How to sleep better in 30 days or less

Ever since I entered the world of productivity and personal development, I’ve become obsessed with lifestyle hacks. If something can improve my experience of some essential parts of our lives, then I am absolutely up for trying it.

One of the most important parts of our lives, and something that everybody experiences, is sleep. You’ll probably know by now that we spend an average of 7 or so hours a night sleeping, which is pretty substantial by itself, but the more shocking figure is that the average person will spend about 26 years of their lives sleeping – or 227,916 hours.

Good Lord, that is a lot of time.

For somebody obsessed with making the most of their free time, you do quickly forget how much of our time is spent simply recovering from a hard day of work. Sleep is, of course, essential for improving our wellbeing and overall health, but what if I told you that there was a way to optimise that part of our lives? It would make sense, wouldn’t it? We spend so much of our lives doing it, that we should probably invest in making it the very best that we can.

I’ve put together all of my ideas on sleep into three sections, so that you can optimise your reading on what I think are the most essential ingredients that go into a good night’s sleep.

Sleeping shopping list

Before we get to the process of sleep, we need to set ourselves up for success. Here’s a checklist for what you’ll need to buy for the best sleep of your life:

A good mattress

I once heard that you should invest in everything between you and the ground (so buy a good pair of shoes if you’re on your feet all day), so it makes sense that you should invest in a good quality mattress. I’m not here to advise on which brand, or how much to spend, so test out as many as you can at a few different price ranges and figure out what fits comfortably into your budget, since this is likely to be one of the most expensive parts of your sleep routine.

A decent pillow.

I’ve tried a few pillows in my time and, while I had high hopes for a memory foam pillow from Dunelm, it ended up raising my head up far too high off the mattress. I’ve also used pillows right on the other end of the price range, and got two from Morrisson’s before I moved away to University ten years ago. The best pillows I’ve tried were a double pack from Dunelm, costing about £50 total. Like the mattress, you’re going to have to experiment with this one.

Choose the right duvet.

I love a thick duvet all-year round, opting to kick off my topper when it’s too hot, rather than swapping it out for a thinner-tog duvet. However, you might prefer to use seasonal duvets. Whichever is your preference, pick the one that’ll make you feel most comfortable at night.

Mattress topper

I cannot tell you how shocked I was at learning that there is a significant difference between a mattress topper and a mattress protector. While the latter simply protects your mattress from spills, the topper provides an extra level of comfort. These are affordable accessories if you’re renting a place and can’t buy your own king-sized mattress.

The wind-down routine

Nighttime routines are so important; you can read mine in full here if you want, or keep scrolling to get the vital parts needed to optimise your sleep:

Set a sleep schedule.

I’ve got two alarms set for the same time everyday, one at 06:10 and the other at 06:15. The first one starts silently, gradually increasing its volume until hitting its maximum a couple of minutes later, to slowly wake me from my slumber.

The second is a backup for those mornings where I struggle to get up (we’ve all been there).

I also have a Google Calendar event set for 22:00 every evening, reminding me to get ready for bed and allow for a half hour of reading. While this doesn’t always work, having a set sleep schedule as the same time every day is important for working with your body’s natural circadian rhythm.

Your body likes darkness.

Get a good pair of thick, blackout blinds or curtains to totally block out the light at night, which tends to be more important during the summer, where the sun threatens to streak through your windows at 5am. By staying in darkness until your body is ready to get up, you’re going to be more likely to have a better night of sleep.

If you’re really obsessed with the darkness, opt for a sleeping mask.

Cut down on screen time.

No screens before bed is obviously always the best way to improve your sleep, but this isn’t always possible. Well, there’s a solution for that: I recently listened to a podcast by Ali Abdaal, where his guest suggested that, if you struggle with not using screens before bed, you could try long-form content instead. A video that’s about 15 minutes long, as opposed to these ten-second TikToks, viewed on a larger screen that’s, say, tablet-sized, makes it much easier to slowly switch off.

For more on how tech-free evenings can improve your sleep, check out my post here.

Read a book.

I don’t know what it is about reading, but it always helps me to feel sleepy. Reading a book on a paper-like screen, like a Kindle, or an actual, real, book, is the best way to enjoy this medium before bed. Set yourself a reading target (I go for a chapter a night, depending on the book), and then clock off when you’re done or when your eyes start to droop.

Blue-light glasses.

I recently bought a pair of orange-tinted glasses and, my god, have they been useful. You can read the review in full here, but the long-and-short of is that, by blocking out certain colours and putting an orange-filter onto your vision, you’re promoting the production of melatonin, the hormone responsible for making us feel sleepy at night.

Hydration is key

Getting enough fluids – and the right types of fluids – into your body is one of the smartest things that you can do throughout the day.

Cut the coffee.

I love coffee. I probably have one a day, two or three on the weekends, and take great pleasure from the aesthetic joy of having a coffee at the desk that I’m writing this blog at. I’ve invested in a nice cafetière to produce French Presses at my leisure; I use my mum’s Tassimo machine whenever I’m home; I even have a spreadsheet to track how much I’ve enjoyed different brands of coffees that I’ve bought.

However, if it’s after 2pm, I should swap to tea. The half-life of coffee means that it can live in your system for up to ten hours; if I’m trying to wind down from 10pm, then exposing myself to coffee even that late could play havoc on my sleep routine. As a rule, try to avoid it at least 8 hours – if not for 10 hours – before you drift off.

Sleepy teas.

During the pandemic, when I first properly got into coffee and stopped drinking instant where possible, I still wanted to have a hot beverage in front of me past 2pm. I started to drink flavoured or herbal teas and really enjoyed the experience. Anyway, when a friend was over, she asked if I had any sleepy teas.

‘A sleepy tea? Like decaf?’ I asked.

No, Josh; not like decaf at all. Sleepy teas have a mix of various herbs, like camomile and lavender, that is supposed to be make us feel relaxed and make it easier to drift off.

Whether it actually works is up for debate but, if anything, it’s nice to have a hot drink that won’t keep me up, isn’t fattening or calorific like a hot chocolate, and supposedly helps me to sleep – even if that is a result of the placebo effect.

Drink water.

I think I might dedicate a whole post to the benefits for being well-hydrated, since the water that we drink is so essential to us feeling good. There used to be a time when I would only really drink a glass of orange juice in the mornings, fruit juice like Blackcurrant and water throughout the day, and then maybe a fizzy drink, like a Fanta on the weekends.

That all changed at Uni, when I had to refill my water bottle, which had been full of squash, at the library. It was a grim, stale taste.

Sure, I still have the odd fizzy drink, but otherwise I tend to stick to water throughout the day. In fact, I’m so obsessed that I’ll try to finish a 2-litre bottle each day.

I don’t always manage this feat, but even attempting to get it to the bottom makes me feel better in myself, more energised, and in a better state of mind by the time I get to bed – which also helps me to drop off.

There you have it: my complete sleep routine for feeling better-rested. Which is your favourite sleep hack? Do you have any other hacks that you use to sleep better? If so, please share them in the comments so that I can add them to my own routine!

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Hardly Hamilton

Optimise your day with productivity tips, lifestyle hacks and lifelong learning