How to start going to bed early—and actually stick to it

Getting to bed at a reasonable hour can be challenging—even with the best of intentions. How many of us end up turning in late and then hitting the snooze button on the alarm clock the next morning?

If you’re tired of feeling sleepy come morning, we have some tips on how to go to sleep earlier.

Stop sleeping in on the weekend

When it comes to getting a good night’s rest, one of the most important things is to keep a consistent sleep cycle throughout the week. The idea that you can cut back on zzz’s during the week and catch up over the weekend is a myth.

In fact, experts say this habit can throw off your body’s circadian rhythm, or natural sleep cycle.

“The most effective practice is to get up at the same time each morning and get good light exposure in the visual system,” says Leon Lack, an emeritus psychology professor at Adelaide Institute for Sleep Health at Flinders University in Australia.

Sleeping in late means you won’t be exposed to light until later in the day, which will cause your body’s internal clock to drift toward a later schedule, Lack says. This can lead to a vicious cycle where you want to go to bed later and wake up later each day.

Prioritize getting enough hours

Adults should get 7 to 9 hours of sleep a night, while teenagers and children need more.

Getting less sleep than you need can put you at risk of higher blood pressure and increased stress hormones among other problems, says Dr. Ashanti Woods, a pediatrician at Mercy Family Care Physicians in Baltimore.

Woods recommends an early bedtime to patients and friends who ask for his opinion. He says that waking earlier might boost your mood and energy because of the greater exposure to daylight hours. But if you’re sleeping enough and sleeping consistent hours, don’t panic about getting the early worm.

“As long as you're getting the hours of sleep, [I] think that that outweighs the actual time that you go to sleep,” Woods says. “Suppose I need 10 hours of sleep and I go to sleep at 8 p.m., that means I’m waking up at 6 a.m. Compare that to the person who goes to bed at 10 p.m. and wakes up at 8 a.m. Both of those people are going to thrive… as long as you get the amount of sleep that is advantageous.”

Start slow and focus on wake time

If you’re trying to shift to an earlier sleep schedule, don’t rush your body, says Dr. Brandon Peters, a sleep physician at Virginia Mason Medical Center.

He advises people to adjust their wake time in 15-minute increments each week. This change should be reinforced with 15 to 30 minutes of sunlight or light box exposure immediately after waking up.

“As this continues over several days, the desire for sleep will gradually shift earlier, too,” he says.

Larger changes are possible, but it will generally take at least one day for your body to adjust to each hour that you shift your wake time, Peters says.

Create a schedule

Woods suggests making a schedule for yourself and rearranging your time in a way that’s conducive to sleeping more. And this doesn’t just include a bedtime and wake time.

For example, if you often stay up late making lunches for your kids, consider meal prepping on Sundays to get ahead for the week. You can also consider picking out clothing ahead of time if choosing an outfit eats up time in the morning.

“Set a plan just to say, ‘Hey, I'm going to do this and then stick to it,’ ” Woods says.

Stay away from cell phones and other screens at night

Exposure to blue light from cell phones or watching TV close to bedtime might delay your body’s production of melatonin, a hormone that influences sleep. Just as you should seek out bright light in the morning, you should avoid it in the evening.

“Screen exposure in the late evening can exacerbate the delay of the body clock and should be avoided, or the blue light filtered out with online apps or blue light blocking glasses,” Lack says.

While we’re fans of mediation apps, that doesn’t totally kick a phone out of your bedroom. If you ask us, we suggest purchasing an alarm clock like the Sharp DreamCaster or Loftie to avoid the usual blaring you might associate with such products. We’re also big on a few screen-free meditation devices, such as the Morphée and Dodow.