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Optimizing your sleep health is all the rage these days, so you’ve no doubt come across a plethora of online advice on how to get the proper amount of zzzs to feel rested. But…what about what not to do before bed?
Experts in This Article
sleep scientist and sleep health advisor at CPAP.com
board-certified sleep neurologist with Overlake Medical Center &
assistant professor in medicine at Harvard Medical School and associate scientist at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital
Hear us out: Just as it’s important to add things like relaxation and self-care to your bedtime routine, it’s also important to avoid certain things before bed in the name of better sleep. From avoiding certain nighttime snacks to refraining from watching stressful content on TV or TikTok (doomscrolling, anyone?), sleep experts themselves shy away from things that could ruin the duration and quality of their slumber.
Here, learn the six things sleep experts never, ever do before bed to get a better night’s sleep. Plus, find out how you can refrain from these habits yourself.
Things to avoid doing before bed, according to sleep experts
If you want to build a nighttime routine for better sleep, start by doing the opposite of these bedtime taboos.
1. Start a stressful conversation
Sure, evenings tend to be quieter and filled with fewer distractions, which is why so many people wait until the end of the day to talk about big topics. But bringing up an intense subject an hour or two before you go to sleep means it’ll likely still be on your mind when your head hits the pillow. And that’s a recipe for tossing and turning, Daniel Gartenberg, PhD, a sleep scientist and medical advisor for CPAP.com, tells Well+Good.
“Personally it’s one of my big no-nos, along with not watching stressful movies or TV shows,” he says. “Stress is also found to strongly affect both sleep amount and sleep quality, where stress right before bed often translates to nightmares and awakenings.”
2. Hang out in a room with bright lights
You’ve probably heard how bright light can help you feel more awake. While it’s great to get some light exposure early in the day, you definitely don’t want your eyes to be exposed to that same lighting at night. “About three hours before bed, I start dimming the lights in my house to help augment melatonin secretion,” says Meredith Broderick, MD, a board-certified sleep neurologist with Overlake Medical Center & Clinics in Bellevue, Washington. In other words, dimming the lights helps your body produce more melatonin—the hormone that helps regulate your sleep-wake cycle and induces sleep when it’s time for bed.
Dr. Broderick cuts off screens (e.g., phones and tablets)—which also emit bright, energizing light—about two hours before bed. For the last hour before falling asleep, she’ll read with a small red light reading lamp (like the Hooga Red Book Light, $13.99 on Amazon), because red light has less effect on the body’s natural sleep-wake rhythm.
3. Skip a wind-down routine
Every expert we spoke with talked about having some kind of predictable go-to activity to help them chill out before getting under the covers. After all, it’s tough to go from 60 mph straight down to zero. For Rebecca Robbins, MD, assistant professor at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts, and Oura Ring advisor, it’s going through a short series of mindfulness exercises.
“Stress is the most common cause of insomnia [a common sleep disorder],” she says. “In my bedtime routine, I sit in a comfortable cross-legged position on the floor, close my eyes, and do a few rounds of either the 4-7-8 breathing technique or alternate nostril breathing. This helps to slow down my heart rate, minimize stress, and prepare for sleep.”
But your wind-down routine should be personal to you, whether that includes doing a relaxing skincare routine, drinking green tea before heading to bed, or reading a book to help you doze off.
4. Eat right before lying down
A late-night dinner or big snack while you’re catching up on your shows can be fun, but they’re legit sleep stealers, especially if you’re going to head to bed right after eating. Lying down right after eating can trigger acid reflux, which is why Dr. Broderick and Dr. Robbins avoid meals within three hours of bedtime. “I try to eat as early as possible,” Dr. Robbins adds. (Early bird special, it is!)
5. Consume anything that interferes with your ‘nighttime brain’
For Gartenberg, that means no alcohol and no caffeine. Alcohol causes sleep disturbances and shortens restorative sleep cycles like REM sleep, while caffeine has a stimulating effect that makes it harder to doze in the first place, according to University of Washington Medicine. And both substances can trigger acid reflux, especially when you lie down. “Even if you don’t feel like caffeine or alcohol affects your sleep, there is a high likelihood that it reduces your sleep quality without your conscious awareness,” he says.
You’ll want to skip the psychoactives, too, including things like THC (weed) gummies, Gartenberg adds. TBH, we just don’t know much about how they might affect the brain and sleep. So if you want to be assured a solid night’s rest, just skip them right before bed.
6. Use screen devices
Sure, you probably saw this one coming. But it’s still worth mentioning, as late-night screen use is the number one thing all of our experts steer clear of before bed. This is mostly because the light from your screen is like a visual form of caffeine. “Screens emit blue daylight-spectrum light, which sends a physiological cue to our brains to stop the flow of the sleep hormone melatonin,” Dr. Robbins says.
The content on your device also tends to be stimulating. Shows with tense or scary plot lines—or even just scrolling your social media feeds—will put your brain on alert instead of signaling that it’s time to wind down, Gartenberg points out. And anything related to work just tends to get you thinking about everything that needs to happen tomorrow (and beyond). “Two hours before sleep, I shut down all work-related activities—emails, phone notifications, and patient messaging,” Dr. Broderick says.
When to see a doctor about sleep concerns
Trading these habits in favor of healthier nighttime behaviors (aka, good sleep hygiene) can often be a ticket to a better night’s sleep. But certain signs could mean that you need some extra help in the sleep department. According to Gartenberg, you should let your doctor know if you experience any of the following symptoms:
- Consistently feeling like you’re not sleeping well
- Excessive daytime sleepiness
- Heavy snoring
- Teeth grinding
- Acid reflux at night
- Frequent awakenings in the middle of the night
- Waking up with a dry mouth or headache
- Feeling like you can’t breathe at night, or dreaming that you can’t breathe
These signs could point to an underlying sleep disorder like insomnia or sleep apnea, so it’s important to see your doctor and get their advice. If you receive a diagnosis for a sleep-related condition, your doctor can offer a treatment plan that can help you catch some much-needed zzzs.
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