Guide · sleep · 3 min read
A wind-down that starts before you are tired — explained without jargon, before you go back to something hard
Waiting until you feel sleepy usually means waiting until midnight. The wind-down is what creates the sleepiness.
Start here
Here is what tends to work, in the order that helps most.
Five minutes here is cheaper than an hour of grinding.
If you only do one thing from this page, do the first point below. It is first because it removes the most friction for the least effort.
What helps
Have a last-thing ritual that is the same every night. Tea, teeth, ten pages. Rituals work because they are boring and repeated.
Lower the lights in the room you are in. Bright overhead lighting at 10pm tells your body it is still afternoon.
If your brain starts up as soon as you lie down, keep a notebook by the bed and write the thoughts down. The paper holds them so you do not have to.
What to do when it does not work
Stop work at a fixed time, not when the work is finished. The work is never finished.
Do the boring parts of tomorrow tonight: clothes, bag, lunch, the first item on the list. Unfinished admin is what keeps people awake.
Start ninety minutes before you want to be asleep. That is longer than most advice suggests, and it is where the difference is.
Questions people ask
What if I am not tired at bedtime?
Do not lie there. Get up and read something dull under a dim light until you are. Bed should not become the place where you try.
Does a hot bath help?
Yes, if it is an hour or so before bed. The drop in body temperature afterwards is what makes people sleepy.
Written for people who want the practical version. No accounts, no tracking, no newsletter wall.
If this is not the angle you need, try Preparing for a conversation you are dreading — the basics, done properly, when you want something simple, Why your weekend does not feel like rest — where to start, when you have woken up too early or What to do when everything is too much, in plain terms, when you are not sure this will work.