The other night, when I was babysitting my 2-year-old niece, I received a call from her mother. “Is Sloane in bed?” she asked, a little impatiently. I looked at the clock. “It’s only 8:30 PM,” I replied. “We haven’t even begun washing up.” 

Were I not related to this babysitting gig by blood, that answer would have gotten me promptly fired. Apparently, toddlers are meant to sleep 12-14 hours per day. And as it happens, my niece falls on the upper end of that range. But here’s the thing: when you’ve been an insomniac like myself for nearly a decade, sleep requirements tend to lose their potency. For me, 14 hours of sleep is an unthinkable concept–insomniacs are lucky to get even six. 

When my insomnia began

I’m not entirely sure when my insomnia began, but like most life-altering afflictions, I’m sure it began innocently enough. A stint of work-related stress might’ve kept me up for a few nights. Unable to perform well the next day, I may have upped my caffeine dose throughout the afternoon. Finding it tougher to sleep with liquid adrenaline coursing through my veins, I likely popped a few pills of melatonin or some other sleep-aid. And so the cycle began. 

After a few months of insomnia, I sought professional help in the form of prescription sleeping pills, cognitive-behavioural therapy and was eventually hooked up to hundreds of wires in a laboratory while a sheepish technician named Greg watched me sleep. I bought weighted blankets, cooling sheets, fluffy pillows and softer beds. I drank valerian root tea, exercised like a Greek olympian and cut out caffeine altogether.  

But despite my best efforts, these tips were nearly impossible to maintain. I was sleeping barely 4 hours per night, suffering in my relationships and my career, and I felt the daunting pang of helplessness that so many of us endure. Something had to change. 

So as I laid awake one night at an ungodly hour, it dawned on me that perhaps these internet “sleep tips” alone aren’t enough to cure insomnia. Just maybe, if I could understand the science that fueled these recommendations, I’d be able to hack my sleep from an entirely new lens. 

And that’s when I discovered the life-changing Science of Sleep.  

The science of sleep

We’ve all heard those popular sleep tips before: you must avoid screens before bed, you should always fall asleep and wake up at the same time each day, you have to keep the bedroom cold. Those tips are inherently accurate; however, they’re framed in a damaging way. By spreading these “absolutes” into our sleep culture, the internet encourages a lingering sense of sleep anxiety if these tips aren’t followed. The result? Insomniacs take on a combative relationship with sleep, feeling like they can’t win the battle if they can’t obey the rules.    

Digging deeper into the science behind these internet sleep tips unleashed a newfound sense of calmness around slumber. Because the moment I understood the “why” behind sleep tips, I had the freedom to tailor the “how” to my needs. It was no longer me vs. sleep. It was me and sleep working together. 

An example: the science of consistent sleep times

Let’s look at consistent sleep times as an example. Every human is equipped with a unique circadian rhythm, which operates as your 24-hour internal clock. Controlled primarily by your hypothalamus, your circadian rhythm helps dictate when you should feel tired, and when you should be alert and awake. By maintaining consistent sleep times, scientists propose that our circadian rhythm will be more in sync with our lives, helping us to fall asleep when our body needs it. 

But for most societies, life is beautifully unpredictable. Some nights, you may want to stay out late with friends. And some days, you may feel like never leaving bed. To demand that we follow strict curfews each night is far from feasible. So how can the science of sleep help us find a happy compromise? 

First, we have to look at priorities. Wherever possible, we should prioritise waking up at around the same time over falling asleep at the same time. This gives us flexibility in the evenings, and helps kick off our circadian clock in the morning. Supplementing with up to 4000 IU of vitamin D3 and consuming breakfast help kickstart that rhythm even better. Now, if you’re wondering whether you’ll be a zombie the next day with a reduced sleep window, science has an answer for that too. 

A human sleep cycle consists of 4 stages, with each full cycle lasting about 90 minutes. That means that if you go to bed at 12:00 AM, waking up at 7:30 AM will give you 5 complete cycles of sleep, and you’ll wake up refreshed. So what happens if you decide to go to bed at 2:00 AM? Should you still set your alarm for 7:30? Unfortunately, that may not work as planned. That’s because waking up in the middle of a sleep cycle will have you feeling even more exhausted and groggy. 

Instead, we should map out full cycles of sleep starting from 2:00 AM and pick one of those slots as our wake up time: 

1 Cycle = 3:30 AM
2 Cycles = 5:00 AM
3 Cycles = 6:30 AM
4 Cycles = 8:00 AM. 

In this sense, your best bet for waking up refreshed would be setting the alarm for 8:00 AM. Yes, you’re only getting 6 hours of sleep vs. the 7.5 hours in 12:00 – 7:30 scenario. But healthy sleep is more about quality than it is about quantity. 

Other science-backed tips

To avoid boring you with an onslaught of details, here is a list of additional science-backed sleep tips that will help you optimize your sleep without feeling like you’re chained to a rulebook: 

Exercise – Save your hardest workouts for after 5 PM: You can exercise at any time of day and it will always help your sleep. However, between the hours of 5:00 PM and 7:00 PM your body temperature and ability to synthesize protein is peaking, which makes your workouts more effective and helps you exert more energy. 

Try adding more leafy greens to your meals: Leafy greens like Spinach help promote a healthy gut microbiome while being high natural sources of magnesium. Magnesium maintains healthy levels of GABA, a neurotransmitter that helps reduce neuron activity as you wind down for bed. 

Limit snacking before bed: Snacks can stimulate gut activity and energy output, which can cause you to wake in the middle of the night. However, if you have to snack, then avocados and nut butter are great choices for their high fat content, while cherries and kiwis are smart choices since they’re rich in serotonin, which is what the body uses to synthesize melatonin. 

Mitigating Screen time: Blue-spectrum light emitted by electronics can limit melatonin production by nearly 200%. So how can we focus on mitigating phone-use rather than impractically trying to avoid screens altogether? Enter amber-tinted blue light blocking glasses. 

Keep your bedroom cool, or use lighter blankets: The ideal temperature for sleep is between 15˚C (60˚F) to 18˚C (68˚F). That’s because our bodies naturally drop in temperature before bed, and rise as we’re close to waking. If your room is too hot, you’ll wake up earlier than intended. 

The never-ending experiment

While all of these tips should definitely help you get the rest you deserve, it’s important to remember that there is no one-size fits all panacea. Instead, insomnia demands constant experimentation, testing what works, and discarding everything that doesn’t. Do not get disheartened if your sleep troubles persist. Just remember that the science of sleep will always be there to help you find your way.