Sleep Hygiene Guide

Most sleep advice arrives as a list of 20 things to do, which is why most of it goes unimplemented. This guide is two lists: what to stop, and what to start.

What to stop

• Changing your sleep schedule day to day. Your body rewards rhythm.

• Treating evenings like a second afternoon — bright lights, late email, hard workouts, doom scrolling. Your evening should be a runway to rest, not a wall.

• Overusing caffeine. The curfew here is 8 or more hours before bed, because falling asleep is not the only thing at stake. Sleep quality, continuity, and depth all matter.

• Using alcohol as a sleep strategy does not work. It fragments sleep and depresses breathing.

• Making your bed a battleground. If sleep has not come in 20 minutes, get up.

What to start

• A consistent wake time, within 60 minutes daily. This is your strongest circadian anchor.

• Morning light exposure, early, to tell your body it is daytime.

• A nightly wind-down routine that teaches your body the work is finished.

• A bedroom that is dark, cool (65 to 68°F, roughly 18 to 20°C), and quiet, with the phone away from the bed.

• Daytime movement, with intense training moved earlier if late workouts leave you wired.

• A screen boundary of 30 to 60 minutes before bed.

The seven-day practice

Page two is a checklist of seven anchors to hold for one week. The goal is not perfection. It is repetition. Small habits done consistently have more power than dramatic ones done once.

Persistent insomnia, excessive daytime sleepiness, loud snoring, or witnessed pauses in breathing deserve a clinical conversation rather than a checklist.

Use alongside the Sleep Hygiene Tracker to see your current pattern before you start changing it.

The Aslan Health Podcast with Dr. Mike Hauman — Where Science Meets Soul

This content is educational and is not medical advice. Listening or reading does not create a physician-patient relationship, and nothing here substitutes for individualized care from your own clinician. Do not use it to diagnose or treat a health problem, and do not delay or disregard professional medical advice because of something you read or heard here.

Talk with your physician or pharmacist before starting any supplement — particularly if you are pregnant or nursing, have a diagnosed condition, or take prescription medication. Supplements can interact with medications.

If you think you may have a medical emergency, call 911 or your local emergency number.

These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. These products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.