features for seep optimization include unguided and guided sleep meditations and sleep stories.

My sleep before using the Oura Ring 5

I've always struggled to get at least seven hours of sleep. As for the apocryphal 8-hour recommendation? Forget it.

My barriers to getting enough sleep can vary from night to night, but the common offenders include revenge bedtime procrastination and the Sunday Scaries.

Getting six hours of sleep is common for me (though racking up 5 hours isn't a rarity either), and my average sleep duration in May, the month before I got my Oura Ring, was 6 hours and 9 minutes. And that is a problem.

In 2025, researchers at the Oregon and Health and Science University reported that sleeping for less than seven hours a night decreases life expectancy more than poor diet and lack of exercise.

Meanwhile, a study by Vitality and The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) found that following the 7:1 sleep rule (meaning getting at least seven hours of sleep, falling asleep within the same one-hour window, for at least five nights a week) could add four years to lifespan.

"The recommendation for adults is seven to nine hours, with seven being the minimum," says Sam Sadighi, a certified sleep practitioner at Get Laid Beds "By getting the appropriate amount of sleep, we are giving our brains and bodies the opportunity to rest, recover, and repair."

3 key Oura Ring features that helped me go from 6 to 7 hours of sleep

1. It keeps me moving

The Oura Ring 5 does more than track sleep, of course. It's also a health and fitness tracker, which means it becomes a pedometer, reports on how long I've been active for, how much calories I've burnt, and even sends me gentle reminders to stretch my legs and move around if I've been inactive for too long.

That's all well and good, but you're probably wondering how that ties in with my sleep?

Research has shown that regular physical activity helps improve seep quality, meaning that it regulates sleep cycles and helps you fall asleep faster. It also helps me to move around throughout the day, rather than encouraging a vigorous workout before bed (which has been shown to actually decrease sleep quality).

Plus, the Oura starts tracking my movement as soon as I roll out of bed, which means it motivates me to take morning outdoor walk. And that morning dose of vitamin D, according to studies, actually helps to regulate my circadian rhythm to sleep better at night.

2. It helps me set the right bedtime

There's been many times were I believed that going to bed at 11 p.m. and setting my alarm for 6.05 a.m. guaranteed me at least 7 hours of sleep. Surely adding an extra 5 minutes to my wake-up time would account for the time it takes to fall asleep?

However, I was way off base. Not only does the Oura Ring's sleep tracking tell me that it can take me up to 18 minutes to fall asleep (which is by no means a bad thing; the Oura app tells me that the ideal sleep latency should be around 15-20 minutes), but I also have to factor in nighttime awakenings.

For example, on a night where I managed to rack up 7 hours and 3 minutes of sleep, I went to bed at 11.18 p.m., and set my alarm for 6:45 a.m — and leaving room for 7 hours and 27 minutes in bed (instead of just 7 hours and 0 minutes) paid off.

My 6-minute sleep onset latency that night, added to any nightline awakenings I had, took my total time awake to 27 minutes. Having the Oura Ring, which tells me how long it takes me to fall asleep and how long I wake up for at night, helped me set a bedtime that took into account for any obstacles that could take me away from my seven-hour goal.

In addition, it also sends me bedtime notifications (I don't set these reminders, the app sets a notification time that's in line with my body clock and encourages sleep consistency), which nudge me to start my nighttime routine so I'm ready for bed at the right time.

3. It helps me pinpoint any sleep issues

The Oura Ring doesn't just show me the number of hours I slept and a sleep score, it also breaks down my night, shows me the areas I need to work on, and offers me guidance on how I can improve my sleep.

For example, on nights where nighttime awakenings affected my sleep score, it suggested that stress and tension could be to blame for my restlessness and advised me to reduce stress and tension with proper hydration and dynamic stretching, among other stress-relieving activities.

The Oura Ring's counterlife as a health and fitness tracker also means it can tell you how your health patterns are affecting your sleep. Recently, I got a low amount of REM sleep, and the Oura Ring app (which also functions as a period tracker) informed me that this could be due to the fact that I was in the second half of my menstrual cycle, which increases the need for restorative sleep but also naturally reduces REM sleep.

3 other Oura Ring 5 sleep features to check out

1. Unguided session

Considered to be one of the hidden Oura Ring 5 features (I confess it is very difficult to find in the app), the Unguided Session offers you the chance to try some meditation and mindfulness sessions to improve sleep. To access this feature go to the home (Today) page, scroll down to Timeline, and scroll across the Add a tag section until you find Unguided session.

When you begin a session, the Oura Ring 5's sensors activate on a continuous cycle, and then when the session ends, it provides insights from that session so you can see the health benefits (such as higher HRV) of meditation.

The session can last as long as you like, anywhere from one minute to an hour. You can also choose from a menu of soothing "soundscapes" to help you unwind. This feature is excellent for nighttime routines, as mindfulness meditation has been reported to improve sleep quality and reduce daytime fatigue.

2. Body Clock and Chronotype

The Body Clock and Chronotype features your optimal sleep window, based on your sleep chronotype (when you're at your most active and alert) and pits it against your current sleep patterns. From this information, you can gain understanding of how your biological clock likes to function and how to improve your sleep schedule and habits.

This feature is hidden, as it isn't available from the get-go. Instead, unlocking this feature requires you to consistently wear your Our Ring to bed to gain 30 long sleep periods (in the same time zone) during a 90 day period. As I've recently travelled (and haven't owned the Oura Ring for 90 days), so this feature isn't available to me yet. But stay tuned...

3. Sleep stories and mediations

Bedtime stories for adults are now a popular sleep hack, with popular meditation apps such as Calm and Headspace offering a library of cozy, relaxing tales for you to fall asleep to. Luckily, Oura has its own selection of sleep stories, with calming titles such as "A Walk to the Cottage" and "Rockabye Railway".

There's also a library of guided sleep meditation, if you need more help than the above Unguided session offers. These guided mediations gently coach you through body scans and breathwork for sleep.

More top-rated sleep trackers to improve your rest

I'm a supplement skeptic but it might be time to eat my words — and drink my mushrooms. As evidence grows that mushroom supplements might improve sleep issues, I decided to give adaptogens a go. And my sleep tracker was impressed.

For 30 days I added functional mushrooms to my sleep routine. Sipping on lion's mane in the morning (to improve clarity) and reishi in the evening (to reduce stress) I was hoping to supercharge my sleep-wake cycle. I recorded the results with a sleep diary, which I cross referenced against my Withings Sleep Analyzer sleep tracker.

Soon I was skipping the 3 a.m. wake ups and starting the day feeling ready to go. But were the adaptogens to thank? Or were changes to my routine the real secret behind better sleep. I asked Laura Perez, Registered Dietician and Clinical Nutrition Lead at Simple Online Pharmacy, what to make of the results.

Key takeaways

• Adaptogens and nootropics are herbal supplements, taken to reduce stress, boost focus and improve sleep.
• Early clinical studies show positive benefits from some adaptogens and there's plenty of anecdotal evidence.
• I used reishi and lion's mane, two types of adaptogenic fungi, for 30 days and felt some benefits — but these might be attributed to positive routine changes.

What are adaptogens and nootropics — and how can they help you sleep?

Adaptogens and nootropics are natural supplements derived from herbs, plants or mushrooms. Broadly, adaptogens are recommended to fight stress, while nootropics are used to improve cognitive function.

Adaptogens are said to respond and adapt to imbalances in the body to restore you to homeostasis. Popular adaptogens include ashwaghanda and reishi, while lion's mane and cordyceps are common nootropics. (Nootropics are sometimes classed as a form of adaptogen.)

Widely used in parts of East and South Asia, there's a wealth of anecdotal support for adaptogens. And scientific trials have shown some benefits to adaptogens although Perez notes that; “Human studies remain small and the results are mixed.”

“The honest answer is that you may be noticing a genuine benefit,” says Perez, “but the evidence is not yet strong enough to say confidently that reishi improves sleep or lion’s mane boosts brain power.”

Adaptogens and nootropics are available in various forms, from capsules to powders to tinctures. However, they're aren't regulated by the FDA and Perez warns you should always check what you’re getting.

“Products can vary considerably in their dose, concentration and the part of the mushroom used, so choose a reputable supplement company that has undergone independent quality testing.”

Reishi mushrooms for sleep

The first of my supplements is reishi (also known as Ganoderma lucidum or lingzhi).

Reishi has a long medicinal history and is intended to reduce stress and enhance sleep. A 2024 review did find sleep-aiding benefits to using reishi, as did a study from the same year.

However, Perez notes that much of the research has been conducted in animals or laboratories and more real-world evidence is needed.

Lion's mane for focus and clarity

Lion's mane, or Hericium erinaceus, is a nootropic intended to make you more alert and focused. Essentially, a brain booster.

Perez notes that while lion's mane is often associated with alertness, it's not going to wake you up like caffeine. However, she agrees there's promising evidence that lion's mane can improve your mental energy.

“Some small studies have reported possible benefits for memory, processing speed, mood or stress, particularly in older adults or people experiencing cognitive decline,” she says.

She does note, however, that other trials have found “no significant overall improvement in cognition.”

What happened when I used adaptogens to help me sleep better and wake up with more energy for a month?

I tested the Love Mush AM:PM Bundle for a 30-day period from March 1st to March 30th. I consumed 1ml of reishi extract in the evening and 1ml of lion’s mane in the morning.

First things first: do they taste like mushrooms? No. There’s no flavor at all, actually. At the start of my testing period I added the extract to water with trepidation. By the end of the month, I was mixing reishi hot chocolates and lion’s mane matchas.

My sleep scores stayed even

For the month of testing, my Withings Sleep Analyzer awarded me an overall score of 80... the exact same score I got the month before.

Don't get me wrong, I'm still happy with an 80. That indicates consistent, decent quality sleep. And there's a big caveat — I was horribly ill on March 5th, resulting in one of my lowest sleep scores ever (47). There’s nothing the mushrooms could have done in this situation and it dragged my average down.

However, even without my terrible 47, my sleep score wouldn't have jumped noticeably, So while there's a small improvement, nothing that couldn't be chalked up to natural fluctuations.

Reishi didn’t beat 3 a.m. wake ups — but my sleep interruptions went down

Stress is a major cause of disrupted sleep as it causes cortisol levels to spike, increasing alertness and leaving you prone to late night wake ups. It’s a problem I’ve dealt with on and off for years and during periods of high stress, my sleep takes a downturn.

“Reishi is often marketed as an ‘adaptogen’ that helps the body manage stress," says Perez and while she notes that further research is needed, current evidence is promising.

My own data (both my sleep score and subjective notes) support reishi's calming properties. At the start of March, I experienced several disrupted nights in a row. By the end of the month, I was sleeping through. (I didn't record any significant changes in outside stressors.)

When I stopped using the supplements in April, my sleep tracker recorded an uptick in interruptions. But nothing outside the realm of ordinary late night wake ups.

I felt calm and relaxed before bed

After sipping slowly on whatever drink I’d mixed my reishi supplement into, I generally felt ready to drop off. Was this thanks to the mushroom? Was reishi targeting the stress in my body to relieve anxiety before bed?

Perhaps, but there might be another benefit at play.

“Taking a supplement as part of a calming bedtime routine may signal to your brain that the day is ending,” explains Perez. This helps create your sleep-wake cycle to stay regulated, so you can drop off quicker.

My reishi ritual became a reliable part of my routine during my 30 day testing period. Pouring my drink, measuring my dropper full, mixing it in… it was like a low-effort version of a Japanese tea ceremony.

"Expecting it to help could also affect how relaxed you feel. A placebo response is not imaginary, but it does not prove the mushroom itself caused the improvement,” explains Perez.

I was more refreshed in the morning

If reishi gets you snoozing, lion’s mane is meant to wake you up. This nootropic is said to improve focus and cognitive function, like a kickstart for your brain.

Anecdotally, I was impressed. During the 30 day period I recorded how alert I felt each morning after consuming my lion’s mane drink. Instead of ‘groggy’, ‘half-awake’ or ‘uurrgghhh’, I typically felt ready to go.

And no, I didn’t start using lion’s mane alongside a burgeoning interest in espresso. Mostly, I mixed it into my regular cup of English breakfast tea.

Again, however, there might be another explanation at play. My testing period coincided with lighter mornings, meaning by the time I finished my drink I was enjoying the awakening effect of sunlight.

Plus, because I was making sure I got my lion's mane, I was hydrating every morning. This has been linked to improved cognition.

“Lion’s mane is not a stimulant like caffeine, so it should not produce an immediate surge in energy or alertness," explains Perez. "Claims that it will instantly sharpen the brain or transform productivity go beyond what current research supports.”

What happened after I stopped using adaptogens?

I had a 30-day supply of reishi and lion’s mane. Once my trial came to an end, I stopped using any adaptogens to see what happened to my sleep score.

Overall, there was little change. I slept slightly worse in April than I did in March (and that’s without the red mark of a sub-60 score) but it was still within my average range (a 78 overall). Also, as noted, I saw a slight uptick in sleep interruptions — but not enough to cause concern.

In terms of alertness, the brighter mornings have helped me wake up feeling fresher. But I recorded more drowsy mornings after I ditched the lion's mane.

Verdict: Can mushroom adaptogens help you sleep better?

Reishi didn’t stop my 3 a.m. wake ups and lion’s mane didn’t supercharge my brain. However, I’ll add myself to the long list of adaptogen's anecdotal beneficiaries.

During the 30 day testing period I felt well rested and alert. On the nights I used reishi before bed I went to sleep feeling calm, while my brain woke up faster on my lion’s mane mornings.

But this positive impact might be attributed to other healthy habits I picked up along the way; a ritual wind-down in the evening, hydrating in the morning, and getting sunlight first thing.

“My overall view is cautiously open-minded,” says Perez. “If you enjoy taking them, notice a benefit and know they are safe for you, there may be no reason to stop.”

“However, [adaptogens] shouldn’t replace the fundamentals with stronger evidence behind them, including sufficient sleep, regular meals, physical activity, daylight exposure and sensible caffeine intake.”

While Perez says adaptogens can be beneficial, she recommends being careful with use.

“Natural does not automatically mean risk-free," says Perez. "Reishi may increase bleeding risk and interact with blood-thinning or immunosuppressant medicines. Anyone taking regular medication, living with a health condition, pregnant or breastfeeding should always speak to a pharmacist or healthcare professional first."

Our favorite tech to help you destress before bed

Everyone wants to sleep better but few want to acknowledge that good sleep is a matter of consistency and healthy habits. Wouldn't it be easier if sleep came in a cup? Say, some kind of sleepy girl mocktail?

Enter the rise of the TikTok sleep hack. Social media is cluttered with foods and drinks said to be as sleep-inducing as a tranquilizer dart. And as someone who loves a shortcut and often gets snack-y before bed, I'm the perfect target for a TikTok sleep trend.

Armed with my Withings ScanWatch 2 and seven popular sleep recipes, I spent a week experimenting with everything from lettuce water to bedtime brownies.

I also asked Laura Perez, Registered Dietician and Clinical Nutrition Lead at Simple Online Pharmacy, to weigh in on the supposed benefits. Did any of them work? The proof is in my sleep scores...

I tested the internet’s favorite bedtime snacks and drinks — here’s what they did for my sleep

Night one: Baby carrots

Carrots are a healthy choice for an evening snack, but for TikTok scientists it's all about the carotenoids.

These pigments, responsible for the distinctive orange of carrots, is turned into vitamin A in your body. This helps regulate your circadian rhythm, which keeps the sleep-wake cycle running smoothly.

"They also contain fibre, which can help keep you satisfied overnight," adds Perez. "And they’re unlikely to cause the blood sugar spikes that some sugary snacks can."

How to prepare baby carrots

This viral trend insists on seven baby carrots before bed. Not five, not six. Precisely seven. However, a bit of research shows that baby carrots are typically just regular carrots, shaved down and rounded.

With this in mind, I opted for the equivalent amount of regular carrot. I scrubbed them and sliced them into sticks, for easy snacking, and kept the nutrient-rich skin on.

About an hour before bed, I tucked into my snack.

Verdict: Did baby carrots improve my sleep?

• Sleep score: 66

My Withings sleep tracker awarded my a score of 66 for this night. That's slightly below average for me, but my scores often dip on a Saturday, when I'm more likely to let my routine slip.

"There’s no strong evidence that carrots themselves make people sleepy," says Perez, "but choosing a light, balanced snack before bed may be more comfortable than eating something very rich or heavy late in the evening."

My carrot sticks were enjoyable but not moreish, so I went to bed feeling comfortable rather than full.

Verdict: Not the sleep bullet TikTok suggested but a nutritious alternative to a pre-bed cookie.

Night two: Kiwis

“Kiwis are probably one of the better-supported foods when it comes to sleep," explains Perez. "Some small-scale studies have suggested they may help improve sleep quality."

Research from 2023 concluded that eating two kiwifruits one hour before bed over the course of four weeks could improve sleep and recovery time.

"[This is] possibly because they naturally contain antioxidants and serotonin, which are involved in regulating the sleep-wake cycle," says Perez.

How to prepare kiwis for sleep

Simple version: eat two kiwis.

But I thought I'd have some fun with it, and turned to JessHallCooks on TikTok.

1. Use a sharp knife to slice the kiwis into rounds, roughly half a centimeter thick (you can peel the kiwis first, or tub them in kitchen towel to remove some of the skin).
2. Melt three to four squares of dark chocolate (dark chocolate is rich in magnesium).
3. Pat the kiwi slices dry and dip into the melted chocolate.
4. Sprinkle with sea salt and leave to set in the fridge (roughly 30 minutes).

Verdict: Did kiwis improve my sleep?

• Sleep score: 79

First of all, this is delicious.

However, two kiwis dipped in chocolate left me feeling bloated before bed. I did however, manage to score 79. So maybe kiwis do have some benefits, if I can get a good score even with an uncomfortably full stomach.

In the interest of fairness, and because I'd bought six kiwis, I tried it again a week later. This time, I missed out the chocolate (and the skin). A much lighter snack, I went to bed more comfortable and my sleep score rocketed up to 91.

"I wouldn’t describe them as a miracle cure, but they’re certainly a nutritious fruit," explains Perez. "There’s no harm in including them as part of a balanced diet if you enjoy them.”

Verdict: Delicious and possibly dream-inducing

Night three: Banana peel tea

Perez notes that bananas are a good source of vitamin B6, potassium and magnesium, which are important to muscle and nerve function. She adds that magnesium and vitamin B6 have also been linked to sleep regulation.

That explains the bananas. But why are we boiling the peels?

According to DebyUrsell, boiling delivers three times the dose of magnesium, supercharging the sleep powers. Banana peels also contain tryptophan, an amino acid used by the body to make serotonin and melatonin.

How to prepare banana peel tea

There are many, many different recipes for making banana peel tea online. I chose one by SacredLotus, as it has over 3 million views and 50,000+ likes. That many people can't be wrong, right?

1. Peel a ripe banana and chop the peel. Put the banana aside.
2. Place the banana peel in a pan of boiling water and leave to simmer for 10-15 minutes.
3. Strain the banana water into a mug and enjoy.

Verdict: Did banana peel tea improve my sleep?

• Sleep score: 72

At first, I was pleasantly surprised. Sweet, subtle and easy to sip on. For all my skepticism, this seemed like it was going to be a success.

Halfway through, things changed. It became cloying and musty. Even worse, bits of banana had slipped through the strainer, giving the drink unwanted texture.

I went to bed bloated and trying not to gag every time I remembered the taste.

My sleep score was an okay 72 but with some caveats. First, I was bone tired after two days in the office and would have expected to sleep better (I scored 88 the week before.)

Second, I got out of bed twice. Why? My banana tea was followed by two glasses of water, to get the taste out of my mouth. I woke up needing the toilet.

"There isn’t good-quality evidence that boiling banana peels into a drink will improve sleep," says Perez. "Incorporating foods like pumpkin seeds, almonds and leafy green vegetables into your diet daily will likely be more effective than going to the effort of boiling banana skins!"

Verdict: Disgusting — do not try

Night four: Lettuce water

Lettuce contains an ingredient known as lactucarium, which is reported to have a sedative effect. Small scale studies found consuming dried, powdered lettuce leaves and seed extracts could improve sleep... in mice.

“Lettuce water has become very popular on social media, but the evidence behind it is extremely limited," adds Perez.

However, seeing as we boil all kinds of leaves and call it tea, perhaps the leap to lettuce water isn't so strange.

How to prepare lettuce water for sleep

There's no consensus over exactly how to make lettuce water, although romaine appears to be the lettuce of choice. With that in mind, I put a handful of leaves in a mug, added boiling water and left it for five minutes.

I then removed the leaves, held my nose and prepared to drink.

Verdict: Did lettuce water improve my sleep?

• Sleep score: 65

Following banana tea, I had very, very low expectations for lettuce water. But it was... fine. I've been searching the thesaurus for an interesting way to describe it but there's nothing to say except: 'water with a hint of lettuce'.

However, it had no discernible impact on my sleep. I got a fairly lousy score of 65, spending only 6 hours, 22 minutes asleep. (And only 49 minutes of that in deep sleep.)

I doubt lettuce water is to blame but it does mean unless I'm craving a mug of lettuce-y goodness, I won't be reaching for this again. I'll stick with a chamomile, thanks.

Verdict: You're better off with a glass of water

Night five: Sleepy Girl Mocktail

The Sleepy Girl Mocktail has been blowing up FYPs for a while now as a magic sleep elixir. It combines tart cherry juice with magnesium and sparkling water.

"Tart cherry juice has attracted interest because it naturally contains small amounts of melatonin, and there is some research suggesting melatonin itself may support sleep in certain people," explains Perez.

Magnesium has also been linked to better sleep, with some studies finding magnesium deficiency negatively impacts the sleep-wake function. Hence the addition of magnesium powder.

As for the sparkling water, that's just for taste.

How to make a Sleepy Girl Mocktail

As with all TikTok trends, there are various recipes for the Sleepy Girl Mocktail floating around. However, the basic recipe contains just three components:

1. Pour a liberal swig of tart cherry juice.
2. Add a serving of magnesium (check the packet for the correct amount).
3. Top with sparkling water (or probiotic soda), to taste.

Verdict: Did the Sleepy Girl Mocktail improve my sleep?

• Sleep score: 95

I'd been looking forward to trying this one and as it has the most scientific backing, I gave it the toughest test. I had a late(ish) night on Thurday and was expecting to miss out on sleep. Could a Sleepy Girl Mocktail help me reclaim some rest?

Well, no. At least according to my sleep tracker, which recorded a dismal score of 36. I slept for just five hours, with only 30 minutes spent in deep sleep.

Despite this, I felt surprisingly well rested the next day. Something I hadn't expected from my sub-40 score. A second test on a regular work day had better results, with my overall sleep score leaping to 95.

From this (fairly limited) evidence, I'd theorize that the Sleepy Girl Mocktail might have some benefits. But it can't compare to good sleep hygiene.

Perez agrees that the Sleepy Girl Mocktail isn't a magic bullet. "It may be better to try to incorporate foods rich in melatonin (or tryptophan, which is an amino acid our bodies turn into melatonin) into your daily food intake, rather than relying on tart cherry juice."

She recommends pistachios and walnuts, dairy, turkey, eggs and soy food.

Verdict: Delightful, and you might start snoozing better

Night six: Golden milk

Golden Milk, sometimes known as moon milk, is a bedtime drink made primarily from milk and turmeric.

"Turmeric has recognized anti-inflammatory properties," explains Perez, although she notes there's no strong link that it improves sleep. She adds that milk is also a source of tryptophan.

Many versions of golden milk use adaptogens; natural ingredients that are often recommended for stress reduction (although further research is needed).

However, as Perez explains, the biggest benefit of golden milk might be its soothing feel. “Golden milk can be a comforting bedtime drink," she says. "A warm drink may help people unwind as part of their evening routine."

How to make Golden milk for sleep

Again, Golden Milk recipes vary a lot. I went for this recipe by Quincylk, which has over 3.9 million views.

1. Stir 1 tsp of ground turmeric, ground cinnamon and ground ginger into 2 cups of almond milk. Add a pinch of black pepper and heat on low for 3 to 5 minutes.
2. Add 2 tbsps of honey or maple syrup. Serve immediately.

I made a few adaptations. Primarily, switching almond milk for oat milk and halving the recipe. I also added a drop of Reishi mushroom extract, as adaptogens are a popular add-on to Golden Milk.

Verdict: Did golden milk improve my sleep?

• Sleep Score: 78

If you've been looking for a way to add more turmeric to your diet, this is the most pleasant turmeric drink I've had yet. It's warming and soothing, without the 'dirt' taste that plagues many turmeric teas.

My sleep score of 78 also suggests this was a winner. Particularly as I'd had two coffees and two glasses of wine that day, which is not a great sleep combo. However, relaxing with a cup of Golden Milk in the evening did help me wind-down before bed.

Verdict: A soothing bedtime drink

Night seven: Sleepy time brownies

Yep, this whole thing has been an excuse to eat brownies before bed. And after forcing myself to drink banana peel water, I think I deserved it.

These brownies contain eggs and milk (for tryptophan), bananas (vitamin B6), cocoa powder (magnesium), and seed or nut butters (healthy fats). However, each amount is in limited doses.

But as a lower-sugar alternative to dessert, they might be a better evening pick for those with a sweet tooth.

How to make sleepy time brownies

This is a relatively simple recipe from HappyHomeNutrition; I knocked them up in about 30 minutes on a Sunday morning, while trying to do three other things at the same time. To make sleepy brownies, you need:

• 1.5 cups of oat flour
• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 2 ripe bananas, mashed
• 1/3 cup raw honey
• 1/2 cup dairy milk (or unsweetened alternative)
• 2 tbsp sunflower seed butter (or alternative)
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

1. In a bowl, mix together the dry ingredients; oat flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon.
2. In another bowl, mic the wet ingredients; bananas, honey, milk, seed butter, eggs and vanilla extract.
3. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix until combined.
4. Pour the mixture into a greased 8x8 baking pan.
5. Bake at 350°F (180°C) for 18-22 minutes.

Verdict: Did brownies improve my sleep?

• Sleep score: 68

Nothing is ever going to beat a plain old brownie — but these were pretty good. My sleep score of 68 isn't bad for a Sunday night, either, although it did take me a while to fall asleep.

That might be because even a healthier brownie is still a brownie. "If a brownie is genuinely lower in sugar and higher in fibre or protein, it may have less impact on blood sugar than a standard brownie, but it’s still a dessert," explains Perez.

"I wouldn’t encourage people to think of any brownie as a sleep aid. If you enjoy one occasionally, that’s absolutely fine, but it shouldn’t be seen as something that improves sleep.”

Verdict: Easy to make and healthier than most brownies, but you won't see a sleep score improvement

Do any of these viral sleep hacks actually work?

“It’s completely understandable why people are looking for simple, natural ways to improve their sleep, and social media has made these food trends incredibly popular," says Perez. "The important thing to remember is that no single food or drink is going to cure persistent sleep problems on its own."

As much as I'd love to say drinking lettuce leaf will cure your 3 a.m. wake ups, I didn't see any real results from any hacks. In fact, my sleep scores were down across the board during my test. Probably because I was wasting my wind-down time boiling banana peels.

So trending drinks are no replacement for good sleep hygiene. But there's a nugget of an idea buried in many hacks.

Next time I'm hungry before bed, I'll reach for kiwis and carrots. And when the weather turns cool, I'll happily swap hot cocoa for a Golden Milk latte.

"Rather than focusing on finding one 'magic' sleep food, it's worth looking at the broader picture — both overall nutrition and daily routine," explains Perez. "Some foods do have promising evidence behind them, including kiwi fruit, oily fish like salmon and sardines, and dairy products, which are a useful source of tryptophan, the amino acid the body uses to produce melatonin."

"In practice, eating regular balanced meals throughout the day, limiting caffeine in the afternoon, and avoiding large meals or alcohol close to bedtime are all likely to have a far greater impact on sleep than any single food or nutrient alone."

And if you've boiled yourself up some banana skins, give them to your tomato plants and grab yourself a cup of chamomile tea.

Make your own pre-bed sleepy snacks

We've all been there. You arrive at work feeling tired and bleary-eyed after a night plagued by insomnia, only to be greeted by your bright-eyed co-worker who's running on a full sleep. Pouring yourself an extra-strong black coffee, you ask yourself, "What's the difference between me and them?"

Turns out, there can be a number of key differences between an insomniac and someone who gets at least seven hours of sleep a night. "People who consistently sleep well don't necessarily have perfect routines, but they often share certain behaviours," says Sam Sadighi, a certified sleep practitioner at Get Laid Beds.

Although everyone's experience is different, Sadighi says that people with insomnia also "often share some common patterns" that can disrupt sleep.

Here Saighi and Mike Wakeman, a pharmacist and sleep researcher at Evera Nutrition, reveal the key habits that separate the sleep deprived from those getting plenty of rest. Here are the five habits of insomniacs vs the top three habits for better sleep...

Key takeaways

• Insomniacs often worry about not getting enough sleep and clock watch, which can exacerbate their sleep issues.
• Irregular betimes and wake-up times are also common among insomniacs.
• People who consistently get 7 hours+ sleep a night often get enough daylight and establish a consistent sleep schedule and relaxing nighttime routine.
• However, good sleep habits aren't always enough to treat chronic insomnia. Anyone experiencing persistent sleep problems should speak to a doctor.

5 key differences: What insomniacs do

1. They try to force sleep

If you've ever found yourself, in the middle of the night, clock watching or calculating how much time you have left before you need to get up, then you're likely just making the problem worse.

"Automatic negative thoughts such as ‘I’ll never function tomorrow if I don’t fall asleep in the next 5 minutes…’ start to creep in," says Sadighi. "This is just going to stress you out and push sleep further away."

2. They have irregular sleep patterns

One of the most common sleep habits associated with insomnia is going to bed and waking up at different times every day.

"Going to bed at 10 p.m. one night and 1 a.m. the next makes it difficult for the body's internal clock to establish a consistent rhythm," says Wakeman.

"Trying to grab sleep whenever they can (understandably), means that they disrupt their circadian rhythm, which has been shown to actually make it all harder," agrees Sadighi.

3. They skip the wind-down routine

Nighttime routines should help you to relax and prepare you for bed, but not all activities that help you relax should be part of yours.

"Many people work, scroll through social media or watch television until the moment they try to sleep," says Wakeman.

In fact, every hour of screen time in bed (be it doomscrolling, answering work email, or binge-watching a new show) has been shown increase the risk of insomnia by 59%.

4. They rely on alcohol and caffeine

According, to Sadighi, many insomniacs rely on unhealthy habits to help them fall asleep or manage their daytime fatigue, but they actually exacerbate their sleep issues. She says the two main sleep crutches people use are alcohol and caffeine.

"Alcohol helps them fall asleep fast, but actually messes with their sleep cycles, and caffeine helps power them through the day, but they often have so much it then impacts the next night, causing a vicious cycle," the sleep consultant explains.

5. They stay indoors and sit too much

A 2024 study found that natural daylight, particularly in the morning, can improve sleep efficiency, while regular physical activity is consistently associated with better sleep quality.

"Spending little time outdoors and leading a sedentary lifestyle can make it harder to establish healthy sleep patterns" says Wakeman.

5 key differences: 3 things people who get 7+ hours sleep do

1. They get outside

Catching some rays may seem totally irrelevant to your sleep, but the amount of sunlight we get – and when we get it – can help us sleep.

"Daylight in the mornings has been shown to signify to our brains that it’s time to be awake, and dim lighting in the evening tells it that it’s time to start winding down ready for sleep," explains Sadighi.

Research shows that our 24-hour body clock hinges on light to know that it's daytime, as light triggers the production of energy-boosting hormone cortisol, and cues your body to produce sleep-promoting hormone melatonin later in the day.

2. They have a consistent sleep and wake time

The gold-standard sleep habit is setting yourself a bedtime and sticking to it. "And this includes weekends and days off," asserts Sadighi.

"People who sleep well often wake at similar times each day, helping reinforce their natural body clock," says Wakeman.

In fact, having fixed wake-up times and consistent bedtimes is a core part of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia (CBT-I), with studies showing that consistent bedtimes and wake-up times can help prevent adverse heath outcomes.

3. They have a wind-down routine

We've already established that working late and doomscrolling is the ultimate don't at bedtime if you want to fall asleep fast.

However, freeing yourself from emails and social media in the posts allows you to create a cosy and relaxing atmosphere that prepares your mind and body for sleep.

"Good sleepers often develop a regular bedtime routine," Wakeman suggests. "This might include dimming lights, putting away electronic devices, reading, gentle stretching or taking a warm bath."

"Whether it's breathing exercises or another relaxing activity, they allow both mind and body to transition towards sleep," explains Sadighi.

What is insomnia?

Sadighi defines insomnia as a sleep disorder that causes difficulty falling asleep, staying asleep, or waking up too early (or sometimes a combo of all three).

"Acute insomnia usually lasts for a few days or weeks and is usually triggered by something stressful or other life events," the founder of Easy Sleep Solutions says.

She goes on to say that acute insomnia often improves once the stress has reduced, but chronic insomnia can be trickier to treat.

"Chronic insomnia is where someone has difficulty falling asleep, staying asleep or waking too early for at least three nights a week for at least three months."

Why do we need 7+ hours of sleep?

Plenty of research now proves that getting at least seven hours of sleep a night is paramount for optimal health. In fact, a study reported that getting less than seven hours of sleep a night sleep decreases life expectancy more than a poor diet or lack of exercise.

Another study, which served as a springboard for the 7:1 sleep rule, found that getting at least seven hours of sleep (combined with consistently falling asleep within an hour window) five nights a week increases life expectancy.

“Typically most adults need around seven to nine hours of sleep each night for their body and brain to function at their best," says Wakeman.

"Research shows that during sleep, the brain consolidates memories, muscles recover, hormones are regulated and the immune system carries out important repair processes."

Can good sleep habits always cure insomnia?

While good sleep habits can improve sleep disorders, adopting these patterns won't cure all insomnia cases.

"Good sleep hygiene helpful for supporting healthy sleep, but on their own they are rarely enough to resolve chronic insomnia," warns Sadighi.

The sleep practitioner and psychologist says that the most effective first-line treatment for chronic insomnia is CBT-I, as it addresses the behaviours and thought patterns that maintain insomnia.

Different approaches are also need if insomnia co-occurs with conditions such mental health issues, sleep apnea, or and restless leg syndrome.

"In these cases, both the insomnia and any underlying factors may need to be assessed and treated in tandem," she says.

"If someone has struggled with insomnia for a while despite practising good sleep habits, it's worth seeking assessment from a sleep specialist rather than continuing to rely solely on general sleep tips," she adds.

Products to help you fall asleep fast

It's 3 a.m. and your brain refuses to shut off, but all you want is some shut-eye. When I recently found myself struggling with the dreaded middle insomnia, I decided to stress-test a sleep expert's strange hack: the 'fake blink'.

This calming method stops your brain from wandering, so you can get back to sleep. It only takes 30 seconds to work and I found it effective from night one.

So I asked the experts why something as simple as a 'fake blink' can be the key to falling asleep at 3 a.m. Here's what they told me, as well as explaining the three different ways to do it...

• From banana peel tea to bedtime brownies, I made viral 5 'soporific snacks' and used my sleep tracker to see if they worked — here are my results

Key takeaways

• Waking up at 3 a.m. can leave you 'tired but wired' — your body is ready for sleep but your brain is awake.
• Using a calming cognitive technique helps you relax again and quickly stops your brain from becoming aroused.
• Because you feel calm, you have a better chance of falling asleep fast again.

What is the 'fake blink' method?

Few sleep hacks are as simple as the 'fake blink'. Get comfy in bed, close your eyes, and open them again. Repeat for around 30 seconds or until you feel sleepy.

“The 'fake blink' technique works mainly through causing physical tiredness in the eyelid muscles (specifically, the levator palpebrae muscle) by creating both physical and mental distraction,” explains Dr. Lori Bohn, Medical Director at Voyager Recovery Center.

There are a few types of 'fake blink' to try:

• Slow blink: Close and open your eyes slowly and gently, as if your eyelids are too heavy to keep up. Repeat this every 3 to 5 seconds.
• Shortened blink: Quickly open and close your eyes with a fluttering sensation — as if you're blinking to keep yourself awake.
• Reverse blink: Close your eyes for a few seconds before quickly opening them, like you've started drifting off when you're trying to stay awake.

"If the technique works for someone, it's likely because it promotes relaxation and decreases mental arousal, which are important for falling asleep naturally," explains Dr. Shelby Harris, sleep expert at BetterSleep.

"That said, it's not the blinking itself that causes sleep," she adds. "There's no strong scientific evidence that shows slow blinking directly triggers the biological processes that make us fall asleep."

Why the 'fake blink' method helps you fall asleep fast

1. It reduces visual stimulation

It might be dark at 3 a.m. but your eyes (and mind) can still find plenty to focus on and keep you alert. From the small blue 'on' light of your laptop to that suspicious shadow in the corner of your eye.

"Deliberately slowing your blink rate may help reduce visual stimulation and encourage you to shift into a calmer, less alert state," advises Dr. Harris.

Instead of your brain noticing the pile of unwashed laundry opposite the bed, it can settle on the calm dark behind your eyelids.

• Read more: 3 key differences between an insomniac and someone getting enough sleep

2. It calms racing thoughts

Stress is a big cause of 3 a.m. wake ups. Stress increases cortisol, a hormone associated with alertness, leaving you prone to wake ups. And when you're staring at the ceiling in the middle of the night, there's nothing to focus on but your worries.

But fake blinking can shift thoughts elsewhere.

"It gives you something gentle to focus on, which can interrupt racing thoughts that often keep people awake," explains Dr. Harris.

"The repetition of closing and reopening your eyes interrupts the train of thought common to those who are anxious at bedtime," adds Dr. Bohn, "allowing an active mind to take part in a mentally uninteresting and calming activity.”

3. It mimics that 'just about to drop off' feeling

You know that feeling just before you drop into sleep? It's accompanied by heavy, drooping eyelids that take all your strength to keep from falling closed.

Fake blinking mimics that feeling, tricking your brain into falling sleep fast again.

"This physical weariness will cause the upper eyelid to feel heavy and droopy and will create a sensation similar to that of falling asleep naturally," explains Dr. Bohn.

And if you practice it regularly, it can be even more effective.

"It may also become a conditioned cue for sleep, similar to how certain bedtime routines signal to the brain that it is time to wind down," says Dr. Laura Bojarskaite, neuroscientist and sleep researcher at the University of Oslo.

3 other methods to try when you wake up at 3 a.m.

“People should think of the 'fake blink' method as one tool in a broader bedtime routine rather than a standalone solution," explains Dr. Harris.

"If you’re consistently struggling to fall asleep, I recommend evidence-based habits such as maintaining a sleep schedule (even on the weekends) and limiting screen time and stimulating activities before bed."

But when it's 3 a.m. and you're wide awake, here are three expert recommended techniques to try:

1. Cognitive shuffling

Cognitive shuffling is popular among the Tom's Guide sleep team. Simply pick a word, then think of as many words as possible, starting with each letter of your chosen word.

This repetitive task has low mental load and helps you drift off again.

2. 4-7-8 breathing

Breathing techniques are a way to calm both the body and the mind. One of my favorites is the 4-7-8 technique.

Breathe in for 4, hold for 7, and breathe out for 8. It's a real slow down for the nervous system, helping reduce anxiety.

3. The 15-minute rule

When nothing else seems to be working, the 15 minute rule is my gold standard.

To do it, get out of bed and sit in another room. Keep the lights dim and try a calming, distracting activity (like reading or stretching).

Lying awake in bed can teach the brain that your bedroom is a place for stress. Getting up helps disrupt that connection. When you feel tired again, return to bed.

Our fave products to help you sleep through the night

I don't get enough sleep, and wearing an Oura Ring 5 to bed every night has perfectly captured that fact. Since getting my hands on the gold-standard sleep tracker, I've woken up pretty much every day to metrics highlighted in scolding red, urging me to get more than my typical 6 hours of sleep a night.

The Oura Ring is the best sleep tracker on the market, and one of its unique metrics is its Sleep Debt counter, which tells you how many hour and minutes of sleep you've missed.

"Sleep debt is the difference between the amount of sleep your body needs and the amount you actually get over time," says Dr. Shelby Harris, a licensed Clinical Psychologist and Behavioral Sleep Medicine Specialist at BetterSleep. "If you consistently need around eight hours but only sleep six, you're accumulating roughly two hours of sleep debt each night."

She's right. According to the Oura Ring, the amount of sleep debt I owe is sky high. But is there a way I can repay it? To find out, I asked Dr. Harris to create me a sleep schedule to go from six hours of sleep a night to seven.

Here's what happened to my sleep debt after following this plan for a week...

Key takeaways: Paying your sleep debt at a glance

• Sleep debt is the difference between the amount of sleep your body needs and the amount you actually get over time.
• To repay sleep debt, you have need to stick to a consistent sleep schedule that encourages earlier nights.
• Wake up at the same time: Keep your alarm set for the exact same time every day (even on weekends) to maintain your internal clock and avoid "social jet lag."
• Gradually go to bed earlier: Reduce sleep debt by going to bed 15–30 minutes earlier every two nights rather than trying to force a drastic, sudden change.
• Factor in sleep latency: Head to bed 10–20 minutes before your target sleep time to account for the time it takes you to fall asleep once you're in bed.
• Trust long-term progress: You may not see any progress initially, but sticking to the sleep schedule despite setbacks could lead to decreasing sleep debt by over an hour in just one week.

My sleep before trying Dr Harris's sleep schedule

• Bedtime: 12:25AM
• Fell asleep: 12:36AM
• Total sleep time: 5 hours 41 minutes
• Sleep debt: 8 hours and 50 minutes (accumulated over six weeks)

Before I dive into Dr. Harris’s sleep schedule, let's look at the sleep habits that drove me to seek out specialist advice in the first place.

The night before I started the sleep plan, my Oura Ring recorded a bedtime of 12.25am and a total of 5 hours and 41 minutes of sleep (resulting in an insufficient amount of REM sleep), while my average monthly sleep duration was 6 hours exactly.

Sleeping 6 hours a night on average is cause for concern, especially since ground breaking research indicates that you need to consistently sleep for at least 7 hours a night for optimal health.

This insufficient amount of sleep every night has resulted in a high amount of sleep debt, culminating in a grand total of 8 hours and 50 minutes on the morning before following the schedule — and that's excluding the decades of sleep debt I've accumulated in the years before owning an Oura Ring. I've clocked up 8 hours and 50 minutes of sleep debt in the six weeks I've been wearing the Oura Ring.

So, suffice to say, I definitely needed to change my sleep habits.

Dr. Harris's 7-night sleep schedule

Looking at my sleep debt, I worried that it would be impossible for me to start following a strict sleep plan after years of bad sleep habits. However, Dr. Harris assured me that it's actually better to follow a schedule that takes it slow, rather than a tough regimen that immediately forces you to fall asleep much earlier than the bedtime you're used to.

"The healthiest approach is to gradually increase your nightly sleep by 15-30 minutes, maintain a consistent wake time, and prioritize regular sleep over marathon catch-up nights," explains the behavioural sleep medicine specialist.

"Sleeping until noon on weekends can actually make it harder to fall asleep Sunday night and perpetuate the cycle," she adds.

But why is consistency key to repaying sleep debt? "Our bodies thrive on consistency, so sleeping several extra hours on the weekend can shift your internal body clock and make it harder to fall asleep at your usual bedtime Sunday night," Dr. Harris explains.

According to the sleep doctor, paying back sleep debt in increments (rather than all at once by sleeping in on weekends, something I'm guilty of doing) can help you avoid a cycle of 'social jet lag' that leaves you feeling tired again at the start of the week.

So, what does a debt-repaying schedule look like? Here's Dr. Harris' example of when to fall asleep and wake up if you usually go to sleep at midnight and wake up at 6am:

As you can see, Dr. Harris primarily focuses on wake-up time consistency and a gradually falling asleep earlier and earlier each night. So, the two pillars of a debt-repaying sleep schedule are the following:

• Go to bed 15-30 minutes earlier every two nights
• Wake up at the same time every day (including weekends)

However, it can be difficult to calculate a bedtime that can help you fall asleep by a certain time, as everyone has a different sleep onset latency (the time it takes to fall asleep).

According to research, the typical sleep latency for a healthy adult is about 10 to 20 minutes, so going to bed at least 10 minutes before your intended drift-off time should help. My Oura Ring tells me that I typically takes me around 9-10 minutes to fall asleep, so I decided to go to bed around 15 minutes earlier than my intended sleep time when following the schedule.

So, here's a night-by-night summary of how I got on following Dr. Harris's 7-night schedule (plus how my sleep debt changed throughout the week).

Following Dr Harris's 1-week schedule — see what happened to my sleep debt

So, my aim was to follow Dr. Harris's schedule to the letter, aiming to go to bed 15-30 minutes earlier every two nights. I also set my alarm for 6:45am every night, so I could keep a consistent wake-up pattern and morning schedule.

Night 1: Sleep debt grows

• Bedtime: 12:15AM
• Fell asleep: 12:29AM
• Total sleep time: 5 hours 47 minutes
• Sleep debt: 9 hours and 10 minutes

I know, I know. How could I have ended up with 20 minutes more sleep debt than when I started the sleep schedule? I admit I had the same question myself, until it occurred to me that I was still getting under the recommended sleep duration (even if it's slightly more than the previous night).

I also admit that I needed to be in bed much sooner than my 12:15 a.m. bedtime. According to the 15-30 minute increments rule, as my baseline bedtime was 12:15 a.m., I should have been in bed at around 11.55 p.m. to 12:10 p.m.

"Hopefully, I can fall within that bedtime range tomorrow night," I said to myself after looking at the abysmal metrics.

Night 2: Sleep debt stays the same

• Bedtime: 23:54PM
• Fell asleep: 12:05AM
• Total sleep time: 6 hours 13 minutes
• Sleep debt: 9 hours and 10 minutes

So, I managed to get myself into bed 31 minutes earlier than the baseline bedtime (and 21 minutes earlier than the first night).However, the sleep debt counter still remained at 9 hours and 10 minutes.

That said, my sleep duration did increase from 5 hours and 41 minutes to 6 hours and 13 minutes, which I consider a small victory — I made it over 6 hours.

Night 3: Sleep debt won't budge

• Bedtime: 23:51PM
• Fell asleep: 12:07AM
• Total sleep time: 6 hours and 30 minutes
• Sleep debt: 9 hours and 10 minutes

Technically, I should have hit the hay 15-30 minutes earlier than the second night (the time leap should happen every other night, according to Dr Harris's schedule) but the second night experienced such as jump from the first night that I felt as though I did it pre-emptively.

Again, the sleep debt counter didn't budge, and I have to confess that this was the night when I started to worry that I wouldn't be able to meet the 7-hour goal by the end of the week... completely overlooking the fact that my sleep duration was continuing to rise.

Night 4: Sleep debt falls again

• Bedtime: 23:46PM
• Fell asleep: 12:00AM
• Total sleep time: 6 hours and 16 minutes
• Sleep debt: 9 hours

So, by the fourth night, I did see an improvement in sleep debt, even if it wasn't quite back to its 8 hours and 50 minutes start. I found this a little odd, as my sleep duration was actually 14 minutes shorter than the previous night.

I went to bed 5 minutes earlier than the third night, which wasn't ideal as I should have been getting into bed at around 11.30 p.m. by this point. "But at least I'm going to bed earlier," I reassured myself.

Night 5: Sleep debt goes back to the start

• Bedtime: 23:58PM
• Fell asleep: 12:09AM
• Total sleep time: 6 hours and 17 minutes
• Sleep debt: 8 hours and 50 minutes

And I'm back to going to bed later.

Yes, by Night 5, I went to bed 12 minutes later than the previous night, ending my streak of going to bed earlier every night since the beginning of the schedule.

I should point out two things, however: A) It was a Sunday night, and the Sunday scaries did take hold of me; and B) my sleep debt returned to it's baseline.

Night 6: Sleep debt falls by 20 minutes

• Bedtime: 23:38AM
• Fell asleep: 23:47AM
• Total sleep time: 6 hours 36 minutes
• Sleep debt: 8 hours and 30 minutes

Falling asleep 20 minutes earlier than Night 5, I could already see an improvement in total sleep duration and I was slowly chipping away at my sleep debt. I wanted to fall asleep a little earlier (blame it on my Air pods case going missing), but I managed to repay 20 minutes in a single night and slept 6 hours and 36 minutes (the longest sleep duration I'd experienced since starting the schedule).

Still, I knew that if I wanted to reach the 7 hour mark, I'd need to go to bed 15-30 minutes earlier on the last night — which, as proven above, is easier said than done.

Night 7: I'm sleeping 7 hours and paid back 90 minutes of sleep debt

• Bedtime: 23:18PM
• Fell asleep: 23:24AM
• Total sleep time: 7 hours and 3 minutes
• Sleep debt: 7 hours and 20 minutes

On the seventh and final night, I knew that I needed to get ready for bed as soon as I could. I made sure that everything I needed to go to sleep: eye mask, ear plugs, and no missing items that I needed to frantically search for.

I managed to be in bed by 23:18PM, a 20-minute improvement on the last bedtime and woke up around 2 minutes before my alarm.

Once I rubbed my eyes and reached for my phone, I immediately checked my Oura app. What greeted me was a sleep score of 86, accompanied by the word "OPTIMAL" written in calming blue and a little crown icon.

Sleep duration: 7 hours and 3 minutes. Sleep debt: 7 hours and 20 minutes.

So, I did it. I reached my sleep goal. And while my sleep debt is still in the "High" zone, it still decreased by 90 minutes in one week and 50 minutes on one night.

Bottom line

So, what did I learn from following the Dr. Harris's sleep schedule? To take things gradually and consistently, and most importantly, persevere with it.

There were times, especially when my sleep debt count increased or stagnated, when I wanted to give up and start anew another week. However, I remembered how much the sleep expert stressed that taking things slowly is key, and that sleep debt can't be solved in one night.

So, my advice to anyone wanting to fix their sleep debt is to just keep setting your alarm for the same time each day, keep aiming to go to bed 15-30 minutes earlier every other night (even if you miss the mark by several minutes), and to not get discouraged if you experience a blip.

Top-rated products to help you stick to your sleep goals

The Oura Ring 5 sets the standard for sleep tracking — I’ve been wearing it for 6 weeks and its accuracy has blown me away. However, the Oura Ring 5, from $399 at Amazon, is a luxury spend and while it collects a lot of data, I mostly use it for sleep tracking. So it got me thinking: is there a way to get accurate sleep tracking data for free?

The Oura Ring is the best sleep tracker on the market (I credit the Oura Ring 5 with helping me go from 6 to 7 hours of sleep), so I appreciate that a free app is unlikely to match its accuracy. But with so many iPhone apps promising precise sleep tracking through sound and movement sensors, I wanted to see if you really have to pay 100s of dollars for sleep tracking.

I picked three free sleep tracking apps with the best reviews in the App Store — Sleep Cycle, SleepScore and Sleepwave — and used them overnight. With my trusty Oura Ring 5 on my finger, to compare data. Here's how they measured, plus the one that impressed me so much I’m almost considering giving up my Oura Ring.

Key takeaways: Free sleep trackers at a glance

• While I'm using a $499 Oura Ring 5 as a sleep tracker, there are plenty of free iPhone apps that promise accurate sleep tracking.
• The Oura Ring uses integrated sensors to measure heart rate, blood oxygen levels, respiration rate, movement and temperature.
• Most free sleep trackers rely on movement and sound to determine sleep stages
• To accurately compare data, I wore the Oura Ring while using each of three popular sleep tracking apps: Sleep Cycle, SleepScore, and Sleepwave.
• While SleepScore and Sleep Cycle provide intuitive apps and accessible data, both had glaring accuracy flaws when tracking sleep stages.
• Sleepwave, however, provided accurate results. Sleepwave's sleep stage data was in the 5-minute accuracy threshold of the Oura Ring, making the Sleepwave app the winner.

The gold standard sleep tracker I’m using

I could talk all day about the fitness tracking data provided by the Oura Ring 5,. But let's just stick to its digestible, precise sleep data for now.

The screenless Oura Ring 5 relies on light-based, thermal, and kinesthetics technology to track sleep duration, sleep stages, sleep debt, nighttime breathing, and heart rate variation (to name a few metrics). It then presents the sleep data in easy-to-read tables, charts, and infographics on the accompanying app.

How I selected (and tested) each free sleep tracker

There are plenty of free sleep tracking apps for iPhones, but they aren't made equal. For example, a lot of apps track sleep by detecting snoring, which I knew wouldn't work for me as I'm not a snorer.

In the end, I selected Sleep Cycle, SleepScore, and Sleepwave, because all use motion-sensing technology to track sleep. Sleepwave and SleepScore are both free to download and deliver free sleep tracking (although advanced features are paywalled), while Sleep Cycle is free all summer (with the deal ending August 31st).

I then used one app every night (without paying a penny for any premium features) alongside my Oura Ring 5.

Putting each free sleep tracker to the test — see my results and how I scored them

Sleep Cycle | Test score: 3.5 out of 5

The Sleep Cycle app, free to donwload at the App Store was the first smart alarm clock app in the world. It currently boasts 4.7 stars out of 5 from over 7,000 ratings (but ratings aren't always the best review of quality). It tracks sleep through microphone sound detection (to capture noises such as tossing and turning and coughing) and an accelerometer (to detect movements).

As with most sleep tracking apps, I first had to make sure that my phone was placed in the correct position. I followed SleepCycle's recommended procedure, placing my phone near the edge of my nightstand with the built-in microphone facing towards me. Alternatively, you can put your phone on your mattress, under your sheets.

I also made sure that my phone was a connected to a charger, so it didn't run out of juice mid-tracking. I also positioned it a few inches above the mattress surface. (Sleep Cycle didn't specify to do this, but its instructional picture depicted that.)

Before you press the Start button, you can choose between two smart alarms (or you can select No Alarm — which I did). The first offers a 30-minute wake-up window that should go off during the lightest sleep stage, while the second is one alarm that'll go off at your chosen time.

When I checked the app in the morning, I was greeted with data for sleep duration (how long I slept for), REM sleep, light (or core) sleep, deep sleep, and latency (how long it takes me to fall asleep).

Here's a summary of the Sleep Cycle data vs the Oura Ring 5 data for the same night:

I consider within five minutes of the Oura Ring's data to be accurate. For sleep duration and REM sleep, the Sleep Cycle was pretty much the same as my Oura Ring 5 (3 minutes over and 2 minutes under respectively). But there's a huge 21-minute gap between the Latency results, a 19-minute gap between the Deep sleep data, and 16-minutes between Core sleep results.

Overall, while I was impressed with the accuracy of the duration and REM data, the Sleep Cycle really did miss the mark on Light and Deep sleep, not to mention the confusion surrounding how long it took me to fall asleep.

However, it was easy to set up sleep tracking, the data was synthesized into clear diagrams, and I definitely recommend giving the app a go now that it's free to try.

SleepScore | Test score: 3 out of 5

Next up is SleepScore, free to download on the App store. This app uses sonar technology (or speaker waves) to measure your sleep stages and breathing. It also awards (as you've probably guessed from the name) a sleep score at the end of every night.

While the SleepScore app itself is pretty intuitive, I found it tricky to get my phone in the right position for sleep tracking. SleepScore requires your phone to be on your nightstand (within arm's reach), tilted towards your body, and 6" above your mattress's surface.

The latter was difficult as my nightstand is around 6" below my mattress's surface. I had to employ some book stacking to make up the height. Like the Sleep Cycle app, SleepScore requires your phone is charging to work.

Once the night was over, I checked both my SleepScore app and Oura app to compare results. Here's the synthesized data:

Light sleep and Deep sleep data checks out, with only a 2-5 minute margin of error. But there's slight discrepancy for latency (8-minute margin of error), and a huge difference for sleep duration (36 minutes) and REM sleep (46 minutes).

As for the Sleep Score, both the Oura and SleepScore apps agreed, with the former awarding a 71 and the latter awarding a 70.

The layout of the app is interactive an simple to follow, too. I particularly like the fact that you can "scrub" the sleep stages timeline with your finger to see how long your night-time awakenings were and how long you stayed in a sleep stage per cycle.

I wanted to like this app, I really did. It has 4.3 stars out of 5 from 600 ratings at the App store, but the accuracy is off (I can overlook 8 minutes, but 46?). Plenty of users also state that they find the set up as tricky as I do. It's a free (and lovely-looking) app, so I won't discourage you from using it, but just be aware that your data won't always hit the right note.

Sleepwave | Test score: 5 out of 5

Last but not least, we have the Sleepwave app, which you can get for free at the App store. It uses patented motion-sensing technology to track movement and breathing as (according to Sleepwave) "whenever we move in bed we are naturally more awake".

To be perfectly honest, this app was recommended to me almost three years ago, and I was too skeptical to give it a go.

However, it has an excellent score of 4.6 out of 5 from 3,600 user ratings on the App store. Plus, that patented-technology convinced me to give them a go.

The phone set up for the Sleepwave app is relatively easy, as you have multiple options. The easiest for me was on top of the mattress, just to the left of (and in line with) my pillow. When I woke up, I was greeted to these results from Sleepwave and Oura:

I consider a result 5 minutes under or over the Oura Ring metrics as an accurate match. An impressive 4 out of 5 of Sleepwave's results fell within my threshold. Latency (over by 3 minutes), Deep sleep (under 5 minutes), Core sleep (under by just a minute), and Sleep duration (over by 3 minutes).

These are impeccable results for a free sleep tracking app, with only the REM result not falling within the 5-minute threshold — and even that result was only off by 8 minutes.

(It also features a motion-sensing smart alarm to wake you up during a lighter stage of sleep, which I didn't test.)

My final thoughts on the Sleepwave? It lives up to its claim as "the best free sleep tracker app". The motion sensors accurately tracked my sleep stages, and it's easy to use and set up. My one compaint? There's no sleep score (but that might not be a big deal considering trackers are moving away from sleep scores).

Other free sleep tracking apps to try — top choices for Android users, snorers, and Apple Watch wearers

While the above sleep-tracking apps were the top free choices for me, everyone is different. So to help you find an app that's right for your phone and sleep needs I found a few more free sleep tracker apps to choose from...

Top-rated sleep trackers for more accurate data

Collectively, we’re stressed. Our nervous systems are fried and our sleep is suffering. Enter: expensive gadgets that promise to help us unwind so we can finally get a decent night’s rest. Non-invasive vagus nerve stimulators (nVNS) are the latest viral sensations within the wellness industry.

As a mildly stressed and extremely frazzled working parent, the idea that I could de-stress and sleep better just by turning on a gadget sounds appealing. But do nVNS work, and are they worth the hundreds of dollars that they can cost?

To find out, I tried a $299 vagus nerve stimulator and pitted it against doctor-recommended vagus nerve stimulation practices you can do at home for free. Both methods helped me mellow out before bed and hit a sleep score of 96 on my Apple watch, but one has become my go-to stress buster.

Key takeaways: At a glance

• Wearable vagus nerve stimulators offer an effortless, high-tech way to switch your body from 'fight-or-flight' into a relaxed state, but doctors point out that free physiological techniques can trigger the exact same biological response.
• To test how effective both options are, I put them to the test to see if they can help me lower stress for better sleep.
• Consumer vagus nerve stimulators can be effective at reducing stress but come with a high price tag.
• Techniques like deep breathing and cold-water facial exposure immediately stimulate the vagus nerve and lower your heart rate naturally with zero cost or equipment.
• The Verdict: If you struggle with stress and want a passive, hands-off solution to unwind, the $299 investment may be worth it. However, for most people struggling to sleep, $0 breathwork practices deliver comparable stress-relief results without spending a cent.

What is your vagus nerve and why do you need to stimulate it?

The term 'vagus nerve stimulator' has entered the wellness chat, with healthcare entrepreneurs and influencers alike lauding the benefits of the practice. But what is your vagus nerve, and why do we need to stimulate it?

"The vagus nerve is the longest cranial nerve, running from the brainstem to the major organs, with branches to the heart, lungs, and digestive organs," explains Dr. Adam Mednick, a board-certified neurologist.

"It’s the main highway of the parasympathetic nervous system, often called the 'rest and digest' system, helping regulate heart rate, breathing, digestion, immune responses, and mood."

This nerve plays a central role in the gut-brain connection and in how the body manages stress and inflammation, says Dr. Mednick.

"The vagus nerve is stimulated whenever the body needs to calm down after a stressful experience, acting as a brake on the fight-or-flight response, lowering heart rate, reducing inflammation, and promoting relaxation," continues the neurologist.

What are vagus nerve stimulators?

There are two types of vagus nerve stimulators. First, there are invasive vagus nerve stimulators, a device implanted under your skin. This type of vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) is usually used to treat epilepsy, depression and stroke recovery.

Then there are non-invasive vagus nerve stimulators (nVNS), commercial devices that act externally. These are typically used to manage stress and headaches.

These devices target the parasympathetic nervous system, which is responsible for lowering your heartrate and aiding digestion. But they can cost hundreds of dollars — do we need them?

"For the average healthy person, the answer is no: consumer vagus nerve stimulators are unnecessary," says Dr. Mednick, who specializes in stroke, emergency neurology, and critical care neurology.

"FDA-approved uses of vagus nerve stimulation are for specific medical conditions, such as drug-resistant epilepsy and treatment-resistant depression, not general wellness."

A $299 vagus nerve stimulator vs free alternatives: How I tested

Commercial vagus nerve stimulators are marketed towards those who struggle with ongoing stress and poor sleep, who are looking for a medication-free, low-lift solution.

So, basically, me.

However, healthcare professionals are divided over whether they're beneficial for anyone beyond those who medically require them. Especially when there are methods of stimulating your vagus nerve at home, for free.

To explore how well a commercial vagus nerve stimulator compares to doctor-recommended alternative solutions, I put them both to the test.

To do this, I tested a Sensate vagus nerve stimulator — a $299 device that promises to relieve stress in 10 minutes — against free practices, such as humming and cold water therapy.

I tried both methods at the same time each day; as soon as I finished work and again as part of my nighttime routine.

Via my Apple Watch and a third party app, Welltory, I was able to record my stress levels before the vagus nerve stimulation and after. I then combined this with my overnight sleep score to see which method (if any) helped me unwind enough to unlock a decent night's rest.

How a $299 vagus nerve stimulator helped lower my stress levels for better sleep

For this experiment, I tried out the Sensate vagus nerve stimulator, a pebble shaped device you place on top of your sternum for 10 to 30 minutes. It stimulates your vagus nerve through vibration pulses while you listen to a soothing soundscape.

Sensate recommends using the device during any period of stress, but for daily use it suggests immediately after finishing work and before bed as effective ways to reset and wind down.

With that in mind, I logged off from work and made a note of my stress levels via the Welltory app before using the device (65% - medium).

I'll be honest, I wasn't expecting much. My colleague Eve has tested several vagus nerve stimulators and struggled to recommend them to anyone beyond devout wellness aficionados. But then, Eve is someone with a highly regulated nervous system who gets reliably good sleep every night.

The vibrating sensation took me pleasantly by surprise. I opted for a ten minute session and streamed the accompanying soundscape through my Ozlo sleepbuds 2. I sat on my bed and closed my eyes and focused on the vibrations. I might have been imagining it, but I could feel them in my stomach and even in my feet.

Once the ten minutes was over, I felt grounded and relaxed and thoroughly switched off from work. I made a note of my stress levels (17% - low).

I used the Sensate again before bed. This time, lying on my back with my sleep mask on and my sleepbuds in, I felt deeply relaxed. So much so that once the 10 minute session was over, I only had just enough energy to take the Senate off my chest before I fell fast asleep.

I woke up to a sleep score of 96 (excellent), which — as someone prone to 3 a.m. wake ups — is practically unheard of.

How free doctor-recommended vagus nerve stimulation practices helped lower stress for better sleep

In order to stimulate the vagus nerve for stress relief, Dr. Merick, the author of Normal Pressure Hydrocephalus: From Diagnosis to Treatment, recommends the following practices:

• Slow, deep breathing: Especially with extended exhales. Breathing at roughly six breaths per minute activates vagal pathways via the diaphragm, lowering heart rate and blood pressure, and reducing anxiety.
• Meditation and yoga: Controlled breathing increases parasympathetic tone, reducing stress.
• Exercise: Regular physical activity is one of the most reliable ways to improve vagal tone.
• Cold exposure: Brief cold water exposure (such as splashing cold water on the face or taking cold showers) can trigger a vagal response.
• Singing and humming: These activities engage the muscles of the throat innervated by the vagus nerve.

In order to recreate the same relaxing conditions as the vagus nerve stimulator, I logged my stress levels via the Welltory app (14% very low — which is unusual for me). I then decided to splash my face with cold water once I finished work to trigger an initial vagal response.

Next, I sat on my bed for ten minutes — the same length of time as I used the Sensate stimulator for — and practiced some deep breathing, focusing on long, extended exhales to open vagal pathways and lower blood pressure. To make it a fair fight, I also listened to a soundscape on my Ozlo sleepbuds.

This felt relaxing, but in a gentler way to the Sensate vagus nerve stimulator. It felt as though I had managed to leave the working day behind me, which isn't always easy if you've worked from home.

But if I'm honest, I felt drained, rather than relaxed. This was reflected in my stress score (5% — which is apparently 'too low'). I think I've been fighting stress for such a long time that I just felt utterly depleted.

That night, I tried to recreate the same conditions as the Sensate stimulator. I got ready for bed, put on my sleep mask, listened to a soundscape and practiced some humming (much to the confusion of my husband).

I can see why experts recommend humming to stimulate the vagus nerve — I could feel the sound reverberating through my chest. I fell asleep before the ten minutes were over and woke up to another 96 sleep score.

Do you need to spend hundreds of dollars on a vagus new stimulator, or can you get the same results for free? The verdict

Do you need to spend hundreds of dollars on a specialist vagus nerve stimulator in order to combat stress for better sleep? No. But if, like me, underlying stress is something you currently live with, they're certainly a nice-to-have piece of sleep tech.

I like and appreciate how you can simply put the Sensate around your neck, turn it on and relax — no thinking required. But you can absolutely access similar results by following doctor-recommended practices, such as cold water therapy, deep breathing and exercise.

The biggest takeaway for me from this experiment is that you have to make time to combat stress. Feeling stress and doing absolutely nothing about it won't work (trust me). Much like trying to sleep better, you need to make it a priority — but you don't have to spend $299 to do so.

Stress-busting tech we've tried and tested for better sleep

Wearables that passively track your sleep will soon be obsolete. We have a massive sleep problem — and sleep trackers aren't doing enough. But the next frontier in sleep tech is taking the data exposed by the best sleep trackers and doing something about it.

If tracking can uncover how bad we're sleeping, isn't it time it starts offering some solutions? Thankfully, the new generation of sleep tech is all about actively helping you sleep better. These devices monitor your sleep, identify problems, and intervene for better rest. All you have to do is lie back and start dreaming.

While it sounds futuristic, it's already happening, with brands like Elemind, NextSense and Muse offering consumers an easier way to sleep better. I asked the experts why sleep tracking is dead... long live sleep intervention.

Key takeaways:

• Sleep tracking is becoming smarter and better, as well as more comfortable. Sleep tracking lamps and mats allow us to monitor our sleep without wearables.
• However, sleep tracking has hit a wall — we know we're sleeping bad, so what can we do about it?
• Sleep intervention devices such as the Elemind, Muse S Athena, and NextSense offer active sleep improvement, monitoring your brainwaves and responding to changes in your sleep.
• Devices like the Kimba, Sleepal, Orion and Eight Sleep alter your environment in response to tracking data, helping you stay asleep.
• Sleep enhancement tech offers a non-medical way to improve your sleep. And by improving your sleep, you might see benefits to your overall health and wellbeing.

Sleep tracking is moving off your wrist

Research suggests over 48% of the population use sleep trackers. And it's small wonder, as many sleep trackers can actually help you get more sleep.

But if you're the half yet to succumb to wearing a watch to bed, there's good news. The latest gen of sleep trackers are a little more... sleep-comfort friendly.

Think the screen-free FitBit Air, the slimmer-than-ever Oura Ring 5, and the non-intrusive monitoring of the Withings Sleep Mat.

“Good sleep products and technology have to do two things, in my opinion,” says Ben Fuxbruner, founder of Kimba, a personalized sleep scent system. “One, they have to be effective, but two, they have to be very comfortable and unintrusive. I feel like some companies work really hard on showing effectiveness, but if it's not comfortable, nobody will use it.”

In some cases, that means moving off the body entirely. Expect a cluttered nightstand as companies such as Kimba and Hatch aim to break the tight grip wearables have on health tracking. Products such as the Sleepal lamp already offer sleep tracking from your bedside.

Sleep tracking is getting stronger and smarter

“The old adage that what's measured improves is generally true,” says Meredith Perry, co-founder and CEO of Elemind.

And if improved measuring leads to better rest, we’re all about to see our sleep scores go through the roof.

Wearable sleep trackers often use movement and heart rate to estimate your sleep stages. The latest devices want to remove the guesswork, employing brainwave monitoring to accurately measure sleep.

That's the kind of data you used to have to go to a sleep lab to learn. Now you can have it in your own home. The Elemind measures "Alpha" brainwaves, NextSense Earbuds capture "brain data" the DUSQ patch senses electrical signatures, while the Bia collects oxygen levels in the brain. All without the tubes and wires of traditional of polysomnography.

For some innovators, that’s just the start.

Adaptyx is the first wearable patch that tracks cortisol in real time. “Cortisol is a one of the the most important hormones in sleep architecture and in that sleep wake cycle,” says Dr. Vijit Sabnis, CEO. “[The cortisol awakening response] is an entire system and rhythm that we can begin to modulate.”

But for Jonathan Berent, CEO at NextSense, focusing on quality tracking is missing the wood for the trees.

“The next step isn't collecting more data,” says Berent. “It's what the technology does with it.”

But sleep tracking isn’t enough any more

We’re in a sleep crisis. Fewer than one-third of us sleep well every night and 6 out of 10 American adults report not getting enough sleep. Despite sleep quality being linked to over 130 medical conditions, it’s often overlooked by the healthcare system, with Dr. Carlos Nunez of Resmed describing sleep as "too important to ignore."

But even if you know you're sleeping badly, it's hard to bridge the gap between knowledge and action. As Perry notes, “[sleep is] literally eight hours of the night where you're unconscious and unable to control it yourself.”

“You know how bad you slept, but there's no real solution for you to improve it," says Andrew Jolie of Bia. "And if there is, you have to do it. The device doesn't do it for you.”

That's about to change. With the latest round of technology, the device does do it for you.

Next step, sleep intervention

“There are lots and lots of devices that just read, that just track, that give you information to the user, and the user is supposed to go do something about that,” says Perry of Elemind. “We take that considerably further. We can actively guide and change your sleep over the course of the night. Not just tell you what happened — influencing what happened.”

She describes it as a “read and write” approach: read the data and start writing the solution.

For Berent, it’s a closed loop: “a continuous conversation between your brain and the technology around you, where the system understands what's happening in real time and responds that same night, gently guiding your brain into deeper more restorative sleep, and lulling you back to sleep.”

Whatever the term, it’s good sleep made easy. (Or, at least, easier.) All with no extra effort on your part. Imagine if your oven turned cake into health food, or your step counter racked up 5 miles for you.

Perry compares it to the sudden boom in GLP-1s. Suddenly weight loss went from hard work to simple injections. Is sleep in for the same overhaul?

Sounds great! But what's it going to do for my sleep?

From 3 a.m. wake ups to groggy mornings, the sleep tech industry is tackling every minute of your bad night’s rest.

Can’t fall asleep? The Elemind cancels out the brainwaves keeping you up. Waking in the night? The Muse S Athena and NextSense detect brief disruptions and soothe you back into restfulness. Too hot? The Eight Sleep or Orion will cool you down. Waking up tired? The Bia and Sleepal AI make mornings easier. Restless, stressed, anxious? Soon, there’ll be tech for that.

It’s not just for the insomniacs, either. Even those consistently earning high sleep scores might see the benefits of intervention-based sleep tech.

“We have an athlete,” explains Fuxbruner of Kimba, “that doesn't have problems sleeping at all but wants to optimize his sleep… so the [intervention] each person gets is different, and the personalization, the targeting is different.”

“With Orion, you give it the limited amount of hours you have to spend in bed, and it helps squeeze the juice out of every minute you have,” explains Harry Gestetner, Founder and CEO of Orion.

So is the next big leap for sleep tech to replace your doctor?

Well, no, and in cases of severe sleep deprivation we recommend speaking to a healthcare professional. Cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (or CBT-I) remains the gold standard in treatment, while conditions such as sleep apnea require medical intervention.

But there are many of us struggling to sleep who can benefit from an at-home approach.

“I was really interested in creating electronic medicine,” explains Perry. “Ways where you could, instead of using a drug to influence the body, use technology instead. Then you could have tighter control over the outcomes because you could actually see in real time whether or not it was working.”

“We believe in a future not to replace medication” she adds. “But we want to improve the state of wellness and healthcare in such a way we effectively have a secondary autonomic nervous system. Something that's continuously monitoring the biology, can see when something goes awry and then address it in real time with something that uniquely works for you.”

The future of sleep tech is personalized, non-invasive and, in most cases, comes with minimal side effects.

That takes us to the next big leap in sleep tech: what comes after sleep?

What's next? Moving beyond sleep to health and wellness

“Deep sleep is one of the most powerful, underused levers we have on long-term health — tied to memory, mood, metabolism, heart health, even the brain's overnight clearing of the proteins linked to Alzheimers," explains Berent.

"If we can measure it at clinical fidelity and improve it, from something as ordinary as a pair of earbuds, we're not building a better sleep tracker. We're turning sleep into an intervention for long term chronic diseases.”

He’s not the only sleep tech founder that plans for wider healthcare applications. Fuxbruner of Kimba notes his scent-forward system has been linked to improved memory, while cortisol-tracking Adaptyx hopes to link up with smart mattresses for a bed that responds to your stress levels.

As for your sleep tracker. Well, it’s about to look passé.

“I think that devices that just track will probably go by the wayside over the next 10 years,” predicts Perry, “and that people will start adapting more helpful tools.”

In the meantime, expect your sleep tracker to become smaller, more powerful and less expensive.

Bottom line

While sleep tracking has helped people recognize their own sleep problems — as well as exposed the bigger issues with sleep in society — simple tracking isn’t enough anymore. The future of sleep tech lies in intervention and improvement.

“Sleep stops being something you passively track and becomes something you can actively restore,” explains Berent.

The bigger picture, however, is about more than sleeping well.

“Sleep is just the beginning,” says Perry.

Our favorite sleep intervention tech

Sleeping on a hot, stuffy pillow in summer is a nightmare when I want to fall asleep fast. In fact, research shows that your body naturally cools as you go to sleep, so a heat-trapping pillow means you don't get the temperature drop you need to drift off.

The best pillows should avoid this problem, and we've found that luxury cooling pillows are top notch at regulating temperature. But is there a cheaper way to keep your head cool at night? Or is a fancy pillow packed with cooling tech the only way to keep you comfortable on a hot night?

To find out, I grabbed my $93 Helix Cooling Memory Foam Pillow, the $20 Beckham Hotel Collection Bed Pillow, and a trusty thermal cam. Here's how much heat each pillow absorbed and shed when our testers slept on these headrests in our lab...

Key takeaways: At a glance

• Hot temperatures make it difficult to sleep, as your body naturally cools before bed. Some pillow materials trap warm air rather than help it circulate. As a result, you get a hot head that can't cool down.
• Cooling pillows claim to use special materials that help wick away warmth, to keep you comfortable.
• However, our thermal cam tests showed for a neutral feel, a cotton cover might be enough.
• And flipping to the cool side won't always provide the relief you need — one of our pillows was actually warmer on the unused side.

How we tested a cheap vs a luxury cooling pillow

Temperature regulation testing is a key part of our rigorous mattress testing methodology. So when it came to analyzing our pillows, I turned to our tried and tested method.

In a comfortable environment, we ask a tester to lie on the pillow for 15 minutes. This is ample time for heat to transfer and cooling properties to kick in. The tester then gets up and we continue to measure the temperature of the pillow for the next 15 minutes. This allows heat to disperse (... or not).

For pillows, I also employed a flip test. After the above tests, I flipped the pillow to see how cool the other side was.

Meet the pillows:

I used two pillows for this test. One, a luxurious memory foam pillow packed with cooling tech. The other, an affordable pillow with 'down alternative' fill (that's probably fiber fill).

Test 1: How quickly does the pillow get warm?

For part one of the test, sleep writer Frances Daniels graciously agreed to lie on each pillow for 15 minutes. We used a side sleeping position as its the most common and a breathable but not cooling mattress (the DreamCloud Classic Mattress).

Click through the gallery to see what happened:

We marked the center of each pillow, which is where Frances rested her head. This is also where we took a temperature reading every minute.

Verdict

The Helix Cooling Memory Foam pillow is delightfully chill when you touch it. So when you first settle into that GlacioTex cover, it's going to feel great.

From there, the temperature gradually rose but never tipped over into uncomfortable. Frances noted (as did I during my testing period) that once the pillow had warmed to your body temperature, it hardly wavered.

The Beckham Hotel Collection pillow also impressed, and did so with the help of just a cotton cover. After a big initial jump in temperature (13.3°F), it slowly cooled and evened out. However, you won't get that initial 'aaah' of Helix's chilled cover.

Test 2: How quickly does the pillow cool down?

The work continues once our tester, the lovely Frances, has stepped away. For the next 15 minutes I monitored the temperature at the center of the pillow. This shows us how quickly the heat dissipates.

Click through the gallery to see what happened:

Verdict

A good cooling pillow should drop excess heat quickly. This means when you sit up in bed or step away for a few minutes, you can return to a blissfully chilled sleep surface.

You won't get that with either of these options.

The Helix Cooling Pillow took a long time to lose just 4°F of warmth. Even after 15 minutes, it wasn't back to the icy feel we started with. However, the edges and corners of the pillow kept cool. So if you're willing to move around, you don't have to sleep on the warm patch.

The Beckham Hotel Collection Pillow dropped to a cooler temperature quicker. After this initial heat shed, it remained roughly 2°F higher than when we started — that's a neutral feel.

These results back up our hands-on testing. If you get up to use the bathroom or grab a drink during the night, you won't return to a cool pillow. However, you should get back to something with an even, neutral finish.

Test 3: What about the 'cool side'?

There are few moments quite as satisfying as the brief relief of the cool side of the pillow. But in the spirit of investigation, I wanted to see just how cool this cool side is...

Having completed our tests, I flipped the pillows to reveal the so-called 'cool side'.

First up, the Helix Cooling Pillow. While the pillow wasn't as blissfully chilled on the other side as I expected, it did drop 1.4°F.

However, I was in for a shock with the Hotel Collection Pillow. A quick flip revealed the pillow was actually warmer on the other side. 1.8°F warmer, to be precise.

That's not a huge temperature jump. But it's not what you want when you're awake at 3 a.m.

Should you save or splurge on a cooling pillow?

So, should you spend or save on a cooling pillow? My test results show that cooling tech might not live up to its high promises. If it's a breathable feel you're after, cotton covers and airy fill can make a big difference.

However, I'd note I tested the Helix Cooling Memory Foam Pillow at home during some brutal weather. (It's been heatwave after heatwave in my city.) Throughout it all, my pillow stayed neutral, if not cool.

And we know from testing over 130 of the best mattresses online that cooling tech can make a serious difference to your sleep comfort. The best cooling mattresses we've tested feature either specialist materials or use natural fabrics to create a chilled feel.

And luxury pillows do have their benefits, including enhanced durability. After being tossed around our Sleep Lab, the Helix Pillow looked in better shape than the Hotel Collection alternative.

My advice? You don't need to splurge to sleep cool, but investing in sleep comfort pays off in the long term.

Our favorite cooling sleep products

Astronauts on the International Space Station experience sleep inertia (grogginess upon waking) because they work in shifts, are rolling a chronic sleep debt, and see 16 sunrises and sunsets every 24 hours, among many other factors.

I experience sleep inertia because my pre-schooler doesn’t believe in sleeping through the night. And that build-up of broken sleep makes me feel punch-drunk some mornings.

I tried easing the grogginess with caffeine, but it didn’t work. And after speaking with Dr. Erin Flynn-Evans, Director of the Fatigue Countermeasures Laboratory at NASA Ames Research Center, I now know why…

“Caffeine takes time to take effect, so it’s not the best tool to use if you have to wake up and act quickly,” Dr. Flynn-Evans explains, whereas light activates retinal pathways immediately.

Well, my job doesn’t require me to perform complex tasks straight after waking. But my son is full bore from the moment he opens his eyes — sitting on the couch to watch him play while I'm still struggling to wake up fully is not an option.

Let there be (blue) light

While caffeine isn’t a fast-acting off-switch for post-sleep grogginess, the right type of blue light within 30 minutes of waking is.

Yes light therapy glasses and lamps can help to reduce sleep inertia, but devices cost money. For a $0 solution, Dr. Flynn-Evans says to step outside your front door: “Going outside when the sun is out will expose you to blue light from the sun naturally.”

Even though it looks yellow from Earth, the sun contains blue light (and many other colours). “There are specialized photoreceptors in our eyes that are very sensitive to blue-wavelength light that are different from the rods and cones that we use for vision,” explains Dr. Flynn-Evans.

“They are most sensitive to blue-enriched light, because the light that we receive from the sun has a strong blue component. When these photoreceptors detect light, they send a signal to our internal clock (circadian rhythm) to indicate that it’s daytime.

“This initiates a cascade of other effects throughout the body that promote alertness. For example, our bodies immediately stop producing melatonin when the photoreceptors detect light.”

Little wonder that blue light is being studied as a powerful off-switch for melatonin production (a master sleep hormone), and a powerful on-switch for wakefulness signals.

Key takeaways: At a glance

• The biological switch: Natural morning light triggers specialized photoreceptors in your eyes. These instantly signal your brain to stop producing melatonin.
• The $0 NASA solution: While blue light therapy devices are helpful for night-shift workers and in the darker months of the year, natural light outside contains all the blue-cyan light you need to help ease sleep inertia.
• Blue light isn’t a 24/7 enemy: Reduce your exposure at least one hour before bed, then embrace it soon after waking to reduce grogginess.
• The weekend trap: Sleeping in creates ‘social jetlag’, which throws off your circadian rhythm and makes your sleep inertia worse on Monday.

6 a.m. cement brain

At the start of this year, my son started going through a rough patch with sleep and my father-in-law was receiving end-of-life care in hospital. I was stressed day and night, and my sleep took a hit.

It didn’t matter how many hours of sleep I got, either – because it was so broken, I felt deeply groggy each morning.

“Sleep inertia is the groggy feeling when somebody wakes up from a deeper part of sleep, and the body is still transitioning from sleep to wake, so they don’t feel fully alert yet,” explains Dr. Lindsay Browning, Chartered Psychologist, Neuroscientist and the founder of Trouble Sleeping.

It was winter when my grogginess drifted in. Sun-dappled mornings were replaced by deep black 6 a.m. skies, and I had lent my trusty Lumie Vitamin L light to a friend battling Seasonal Affective Disorder.

So I became reliant on a daily vat of caffeine to ‘power up’.

Call it divine timing (or forgetting that I had requested the product for testing), but a few weeks later I was sent a pair of 470nm blue-turquoise light-emitting glasses. My morning grogginess was beginning to ease up when wearing them, but they weren't an instant 'on' switch to take me from punch-drunk to instantly alert at 7 a.m..

“The circadian rhythm is a forward feeding cycle, so if you generally wake up at the same time each morning, your internal clock will anticipate when it’s time to wake up and begin to turn off sleep signals and turn on wake signals at your typical wake time," explains Dr. Flynn-Evans.

“You’re also likely to be exposed to light at about the same time in the morning if you get up around the same time, so any light you are exposed to may simply be interpreted by the body as the expected daily light signal.”

So if I always wake up at 7 a.m., my internal body clock already anticipates light at 7 a.m., so that burst of artificial blue light isn't a ‘shock’ system boost and won’t be as potent against sleep inertia as it would be at, say, 2 a.m. when I'm normally asleep.

The right light at the right time

“Bright light exposure soon after waking is one of the best ways of helping you feel more awake more quickly,” explains Dr. Browning.

Ok, but is there a difference between the blue light that helps wake us up versus the ‘melatonin-disrupting’ blue light we’re told to avoid before bed?

“Nope! It’s the same,” says Dr. Flynn-Evans. “The difference is that light in the evening shifts the drive to sleep and wake later. Light in the morning shifts the drive to sleep and wake earlier.

“As a result, most people need to minimize light in the evening in order to fall asleep, and maximize light in the morning to wake up.”

“Additionally, physically getting up out of bed and moving can also help you wake up and feel more refreshed,” adds Dr. Browning. “Staying in bed, repeatedly pressing snooze, is unlikely to help you quickly wake up.”

This is a trap many of us fall into on weekends; a time when we feel we deserve a lie-in, or have the chance to catch up on sleep.

Truth is, this ‘social jetlag’ confuses our circadian rhythm and perpetuates our sleep issues. A consistent sleep schedule, especially your wake-time, is arguably the MVP of good sleep hygiene.

“Sleeping in later at weekends can shift your sleep-wake schedule later, making a Monday morning alarm feel more like waking up during your ‘biological night’,” Dr. Lindsay explains.

“This effect may be more pronounced in naturally later chronotypes (owls) compared to earlier chronotypes (larks)."

Less is more: How long to use blue light for

It’s important to remember that Dr. Flynn-Evans’s work at NASA is focused around how to help astronauts reduce sleep inertia fast when working in space.

Using enriched blue-light helps them go from groggy to alert when they wake up for a shift in a place where they have few circadian cues, yet many physical stressors.

Back on Earth, shift workers who sleep in the day and work through the night might also benefit from blue light exposure.

So how long should a person be exposed to this light before their brain switches from ‘sleepy and groggy’ to ‘awake and energized’?

“We don’t know exactly, because it depends on the time of day and the stage of sleep that a person has awoken from,” Dr. Flynn-Evans explains, before revealing more about her team’s lab protocol: “Our studies typically use a minimum of 20 minutes of bright light exposure.”

For most of us, getting outside soon after waking is still the gold standard approach for easing sleep inertia. Dr. Browning: “At the end of the day, natural daylight is easy, free and one of the most effective practical options for most people.” 

Why some people experience sleep inertia more than others

“If you wake up from a deeper part of sleep, particularly slow-wave sleep, you are more likely to experience sleep inertia.” Dr. Lindsay explains.

“If you wake up from a much lighter part of sleep, typically at the beginning or end of a sleep cycle, you are less likely to experience as much sleep inertia.

“Also, if you set your alarm for a different wake-up time from your usual one, either earlier or later, you might find yourself waking from a deeper part of sleep and therefore experience more sleep inertia.”

Dr. Lindsay's point rang true when I had to wake up around 3 a.m. for a family flight to Spain—not even the excitement of a holiday could override that crushing sleep inertia we all felt.

“Our sleep cycles tend to have more deep, slow-wave sleep in the first half of the night, and sleep tends to get lighter and less deep with each subsequent sleep cycle towards the morning,” Dr. Browning reveals.

“Therefore, if you wake up when your body clock thinks you should still be in the middle of your night’s sleep, you are more likely to wake up from a deeper part of sleep and experience sleep inertia.”

I used my light therapy glass to power through at the airport, giving me enough energy and concentration to lug my sleepy son in a hip carrier whilst also dragging a 20kg suitcase up a steep hill.

Other ways to reduce sleep inertia

In the lighter months where mornings are awash with daylight early doors, sleeping with your curtains partially open is a great way to harness natural light cues.

“Even through closed eyelids, you can sense the sunlight increasing, which has been suggested to help pull you from a deeper part of sleep into a lighter part of sleep.” Dr. Browning then recommends opening your curtains fully as soon as you’re up. “This helps to shift sleep inertia more quickly.”

A good sunrise alarm clock is an excellent solution here.

Her other top tip is to keep a consistent wake time, even on weekends. “This helps your body get used to that time as ‘wake-up time’, and it helps your body shift to that time being a more natural waking point between sleep cycles rather than from a deeper part of sleep.

“So, in summary," continues Dr. Browning, "getting some natural daylight shortly before waking and as soon as you wake up, and having a consistent wake-up time, may both help to reduce the likelihood of sleep inertia.”

When to see a doctor

“People who consistently wake up exhausted often have an undiagnosed sleep disorder," explains Dr. Flynn-Evans, "so the first thing I would recommend is talking with your doctor about a referral to a sleep clinic.

“For those who do not have sleep disorders, it’s important to maintain a regular bed and wake time, with regular bright morning light exposure.

“Night owls tend to struggle with waking up in the morning, which makes it more important for night owls to turn down the lights before bed and maximize morning light exposure to adapt to their work or social schedule." Dr. Flynn-Evans says. "It’s also important to have an appropriate cool, dark, and quiet sleep environment.”

Dr. Browning adds: “If you find that you experience severe sleep inertia most mornings, or it doesn't shift after waking and the sleepiness and grogginess persists long into the day, then this might be a sign that you aren't getting enough sleep, you might have circadian misalignment, or you might possibly have another sleep disorder such as sleep apnoea.”

If you only occasionally experience sleep inertia, it’s nothing to worry about: “Making sure that you get enough sleep is more important than worrying about avoiding sleep inertia, because even if you wake up with sleep inertia, it will usually wear off fairly quickly.”

Sleep tech to help banish morning grogginess

Like most people, my evening routine used to resemble scrolling on my phone in bed at the expense of getting the quality sleep I need. Tired, wired and averaging six hours of sleep a night, I needed to take drastic action.

I felt as though modern life was working against me, and the blue glare from my screens was keeping me artificially stimulated long after it was time for bed. Caffeine and sugar propelled me through the day but left we wide awake at 3 a.m.

So, inspired by the Amish and their healthy relationship with their circadian rhythm (our body's 24 hour internal clock), I decided to rise and sleep with the sun in an attempt to fix my poor sleep habits.

I expected that I might get more sleep, but what happened to my focus and energy levels caught me completely off guard. Here's my story...

Key takeaways: At a glance

• Our circadian rhythm is our body's internal clock, primarily regulating our sleep-wake cycle.
• The rising and setting of the sun acts as a circadian cue, triggering the production of the key sleep hormones we need to fall asleep and wake up.
• For me, modern life and artificial light has resulted in a disconnect between the solar day and my circadian rhythm. This has led to poor sleep.
• To get more sleep and improve my energy levels, I took inspiration from the Amish to sleep and rise with the sun for 14 days.
• The result? I slept longer after just night one. After two weeks, my cognitive fog lifted and my focus returned.

• Read more: I kept waking up exhausted until a NASA scientist shared her $0 lab-tested tip for beating morning grogginess — here’s how it works

What is your circadian rhythm and what role does in play in sleep?

Your circadian rhythm is your body’s internal clock. It’s governed by the sun and regulates your sleep-wake cycle. It also regulates other functions, including hormone production, temperature and metabolism.

“Circadian means ‘around the day,’ and for humans and almost every other living thing on earth, it's aligned with the sun and controls two of our most fundamental states of being — sleep and wake,” explains Dr. Alex Dimitriu, a doctor double-board certified in Psychiatry and Sleep Medicine.

“At the core of the circadian system is sleep and wake,” says Dr. Dimitriu. "Sleepiness is reset by sleep, and builds up the more hours you are awake.”

The sleep-wake cycle is made up of two parts. First comes sleep pressure (your homeostatic sleep drive). It builds from the moment you open your eyes in the morning. As does a chemical called adenosine.

“As it gets later in the day, we build up more adenosine, which accumulates and makes us sleepy over time,” says Dr. Dimitriu.

He then adds that the second part of the sleep-wake cycle is aligned with daylight and melatonin, which, alongside adenosine, delivers a one-two punch of tiredness, making it easier to fall asleep.

“The system is designed so that when these two signals overlap — so you are sleepy, and it is dark outside — you enter and stay asleep,” explains Dr. Dimitriu.

The catalyst: Why I turned the lights off in my life

I write about sleep for a living, yet my own relationship with sleep is complex. An erratic sleep schedule, endless to-do lists and age-related hormonal fluctuations (I’m 40+) means I usually get in the region of six hours of broken rest per night.

And, no, I’m not one of those rare humans who manage to thrive on less than seven hours of sleep. I exist in a cognitive fog, my emotions sit close to the surface and I often find myself wide awake at 3 a.m. in a mild panic.

Ironically, the idea to shun artificial light in order to claw back my sleep quality could be described as a lightbulb moment. It was during a camping trip that I mulled over the fact that I always slept better in the great outdoors.

These camping trips tend to follow a familiar pattern; a busy day of outdoor activities — hiking, surfing, swimming — followed by a gradual wind down, perhaps a short walk, before getting into bed soon after the sun sets. I climb onto my air mattress and sleep like a log.

During my most recent trip, I clocked up an unprecedented 8h 47m of sleep, 1h 55m of which was spent in deep sleep (most adults aged between 25 and 64 require between 45-90 minutes of deep sleep per night, which suggests my body was trying to repay a portion of the mountain of sleep debt I’ve accumulated over the past decade).

For the first time in weeks, I woke up feeling restored. I had (unintentionally) corroborated a 2013 study that explored how following a natural light cycle could shift your circadian rhythm forward, resulting in more sleep.

It was then that I realised I was slowly suffocating my circadian rhythm with artificial light and tech back home.

"Bright lights, late meals, and highly stimulating activities can make it harder for the body to register that it's time for sleep," explains Dr. Alex Dimitriu, a doctor double-board certified in Psychiatry and Sleep Medicine. "Lightbulbs have changed our relationship to the sun, and screens and devices have made it worse.

"Bluish high efficiency LED lights do the same — they trick the circadian system into thinking it's daytime when it's night," he continues. "People need to be in dark dim sunset colors to sync their circadian systems, and align them for sleep."

With most modern homes packed with tech that actively prevents them from sleeping, could it ever be possible to apply the simplicity of a rustic camping trip — where I sleep and wake with the sun — to my busy daily life? I decided to try...

Sleeping like the Amish

In her quest to explore what life was like when humans had a closer relationship with natural light, health and science journalist Linda Geddes visited an Old Order Amish community in rural Pennsylvania. There connection to the electric grid is forbidden and their days are largely spent toiling the land and tending to the home.

It was here, while researching her book Chasing the Sun, that Geddes noticed how certain aspects of Amish life leant itself to quality sleep. Physical activity, a circadian rhythm closely aligned with the sun, and plenty of natural daylight.

In contrast, my life as a desk-bound journalist means I spend a large portion of my day hunched over a laptop under the glare of bright LED office lights. Instead of fresh air, I’m blasted by recycled air and survive on a staple diet of oven chips.

Sleeping and waking with the sun

When Geddes stayed with an Amish family, she noted how their attention isn’t absorbed by electrical gadgets. Their evenings weren’t punctuated by bright electrical lights, either.

Instead, they use a single, large, stand-mounted propane gaslight that they move between the kitchen and living space, where the family congregates. If anyone needs to use the bathroom, they take a battery powered LED lantern, a torch or oil lamp.

“Even so, once the sun goes down, most Amish households are far darker than the average American house,” writes Geddes.

As a result, a sleep schedule that closely aligns with the sun — around 9 p.m. until 4.45 a.m. — is standard, rising without an alarm before dawn.

Daily labor

Adenosine, a chemical that builds throughout the day and helps promote sleep, is a byproduct of physical activity. So sedentary lifestyles can impact sleep pressure, our biological urge for sleep.

Sleep pressure is a pillar of our circadian rhythm, so when we move less throughout the day, the delicate balance of our circadian rhythm — which regulates our sleep-wake cycles — is disrupted.

For the Amish community, who work, walk (for the Old Order, cars are forbidden), farm and do, this isn't an issue as they are constantly moving.

"The way many of us live today is almost the opposite of what our internal clock expects," Dr. Shelby Harris, a licenced Clinical Psychologist and Behavioral Sleep Medicine Specialist, tells me.

"We spend most of the day indoors, often under relatively dim lighting, and then at night we're surrounded by bright lights, TVs, laptops, and our phones. That evening light tells the brain to stay alert when it should be winding down."

Daylight exposure

While modern life has left many of us disconnected from the solar day and at the mercy of Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), a type of depression tied to a lack of natural sunlight, Geddes points out that the Amish population has the lowest prevalence of SAD of any Caucasian population.

And that could be down to the amount of daylight they're exposed to. According to Geddes, Amish people are exposed to an average daytime illuminance of 4,000 lux during the summer, compared to the 587 lux that Brits are exposed to.

In Winter, that drops to approximately 1,500 lux and 210 lux respectively, which, again, leads to a dysregulation of our circadian rhythm. "In other words, our waking hours are approximately seven times gloomier than those of the Amish," writes Geddes.

My experiment: What happened when I slept and rose like the Amish

I'm not about to disconnect my home from the National Grid, nor can I swing two weeks off work to grow my own food.

But there are aspects of Amish life that I can take inspiration from in order to improve my sleep — and that's sleeping and (hopefully) rising with the sun.

Instead of using artificial light to prop up a later bed time, I decide to spend two weeks going to bed as the sun goes down, just like I do when camping. Two weeks should give me enough time to settle into some sort of routine.

The night I start my experiment, the sunset takes me by surprise. Is it 10.15 p.m. already? I’ve accidentally left it until the light is practically non-existent before getting ready for bed.

But, like I would when I go camping, I muddle through with the little light there is and manage to get myself ready for bed.

I leave my phone downstairs out of reach, turn off my sunrise alarm (I’m just hoping that I wake up in time to get the kids ready for school) and climb into bed.

Normally, I would appreciate reading in bed (or, more accurately, scrolling on my phone) for a while in order to wind down after a busy day.

However turning on a light goes against the whole point of this exercise, so I lie in the darkness and wait for sleep to take me.

I sleep for longer from night one

The speedy bedtime routine (and earlier bedtime) means it takes me longer than normal to fall asleep. When I do, I’m aware I’m sleeping lightly as I’m worried about sleeping in and the kids being late for school.

Despite worrying, I wake naturally at 06:49, which is a little later than I would normally wake but still within the realms of my usual routine. My sleep tracker tells me I’ve clocked up 8h and 18 minutes of sleep and didn’t wake up in the night.

I question how accurate that is as I felt like I kept checking the time all night. Still, for me, 8h and 18 minutes of sleep is pretty incredible.

Waking up eventually stops being a struggle

Worrying about not setting an alarm is starting to impact my sleep. So I set my sunrise alarm clock for 6 a.m. as a safety net and hope that I don't need it.

I start my experiment on a Thursday and, when my sunrise alarm starts chirping away on Monday morning, I'm still dead to the world. I initially feel disappointed that I'm not waking naturally with the sun at 5 a.m.

But then I remind myself that I've been getting less sleep than I need for years, so paying off all that sleep debt won't happen within a few days.

However, as the experiment goes on and my alarm goes off, I begin to feel ready for it. For the first time in months, I'm waking with energy.

There are even occasions when I wake before my alarm.

When that happens I try to get out of bed straight away and enjoy my first cup of tea in the garden before anyone else wakes up.

While I would normally have spent that time on my phone in bed, I've instead been checking the progress of my dahlias and soaking up the early morning rays.

This, says Dr. Harris, is one of the most impactful ways I can anchor my circadian rhythm: "One of the biggest things is getting outside soon after you wake up. Even 15 to 30 minutes of morning light helps reinforce your body's schedule and makes it easier to fall asleep that night."

My cognitive fog is lifting and my focus is returning

Over time, the double whammy of sleep deprivation and underlying stress has taken a toll on my cognitive function. I've become forgetful, there are times I can struggle to focus, and I rarely allow myself the luxury of finishing a thought.

After a week of sleeping and rising(ish) with the sun, I begin to feel the cognitive fog lift.

For the first time in a long time, I feel creative again — ideas come to me and I allow myself the time to mull them over. I'm focusing on one task at a time and enjoying immersing myself in them, whether it's work, cooking or DIY.

This, says Dr. Dimitriu, is entirely expected: "Sleeping closer to sunset and waking closer to sunrise, is what we have been doing naturally for millennia, and it also helps establish deeper, and longer periods of sleep.

"More sleep, that is circadian aligned, has multiple benefits, physical and mental. Mood stability improves, anxiety is reduced, and there is more room to think before you react," he continues.

"People become more patient. Attention and focus, as well as memory and recall — the ability to learn, are also improved."

How to protect your circadian rhythm during the darker months

While attempting to align my circadian rhythm with the sun, I've been aware that summer is the easiest time to do this. After all, a sunset and sunrise time in the region of 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. isn't a million miles from my optimal routine.

Which leads me to wonder, how can I anchor my circadian rhythm around the sun during the winter months when the days are shorter and the sunlight is weaker?

"Winter definitely makes it harder because we're naturally exposed to less sunlight, especially in the morning," acknowledges Dr. Harris.

"My advice is to make the most of whatever daylight you do have. If you can step outside for a morning walk, that light is still much stronger than what you get indoors."

For those who notice that their mood and energy levels are impacted during winter, Dr. Harris recommends a light therapy box, which emulates natural sunlight for improved health.

"More than anything, try not to let your routine drift," concludes Dr. Harris. "Keeping a consistent wake time, getting some movement during the day, and limiting bright light late at night can go a long way in keeping your body clock on track, even when the days are shorter."

Tech to help regulate your circadian rhythm