Try this tonight: set your anchor time
You will be able to: Set one wake-up time for all seven days, plan a wind-down, and commit to a one-night experiment.
This week is about watching, not fixing. But one habit makes every other part of the course work better, and it also makes your diary easier to read: an anchor wake-up time. The NHS self-help advice for poor sleep includes the same idea: wake up and get out of bed at the same time every day.
Warm-up: helps or hurts?
Sort these evening habits. Drag each card into a box, or tap a card and then tap the box.
Check your last coffee
Caffeine keeps working for hours after the cup is empty. Drag the slider to the time of your usual last drink and see roughly how much could still be in your body at bedtime.
Make it an if-then plan
"I'll try to go to bed earlier" rarely survives a busy evening. Plans written as "If [situation], then I will [action]" do much better. In a review of 94 studies, people who made if-then plans reached their goals clearly more often than people who only set the goal.
Two examples:
- "If my wind-down reminder goes off at 22:00, then I put my phone on charge in the kitchen."
- "If it is Saturday and my alarm goes at 7:15, then I get up, open the curtains and make breakfast."
Your turn (on paper, or in your phone's notes):
If ______________________, then I will ______________________.
Put the evening in order
Drag the steps (or use the arrow buttons) into the order that makes the most sense, then press Check.
A breathing pacer for your wind-down
Slow, steady breathing is an easy way to mark the end of the day. Follow the circle: breathe in as it grows, out as it shrinks. Use it in bed with the screen dimmed, or better, learn the rhythm here and then do it with the phone away.
Tonight's mini-experiment
Now put it together. Pick one small change for tonight, predict how rested you will feel, and commit. Tomorrow, the check-in at the bottom of any page will ask how it went, and the result will appear on your chart.
One night is a hint, not proof. Run the same change on several nights (that is what week 2 of the course is for).
Sources
- NHS, Insomnia: wake up and get out of bed at the same time every day; relax at least 1 hour before bed; dark and quiet bedroom; exercise regularly during the day but not in the 4 hours before bed; no alcohol, tea or coffee for at least 6 hours before bed; no big meal late at night; no devices right before bed; no daytime naps; do not sleep in after a bad night.
- EFSA (2015), Caffeine explainer (PDF); NHS, Foods to avoid in pregnancy (caffeine per drink); FDA, Spilling the beans
- Drake et al. (2013), PubMed 24235903; Ebrahim et al. (2013), PubMed 23347102
- Zaccaro et al. (2018), PubMed 30245619
- Gollwitzer & Sheeran (2006), Implementation intentions and goal achievement: a meta-analysis of effects and processes, Advances in Experimental Social Psychology 38: 69-119, doi:10.1016/S0065-2601(06)38002-1
"Within about 30 minutes" for the anchor time is our practical suggestion, not a clinical rule.
Next: start your 7-day sleep diary