Achieving restful sleep requires more than just crawling into bed after a long day. The activities you engage in during the crucial wind-down period can significantly impact how quickly you fall asleep and the quality of rest you experience. While many people have established evening rituals, some common habits might actually be undermining their sleep without them realizing it.
The science of sleep preparation
The transition from wakefulness to sleep isn’t instantaneous. Your body requires appropriate signals and conditions to initiate the complex process of shutting down for the night. During the 60-90 minutes before bedtime, your brain and body are particularly sensitive to stimuli that can either facilitate or hinder this natural progression.
Sleep specialists often refer to this pre-sleep period as the “golden hour” — a critical timeframe when the choices you make can dramatically influence how quickly you fall asleep and how restorative your sleep cycles will be throughout the night.
Dr. Matthew Walker, a renowned neuroscientist, explains in his research that the pre-sleep period serves as a runway for sleep takeoff. When this runway is cluttered with activating stimuli, your sleep flight is likely to be delayed or turbulent.
Why your bedtime routine matters
A consistent evening routine signals to your body that it’s time to power down. However, certain activities can send mixed messages, essentially telling your brain to stay alert when you’re trying to relax. This contradiction creates a physiological conflict that manifests as difficulty falling asleep, frequent night awakenings, or feeling unrested despite adequate hours in bed.
The good news is that identifying these sleep saboteurs is the first step toward eliminating them. By making simple adjustments to your evening habits, you can create an environment that promotes rather than prevents quality sleep.
Here are five common practices to avoid in the hour before bedtime:
1. Reading suspense or thriller novels
While reading before bed is generally considered a healthy habit, the content of your bedtime literature matters significantly. Suspense novels, thrillers, and mysteries are designed to elevate your heart rate and trigger your body’s stress response — precisely the opposite of what you need before sleep.
These genres often leave readers in states of heightened alertness, anticipation, or even mild anxiety. The emotional engagement and mental stimulation can keep your brain actively processing and problem-solving long after you’ve closed the book.
Instead, opt for light fiction, memoir, or inspirational reading that promotes relaxation rather than excitement. Materials that are pleasant but not overly engaging provide the perfect balance of distraction from daily stresses without activating your sympathetic nervous system.
2. Browsing the internet or using electronic devices
The blue light emitted by phones, tablets, computers, and televisions interferes with your body’s production of melatonin — the hormone responsible for regulating your sleep-wake cycle. This disruption to your circadian rhythm makes it difficult for your brain to recognize that it’s time to sleep.
Beyond the physical effects of blue light, the content you consume online can be mentally stimulating. Social media updates, news headlines, work emails, or entertaining videos all demand cognitive engagement and emotional responses that keep your brain in an active rather than relaxed state.
Sleep experts recommend implementing a digital sunset at least 30 minutes before bed. If you must use electronic devices in the evening, consider wearing blue-light blocking glasses or using night mode settings that reduce blue light emission.
3. Taking hot baths immediately before bed
While warm baths are often associated with relaxation, their timing matters significantly for sleep quality. Your body naturally experiences a slight drop in core temperature as part of the sleep initiation process. A hot bath temporarily raises your body temperature, which then needs time to cool down before sleep can occur efficiently.
This cooling process typically takes about 60-90 minutes. When timed properly, a warm bath can actually help trigger sleepiness, as the subsequent temperature drop signals to your body that it’s time to rest. However, bathing immediately before bed disrupts this natural temperature regulation.
For optimal sleep benefits, schedule your warm bath or shower at least an hour before your intended bedtime. This timing allows your body temperature to rise and then fall naturally, facilitating rather than hindering the sleep process.
4. Watching television programs
Television viewing before bed presents multiple challenges to quality sleep. Like other electronic devices, TVs emit blue light that suppresses melatonin production. Additionally, the content of most programs—whether action-packed dramas, comedies, or even news programs—stimulates rather than calms the mind.
The rapid scene changes, varying sound levels, and emotional content of television shows activate multiple brain regions simultaneously. This heightened neural activity is incompatible with the brain’s need to gradually power down before sleep.
If evening television is part of your routine, consider finishing your viewing at least 30-60 minutes before bedtime. Use the intervening time for genuinely relaxing activities like gentle stretching, meditation, or light conversation with family members.
5. Consuming alcoholic beverages
Many people mistakenly believe that alcoholic drinks like wine help promote sleep due to their initial sedative effect. However, alcohol significantly disrupts sleep architecture even in moderate amounts.
While alcohol may help you fall asleep initially, it prevents you from reaching and maintaining the deeper, more restorative stages of sleep. As your body metabolizes alcohol during the night, you’re likely to experience fragmented sleep, increased awakenings, and reduced REM sleep—the stage associated with memory consolidation and emotional processing.
For those who enjoy an occasional evening drink, timing is crucial. Limit consumption to one standard drink and finish it at least two hours before bedtime. This timing allows your body to metabolize much of the alcohol before sleep, minimizing its disruptive effects.
Creating a sleep-promoting evening routine
Rather than focusing solely on what to avoid, consider implementing positive sleep habits in your evening routine. Gentle stretching, progressive muscle relaxation, reading calming material, listening to soft music, practicing meditation or deep breathing exercises, or writing in a gratitude journal can all help prepare your body and mind for quality sleep.
The key is consistency. Your body thrives on routine, especially when it comes to sleep. By establishing and maintaining regular sleep and wake times—even on weekends—you reinforce your natural circadian rhythm and make quality sleep more accessible.
Remember that individual responses to different activities vary. Pay attention to how your body reacts to various evening habits and adjust accordingly. The goal is to develop a personalized pre-sleep routine that reliably signals to your body that it’s time to rest.
By avoiding these five common sleep saboteurs and replacing them with habits that promote relaxation and drowsiness, you’ll set yourself up for nights of deeper, more restorative sleep—and days of improved energy, mood, and cognitive performance.
