Sleep
Back to Better Sleep: 7 Nighttime Habits Worth Resetting
Better sleep doesn’t always require completely changing your life. Sometimes, it starts with resetting a few habits that have quietly become part of your evening.
Summer has a way of loosening our routines. The days stay light longer. Dinner gets pushed back. Vacations and weekends change our schedules. We stay up later, spend a little more time on our phones, or simply stop paying attention to when we go to bed and wake up.
Then September arrives—and getting back into a routine can suddenly feel harder than expected.
Sleep is especially sensitive to routine. Your body responds to familiar signals throughout the day and evening, including light, activity, meals, relaxation and timing. When those signals become inconsistent, settling down at night may become more difficult.
The good news is that improving your nighttime routine doesn’t have to mean following a complicated list of sleep rules or going to bed at exactly the same minute every night. Often, it begins with simply noticing what happens during the last few hours of your day.
Here are seven nighttime habits worth taking another look at—and a few simple ways to reset them as you get back to a healthier fall routine.
Why Your Nighttime Routine Matters
Your body has an internal clock that helps regulate when you feel alert and when you begin to feel ready for sleep. But that clock doesn’t work in isolation. It takes cues from what’s happening around you—and from the routines you repeat each day.
Light is one of the strongest signals, but activity, meals, relaxation and timing can also help tell your body where you are in the day. That’s one reason consistent sleep and wake times are commonly recommended as part of a routine for better sleep.
The goal isn’t to create a perfect bedtime ritual or follow a rigid schedule. It’s simply to give your body predictable signals that the active part of the day is winding down and it’s time to prepare for sleep.
Your Body Likes Predictability
A good nighttime routine doesn’t have to be complicated.
Going to bed and waking at reasonably consistent times—and repeating familiar wind-down habits—can help reinforce your body’s natural sleep-wake rhythm.
Most of these habits aren’t inherently “bad.” The problem is that their timing, frequency or consistency may quietly work against better sleep. A few small adjustments may be all it takes to make your evenings feel more settled and your sleep routine more predictable.
1. Letting Bedtime Drift Later and Later
Going to bed at 10:30 one night, midnight the next and 11:15 the night after may not seem like a big deal. But over time, an unpredictable schedule can make it harder for your body to know when it’s supposed to wind down.
That doesn’t mean watching the clock or forcing yourself into bed at exactly the same minute every night. Think consistency rather than perfection. Try to keep your bedtime and wake time within a reasonably consistent range—even on weekends.
Research and expert recommendations for better sleep consistently emphasize regular sleep and wake times. The more predictable those patterns become, the easier it may be for your body’s internal clock to recognize when the day is beginning—and when it’s time to call it a night.
2. Taking Your Phone to Bed
For many of us, the phone is the last thing we look at before closing our eyes. But there are two reasons that habit may be worth reconsidering.
First, light in the evening can influence the body’s natural sleep-wake cycle. Second, what you’re doing on your phone matters, too. Checking tomorrow’s weather can quickly turn into reading emails, watching videos, scrolling through social media or catching up on news—all activities that can keep your mind engaged when you’re trying to wind down.
You don’t necessarily need to banish every screen for the entire evening. Instead, create a little space between your digital day and bedtime. The CDC recommends turning off electronic devices at least 30 minutes before bed, while NIH encourages using the hour before bedtime for quieter activities and avoiding bright artificial light.
Try a 30-Minute Buffer
Instead of going directly from scrolling → lights out, give yourself a short transition.
Put the phone down, lower the lights, read a few pages, listen to music, stretch or simply get ready for tomorrow.
The goal isn’t to create another bedtime rule. It’s to give your evening a clear ending.
3. Saving Your Biggest Meal for Late at Night
Sometimes a late dinner is unavoidable. Work runs long, plans change, or you simply don’t get hungry until later in the evening. The issue isn’t that eating after a certain hour is automatically “bad”—it’s what, how much and how close to bedtime you eat.
A large or heavy meal shortly before bed can leave you feeling overly full or uncomfortable when you’re trying to settle down. Both the CDC and NIH recommend avoiding large meals close to bedtime as part of healthy sleep habits.
If you’re genuinely hungry later in the evening, a light snack is different from sitting down to your biggest meal of the day. The goal is simple: support better sleep by giving your body a chance to wind down without asking your digestive system to tackle a heavy meal at the same time.
4. Using Alcohol as a Way to Wind Down
A glass of wine or an evening drink may make you feel relaxed—and alcohol can make you feel sleepy at first. That’s one reason a “nightcap” has long been associated with bedtime.
But feeling sleepy and sleeping well aren’t necessarily the same thing.
According to NIH, alcohol before bed can contribute to lighter sleep and make it more likely that you’ll wake during the night. So while an evening drink may seem to help you drift off initially, the rest of the night may tell a different story.
This isn’t about telling someone they can never enjoy a drink. But if alcohol has become part of your routine specifically because you believe it helps you sleep, that may be one nighttime habit worth reconsidering.
Sleepy Isn’t Always the Same as Sleeping Well
Something that makes you feel drowsy doesn’t necessarily support a good night’s sleep.
Better sleep is about more than falling asleep quickly. Staying asleep, getting sufficient restorative sleep and waking refreshed matter, too.
5. Forgetting That Afternoon Caffeine Can Follow You to Bed
Your morning coffee may not be the problem. That 3:00 or 4:00 PM cup, however, could still be with you when it’s time for bed.
Caffeine isn’t limited to coffee, either. Tea, cola, energy drinks and chocolate can all contribute to your daily intake. And because people process caffeine differently, there isn’t one perfect cutoff time that works for everyone.
NIH notes that caffeine’s effects can last up to eight hours, which means an afternoon pick-me-up may have a longer reach than you realize.
Rather than giving up something you enjoy in the pursuit of better sleep, try a simple experiment. If falling asleep is difficult, move your last caffeine earlier in the day for a couple of weeks and see whether you notice a difference.
6. Carrying the Entire Day Into Bed
Email. Bills. Family concerns. Tomorrow’s to-do list. Something you forgot to do today. The news you just read. The conversation you’re still replaying in your head.
You turn off the light—but your day hasn’t actually ended yet.
A simple wind-down routine can help create some separation between everything that demanded your attention during the day and the quiet you want at night. That might mean reading, taking a warm bath or shower, listening to quiet music, doing a few gentle stretches or breathing exercises, or writing down what needs your attention tomorrow.
There’s no single ritual you have to follow. What matters is finding something calming and repeatable that signals, “I’m done for today.”
Give Tomorrow Somewhere Else to Live
If your mind starts running through tomorrow’s responsibilities as soon as your head hits the pillow, write them down before bed.
Appointments. Phone calls. Groceries. Work. Whatever you’re afraid you’ll forget.
You don’t have to solve tomorrow tonight. Sometimes putting those thoughts somewhere other than your head can help the day feel finished.
7. Making the Bedroom Do Too Many Jobs
TV room. Office. Phone booth. Newsroom. Snack room. And eventually…bedroom.
When the bedroom becomes the place where you work, scroll, watch TV, answer emails and catch up on the day, it can be harder to create a clear distinction between being active and winding down.
You don’t need a luxury mattress, expensive sleep technology or a perfectly designed bedroom to change that. Start with the basics. The CDC, NIH and NIA recommend a bedroom that is cool, quiet and dark as part of healthy sleep habits.
Dim the lights. Reduce unnecessary noise. Adjust the temperature if you can. Put away electronics you don’t need. Small changes can help make your bedroom feel less like an extension of the day—and more like the place where the day ends.
Building a Routine You’ll Actually Keep
After reading seven habits, it can be tempting to decide that tonight you’ll change everything.
Don’t.
Instead, choose one or two habits that sound most familiar and start there. Maybe this week you focus on keeping your wake time more consistent. Next week, you leave the phone outside the bedroom. After that, you move your afternoon coffee a little earlier.
The goal isn’t to build the “perfect” nighttime routine for better sleep. It’s to create one that fits your life well enough that you’ll actually keep doing it.
Because when it comes to healthy routines, consistency usually matters more than perfection. Small changes that become familiar habits can be far more useful than a complete sleep overhaul that lasts only a few nights.
The 7-Day Sleep Reset
For the next seven nights, choose one habit to reset.
Keep everything else relatively normal and pay attention to what happens.
Is it easier to wind down? Are you waking less often? Do you feel more refreshed in the morning?
You don’t need an app, a wearable or a perfect sleep score to learn something useful.
You’re simply looking for patterns—and whether one small change makes your nights feel a little better.
What About Nutritional Sleep Support?
Healthy routines are the foundation, but some people may also choose nutritional support as part of their nighttime routine.
Certain nutrients and botanicals are commonly found in sleep-support formulas because they have been studied for their roles in relaxation, stress response and healthy sleep. These may include magnesium, L-theanine, chamomile, passionflower and ashwagandha.*
The important word here is support. A supplement isn’t a substitute for a consistent sleep schedule, a comfortable sleep environment or the other healthy habits we’ve discussed.
Instead, think of nutritional sleep support as one possible piece of a bigger picture. The best approach is one that complements—not replaces—the healthy nighttime routine you’re working to build.*
When Better Habits Aren’t Enough
Sometimes, even a thoughtful nighttime routine isn’t enough.
If you regularly struggle to fall asleep or stay asleep, wake feeling exhausted despite spending enough time in bed, experience significant daytime sleepiness, or have been told that you snore loudly, gasp or seem to stop breathing during sleep, talk with a healthcare professional.
Persistent sleep problems can sometimes be related to conditions such as insomnia, sleep apnea or movement disorders that deserve proper evaluation.
Healthy habits can support better sleep, but ongoing sleep problems shouldn’t simply become something you learn to live with.
Conclusion — Back to Better Sleep
Getting back to better sleep doesn’t mean creating the perfect nighttime routine. It means noticing the small habits that shape the end of your day—and resetting the ones that may no longer be serving you.
An earlier cup of coffee. Thirty phone-free minutes. A more consistent bedtime. A quieter bedroom.
None of these changes is dramatic. But small routines, repeated consistently, can become powerful signals that it’s finally time to call it a day.
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