15/02/2026
10 hours before bed, stop drinking caffeine.
Caffeine has a half-life of roughly 5–8 hours, which means that coffee at 2pm is still circulating in your bloodstream at 10pm. Even if you “fall asleep,” your brain can remain in a lighter stage of sleep because adenosine, the molecule that builds sleep pressure, is still being blocked. Deep sleep suffers quietly and you wake up feeling like you slept, but not restored.
3 hours before bed, stop eating.
Late meals force your body to choose between digestion and repair and Insulin rises. Core body temperature stays elevated and your system remains metabolically active when it should be shifting into recovery mode. Finishing food earlier allows blood sugar to stabilize and gives your body space to move into parasympathetic dominance, which is where true rest begins.
2 hours before bed, stop drinking large amounts of water.
Waking up at 2am to use the bathroom fragments your sleep cycles. It may seem small, but broken sleep reduces time spent in deep and REM sleep, the stages responsible for physical repair, memory consolidation, and emotional processing. Hydrate well during the day so the night can be uninterrupted.
1 hour before bed, stop looking at screens.
Blue light suppresses melatonin production, but beyond that, screens keep your brain cognitively engaged. Emails, scrolling, news, messages, stimulation. Your nervous system cannot downshift while it is still processing input. Creating a final hour of dim lighting and low stimulation tells your brain that the day is complete.
Your circadian rhythm is a biological clock that responds to light, food timing, stress, and stimulation. When these inputs are chaotic, your sleep becomes chaotic. When they are structured, your body begins to anticipate rest, it’s all just re aligning with the bodies natural rhythm.
