Sleep. We all need it, and many of us aren’t getting enough.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, roughly 37% of U.S. adults in 2022 reported not being able to get sufficient sleep, a trend that hasn’t changed much over the past decade. A Gallup poll in 2024 found that only 42% of Americans were satisfied with how much sleep they’re getting.
Our collective insomnia has led many people to try out a variety of tricks and aids to help them doze off. Unfortunately, some of these aids might come with more risks than assumed. Other things like too much video game playing might be unknowingly ruining people’s sleep quality.
For this latest Giz Asks, we reached out to scientists and doctors who have extensively studied sleep and/or our internal body clocks, also known as the circadian rhythm. They all offered practical and often personally used tips on how to catch a better night’s sleep. And while you may have heard about a few of them, some even came as a surprise to me, someone who’s written about the non-waking hours of our lives for years. The following may have been lightly edited or condensed for grammar and clarity.
Philip Gehrman
A clinical psychologist at the University of Pennsylvania’s Penn Sleep Center.
The tips that I always give people are about routine and regularity. It’s trying to follow a regular schedule. A regular wake-up time seems to be more important than a regular bedtime, but just trying to be consistent. That’s always the hardest to sell when I say that I mean weekends, too, but it’s going to be one of the best ways to strengthen your body’s internal clock.
Another one is making sure people have adequate and relaxing winding down activities before bed. Most of us need a good 30 to 60 minutes to wind down before bed, but a lot of times people are working or doing stimulating activities right up until bedtime. In an ideal world, this would also mean no electronics close to the face for at least a half hour before bed as well, though that’s another tough sell.
The other thing I would recommend is that if you can’t sleep, to actually take a break. The way I always describe it is when you’ve been lying there for a while and sleep’s just not happening, you get to a point where you start thinking about the fact that you haven’t fallen asleep yet. And once you get to that point, it typically starts a spiral of thinking more and more about sleep, trying harder and harder to sleep, and you just end up becoming more awake the longer you lay there.
So when people get to that state of really focusing on their sleep, I recommend getting up, going ideally to a whole other room, and doing something relaxing until you feel sleepy again. Basically, don’t get back into bed unless you feel like you’re actually sleepy.
These are all tips that I use all the time, and generally I sleep pretty well.
Brooke Aggarwal
An associate professor of medical sciences at Columbia University Irving Medical Center.
I’ve been conducting research on sleep for the past decade, and one thing I’ve come to appreciate is that circadian health may be the missing piece when it comes to better sleep. Traditionally, sleep researchers and circadian researchers have worked somewhat separately. One group focused on sleep duration and quality, while the other focused on biological timing. In reality, these systems work together. What we do during the day helps set up how well we sleep at night.
Natural daylight is the strongest zeitgeber, or environmental cue, of the circadian clock. Yet many of us spend most of our day indoors, sitting and working, under artificial lighting. Getting morning light exposure, ideally combined with physical activity, helps anchor circadian rhythms and makes it easier to fall asleep at night. Living in New York City, I try to build this into my routine by walking in Central Park most mornings. I’ve found that this combination of sunlight, movement, and time in nature can make a noticeable difference.
The timing of behaviors throughout the day also matters. Keeping a consistent bedtime and wake time, even on weekends when possible, helps train your body to wind down and wake up at predictable times. I also try to stop eating about three hours before bed, since late meals can shift circadian rhythms and disrupt sleep.
Evening light exposure is another important factor. I try to dim lights in the evening and limit screen use before bedtime. These small changes help signal to the body that it is time to sleep.
Sleep duration still matters. Most adults need about 7 to 9 hours per night. But timing, consistency, and daytime behaviors are just as important. Rather than focusing on a single sleep ‘hack,’ I think about sleep as part of a 24-hour rhythm. Supporting a healthy circadian rhythm throughout the day can make falling asleep and staying asleep much easier.
Yo-El Ju
A professor of neurology and sleep medicine at Washington University’s School of Medicine.
Probably the most commonly used supplement for sleep is melatonin. Melatonin is a timing hormone that’s released in our brain in the evening. And obviously there’s supplements that can be purchased over the counter. There have been quite a few studies done on melatonin and it does help for people who are a little bit night owlish and have trouble falling asleep as a result. And those people do get about a half hour benefit in terms of falling asleep if they take the melatonin a couple hours before their desired bedtime.
So it really works well as a timing hormone. It does not work very well to knock people out or put them to sleep. And actually taking high doses, which are found in some supplements, or taking it too late can have the opposite effect. Or people may have reactions to it. So I recommend that people use it if they tend to be night owls and to take it a couple hours before bedtime.
There are a variety of other supplements or drugs. Unfortunately, probably the next most commonly used are over-the-counter antihistamines like Benadryl. And those I definitely recommend not using because they last a really long time in the body and can cause people to have cognitive slowing and grogginess the next day. Some of which they may not notice, especially if they’re taking it every day. And this becomes a problem over time, especially as people get older—that cognitive deficit may lead to problems. So for a variety of reasons, I recommend that people don’t regularly take Benadryl or other antihistamines to help them sleep.
The other thing I wanted to mention is magnesium, since there are a lot of people who take magnesium in various forms for their sleep. I don’t think that there are sufficient rigorous clinical trials for me to recommend it for insomnia. That being said, I do think that it can help some people with restless leg syndrome, which is a sleep disorder where people have an urge to move or stretch their legs. It’s actually a fairly common condition, especially among women. And so the magnesium may be helping there.
Magnesium does also have the potential side effect of diarrhea. So that’s the main thing I tell people to watch out for. But if people are able to tolerate it well, if they feel like it’s helping them, then I say fine, go ahead. If they take too much, their bodies will know how to get rid of it, so it’s not a big deal.
Tina Sundelin
An assistant professor in the Department of Psychology at Stockholm University studying the social effects of social loss.
So, what is actually the best way to get a good night’s sleep? I would argue that daylight (during the middle of the day), exercising (both body and mind), and keeping regular hours are key. Perhaps equally important is having a comfortable place to sleep, where you feel safe and don’t get disturbed (by e.g. noise, light, phone notifications, family members, pets). For many of us, it helps to relax a bit before it’s time for bed. In other words, avoid doing stressful, alerting things just before turning the lights out. Instead, read a book or do something else that calms you down.
Another good recommendation is to not worry too much about it. The more we stress about how good our sleep has to be, the bigger the risk that we get anxious about achieving it and thereby sleep worse. Most of us can handle short bouts of sleep loss fairly well, and our bodies catch up on that sleep when it gets a chance. In other words, definitely prioritize your sleep! But if you have a night here and there where you stayed up too late or couldn’t settle down once in bed, you’ll most likely be ok too. In fact, you may just sleep your best when you are sleep deprived (not recommending this as a long-term strategy though).
Emily Manoogian
A chronobiologist and senior staff scientist at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies.
Getting a good night’s sleep is determined by your sleep environment, but more importantly, by what you do while you’re awake. It’s our circadian system that helps us stay asleep during the night, and everything that impacts your circadian rhythms, will in turn impact your sleep. The quality, quantity, and timing of light, food, exercise, and stress all impact your sleep. Here are a few guidelines to get a good sleep:
1. Take care of yourself during the day. First, get lots of bright light, daylight if possible, in the first part of your day. Bright light in the morning tells your body it’s time to wake up and can also be a mood booster. Second, stay active. It’s recommended to get at least 150 minutes of moderate exercise each week. Keeping your body moving, even with walks or stretches, will help you get a good rest. Finally, eat well and not too much. Focusing on healthy protein, whole grains, and lots of fruits and vegetables help maintain a healthy microbiome and digestion which will aid sleep as well.
2. Take stimulants at the right time. Don’t consume stimulants, like coffee or certain medications, too close to bed, which might be earlier than you think. For instance, caffeine has a half-life of 5-6 hours. Meaning that if you have a cup of coffee (~100 mg of caffeine) at 4 pm, you’ll still have about a half cup of coffee (50 mg of caffeine) in your system at 10 pm. Thus, to help yourself fall asleep, stop consuming caffeine about 10-12 hours before you plan to go to bed. Some medications are also stimulants, such as Prozac and some decongestants. It’s always good to consult with your pharmacist for when to take medications and be aware of potential stimulating effects if you aren’t getting good sleep.
3. Eliminate or reduce alcohol consumption. Although alcohol may make you fall asleep, the quality of sleep you get when intoxicated is usually very poor. Not drinking at all, decreasing the amount you drink, or drinking a bit earlier will help get a better sleep.
4. Tell your body it’s time to sleep. Light, food, and exercise are all behavioral stimulants that should be limited before bed. Exercise is great in general, but when you do an intense exercise too close to bed, it increases your body temperature (which normally decreases when you sleep) and compromises the quality of sleep you get. Thus, to best prepare yourself for sleep, for 2-4 hours before bed, you should (1) start dimming, or turning off, lights, (2) stop eating or drinking anything but water for 3-4 hours before bed, and (3) don’t do strenuous exercise within about 2-3 hours before bed. Together, the absence of light, food, and activity let your body wind down and tell your body it’s time to sleep, so you can fall asleep quicker and sleep better.
5. Sleeping environment. When you finally do get to bed, keep your room dark (blackout curtains and/or eye masks are very helpful), cool (~68-72 F°), and quiet.
6. Consistency is key. The circadian system is anticipatory, meaning it plans for what your body needs to do and prepares ahead of time. Providing consistent daily timing of light, food, exercise, and sleep are all key to a good night’s sleep.
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