Sleep, what we spend one third of our lives doing, is a critical pillar for health1 and daily performance, yet so many of us approach it mindlessly, scrolling late into the night, hitting snooze in the morning, or hoping rest will just “happen.”
Meet Dr. Rebecca Robbins, Assistant Professor in Medicine in the Division of Sleep Medicine at Harvard Medical School and an Associate Sleep Scientist at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and author of Sleep for Success!2 Her research explores how sleep influences cardiometabolic health, cognitive function, mental health, and emotional well-being.3 Dr. Robbins has published over 100 peer-reviewed journal articles and 15 books and encyclopedia chapters. Her research has appeared in such peer-reviewed publications as JAMA, SLEEP, the BMJ, Sleep Health, Prevention Science, Health Communication, Preventing Chronic Disease, and the Journal of Occupational Health Psychology.
Her message is simple: how we approach bedtime can transform not just our nights, but our days.
“Growing up, your mother told you to go to bed at the same time. And it turns out that there’s actually a lot of science behind that recommendation.”
Sleep isn’t simply rest; it’s an active biological process. During Rapid Eye Movement (REM) sleep, for example, the brain is highly active.4,5 In fact, its activity closely mirrors wakefulness, as your brain consolidates memories, processes emotions, and supports cognitive performance.6
But sleep is more than just duration. Dr. Robbins emphasizes that consistency is just as vital as quantity. Adults should aim for seven to nine hours per night, but the real magic happens when those hours occur on a regular schedule.
“Human beings are not meant to maintain different schedules – falling asleep at one time one night, and another time the next night. Instead, our internal circuitry vitally needs to know the target fall asleep time and target wake up time.”
Despite knowing sleep’s importance in how we feel and function, “only 1 out of 3 Americans consistently meet their sleep needs. Even fewer, less than 30% report that their sleep is restorative.”
“Unfortunately, sleep is viewed as being hard for many. We never receive formal education about sleep, so there are a lot of myths about what to do or what not to do. The good news is that small changes can make a huge difference when it comes to the quality of your sleep.”
One of the most effective small changes? Ritual Building.
Rituals act as signals to your circadian rhythm, the internal 24-hour clock that regulates functions like hormone secretion and core body temperature, which tell the body it’s time to unwind. Circadian rhythms can be quite temperamental with travel between time zones, alcohol, shift work, and diet having significant impacts on your body's internal clock.10–13
The constellation of rituals surrounding sleep helps to give your body the important information it needs to begin powering down for the night and regulate your body’s internal clock.
Dr. Robbins shares her own approach:
“My wind-down routine is quite consistent. No matter where I am, I try to do a couple of things. As bedtime approaches, I close my laptop, have a cup of something warm before bedtime. And think. Focus on the positive things in my day. I like to bring up memories of being with my kids or something nice or kind that a colleague or my husband, or someone did for me.”
Forming new sleep rituals doesn’t require a complete lifestyle overhaul. In fact, gradual, intentional changes work best:
Start small: Getting enough sleep is fundamental. Adults need adequate sleep to promote optimal health, with current evidence suggesting adults should achieve 7-9 hours of rest per night.14 So if you're far from that mark, start tonight. Pull your target bedtime about 15 minutes earlier and slowly start to inch towards that range of recommended sleep duration. Recent data from two independent, longitudinal studies where individuals wore sleep tracking devices suggests that turning in sooner than usual may be a useful approach for sustaining healthy sleep duration and enhancing next-day activity levels.15 Try starting this process earlier and earlier, but moving in small increments. Because we are not meant to make sweeping changes in our sleep schedules.
Break the snooze cycle: Hitting the ‘snooze button’ is quite common. A recent publication from Robbins and colleagues,16 assessing more than 21,222 app users and over 3 million sleep sessions, revealed that more than 55% of sleep sessions ended with individuals hitting ‘snooze’. We typically hit the snooze alarm, thinking “maybe I'll get a little bit more sleep and better”. But this turns out to be a myth, as these sleep interruptions may lead to decreased cognitive performance and negatively impact subjective mood. The best strategy is to do away with the snooze alarm, commit to setting your alarm for the latest time you can realistically wake up, and get out of bed when the alarm rings to reduce potential sleep interruptions.
Moving from mindless bedtime behaviors to intentional rituals does more than improve your sleep; it changes how we show up in our waking lives. By embracing consistent rituals, aligning with our circadian rhythm, and making small but meaningful adjustments, we can transform sleep from an afterthought into a core pillar of lifelong well-being.
Sleep consistency is critical for health and overall well-being. Even a night or two of poor sleep can impair cognition, mood, and physical well-being.7,8 Consecutive nights significantly worsen these negative effects.7 Sleep also influences other biological systems. Chronic sleep deprivation has been linked to increased risks of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, obesity, and mental health disorders.9
This kind of routine building replaces mindless nighttime habits with calming, intentional cues that prepare the body and brain for restorative rest.
Choose calming cues: Rituals are effective because they’re repeated. Whether it’s light reading18 or mindfulness meditation before bed19, commit to a few practices you can rely on each night. These are just two of the many different calming cues you can add to your ritual. Everyone is different and you may need to experiment with different rituals to find what works best for your nighttime routine.
“Keeping your sleep times consistent, and having a typical bedtime that we can typically meet most nights of the week, is important to our circadian rhythm.”
And remember: be gentle with yourself. “I think the message I would give to my younger teenage self is that if you’re struggling with sleep, you’re not alone.”
