Sleep Better
Quick reference and sources
The essentials on one page
| Area | Rule of thumb | Lesson |
|---|---|---|
| How much | Adults 7+ hours asleep; teenagers 8 to 10 | 3 |
| Wake time | Same every day, within about an hour at weekends; no snooze | 3 |
| Alarm | Go to bed early enough to wake just before it, so you don’t cut off morning REM | 3 |
| Morning light | Outside within 30 to 60 minutes of waking: 5 min clear, 10 min cloudy, 20 to 30 min overcast | 4 |
| Evening light | Lamps 2 hours before bed; warm or red-toned; screens away 1 hour before | 4 |
| Caffeine | None in the 6 hours (ideally 8 to 10) before bed | 5 |
| Alcohol | None in the 3 hours before bed; it breaks up the second half of the night | 5 |
| Water | Plenty in the morning, taper off 2 to 3 hours before bed | 5 |
| Exercise | Daily; finish hard sessions at least an hour before bed | 5 |
| Bedroom | Dark, about 16 to 20°C, quiet; clock turned away; phone out of reach | 6 |
| Wind-down | 10-3-2-1-0 countdown in your calendar; to-do list; boring book, story or music with a sleep timer | 7 |
| Switch off | A clear end to work, hobbies, people, purpose | 8 |
| Awake in the night | Don’t check the time; slow out-breaths; up after about 15 to 20 minutes | 9 |
| Toilet trips | Drinks earlier, toilet before bed; try lying on your back, then your side | 9 |
| Insomnia | CBT-I first: stimulus control and sleep restriction | 10 |
| Trackers | Trends over weeks, check weekly, never at night | 11 |
| Naps | 10 to 20 minutes, before 3 pm; skip them if you have insomnia | 12 |
| Jet lag | East: morning light. West: evening light | 12 |
| Sleeping tablets | Short-term bridge, lowest dose, agreed off-ramp, never stop suddenly after long use | 13 |
| Quick techniques | Cognitive shuffle, imagery, paradoxical intention, NSDR, cyclic sighing, warm feet | 15 |
| Supplements | Basics first; magnesium (glycinate, max 350 mg from supplements) has modest evidence; ashwagandha has TGA liver warnings | 15 |
Help and programs (Australia)
- Your GP: first stop for persistent sleep problems, snoring with pauses, or daytime sleepiness.
- THIS WAY UP Insomnia Program: free, self-paced online CBT-I.
- MindSpot: free online mental health assessment and courses, including a sleep course.
- Sleep Health Foundation: fact sheets on every sleep topic and directories of CBT-I-trained psychologists.
- VP Human Performance Collective: 7-week coaching program using wearable data, covering sleep, light, stress and recovery (Lesson 11).
- Lifeline: 13 11 14, 24 hours, if you’re struggling or feel unsafe.
Watch, listen and read
- Matt Walker, Sleep Is Your Superpower (TED, 19 minutes)
- Russell Foster, Why do we sleep? (TED, 22 minutes)
- The Diary of a CEO, Andrew Huberman: My Exact Routine To Optimize Brain & Body (September 2026; also on Apple Podcasts)
- Andrew Huberman, Protocols: An Operating Manual for the Human Body (Simon & Schuster, 2026), with sleep as one of its seven sections, and his free Toolkit for Sleep
- For falling asleep: Nothing Much Happens, Sleep With Me, LibriVox and Project Gutenberg
More videos
A selection of free videos and podcasts, grouped by topic:
- How sleep works: Stages of sleep (TED) · Deep, light and REM · The circadian rhythm · The science behind a great night’s sleep (WHOOP) · Ways to increase deep sleep (Live Lean TV, short)
- Food and sleep: The science of food, hormones, and sleep (Dr Uma Naidoo)
- Rest and relaxation: NSDR 10, 20 and 30 minutes (Huberman Lab) · Box breathing · Resonance breathing · 30-second reset (Dr Jemma King) · Leaves on a stream
- Back to sleep: Cognitive shuffling · 5-4-3-2-1 grounding · Calm your vagus nerve with your eyes
- HRV: Inna Khazan, TEDx · Andy Galpin · WHOOP Podcast
Sources
Health bodies and guidelines
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, About sleep
- Watson et al. (2015), Recommended amount of sleep for a healthy adult, AASM and SRS consensus statement
- Qaseem et al. (2016), Management of chronic insomnia disorder in adults, American College of Physicians
- Sateia et al. (2017), Pharmacologic treatment of chronic insomnia in adults, American Academy of Sleep Medicine
- healthdirect: Insomnia, Sleep apnoea, Safe use of sleeping pills, Melatonin
- Sleep Health Foundation: CBT-I, Sleeping tablets, Shift work, Sleep hygiene
- Sleep Foundation: Stages of sleep, CBT-I, Sleep restriction, Temperature, Napping, Jet lag
Research
- Baron et al. (2017), Orthosomnia, Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine
- Blume et al. (2019), Effects of light on human circadian rhythms, sleep and mood, Somnologie
- Chang et al. (2015), Evening use of light-emitting eReaders, PNAS
- Chinoy et al. (2020), Seven consumer sleep-tracking devices compared with polysomnography, Sleep
- Depner et al. (2019), Weekend recovery sleep, Current Biology
- Drake et al. (2013), Caffeine 0, 3 or 6 hours before bed, Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine
- Ebrahim et al. (2013), Alcohol and sleep, Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research
- Jespersen et al. (2022), Listening to music for insomnia in adults, Cochrane
- Morin et al. (2004), Supervised tapering and CBT for benzodiazepine discontinuation, American Journal of Psychiatry
- Prather et al. (2015), Sleep and the common cold, Sleep
- Scullin et al. (2018), Bedtime writing and falling asleep, Journal of Experimental Psychology: General
- Sonnentag et al. (2008), Recovery experiences, sleep and affect, Journal of Applied Psychology
- Stutz et al. (2019), Evening exercise and sleep, Sports Medicine
- Van Dongen et al. (2003), The cumulative cost of additional wakefulness, Sleep
- Williamson & Feyer (2000), Sleep deprivation and alcohol intoxication, Occupational and Environmental Medicine
- Wittmann et al. (2006), Social jetlag, Chronobiology International
- Xie et al. (2013), Sleep drives metabolite clearance from the adult brain, Science
Lifestyle
- Blue Zones, Power 9, and the critique summarised by IFLScience
This course is general information, not medical advice. If you have ongoing sleep problems, loud snoring with pauses or gasping, or sleepiness that affects driving or work, see your doctor. In Australia, if you are struggling or feel unsafe, call Lifeline on 13 11 14.