6 Habits To Give Up If You Want To Sleep Better This Year

As an essential part of overall well-being, sleep is something we'd all benefit from prioritizing this year. Unfortunately, fixtures of daily life—from phone screens to overhead lighting—don't make it easy to do. Here are six habits you may have slipped into that are impacting your sleep and how to move beyond them in 2023 for the sake of shut-eye:

What to do instead: Aim to turn off your phone and other electronics at least an hour before you want to be asleep in the new year. Setting a recurring "bedtime alarm" might help you adopt this new habit. Replace scrolling with journaling, reading a book that isn't too stimulating, or writing down your to-do's for the next day (a sleep psychologist-approved ritual!).

What to do instead: To keep your internal clock running on time, aim to get plenty of light during the day and darkness at night. Get outside or sit in front of a sunlamp first thing in the morning to send a wake-up signal to your body and limit your exposure to bright lights at night when possible. Splitting your home's lighting into bright "daytime lights" and dark, warm, dimmable "nighttime lights" is one way to do so that Steven Lockley, Ph.D., a neuroscientist at Brigham & Women's Hospital and associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, recommends.

Many people are in the habit of taking supplemental melatonin to "hack" their circadian rhythms and fall asleep faster. But ultimately, research suggests that this habit is not doing us much good—and could actually be harmful.

What to do instead: There are a few use cases where melatonin can be helpful for getting your sleep-wake cycle back on track, like when you're traveling to a new time zone. But if you're looking for a supplement to take nightly to help you sleep, you'll want to opt for a safer, nonhormonal option like mindbodygreen's sleep support+. Reviewers rave that the gentle yet powerful supplement helps them fall asleep noticeably faster (even when compared to melatonin), and the combination of magnesium bisglycinate, jujube, and PharmaGABA® promotes longer, deeper sleep and more refreshed mornings, too.*

What to do instead: Instead of stressing about a mid-snooze wake-up (also called "middle sleep"), psychiatrist, author, and sleep expert Ellen Vora, M.D., recommends reassuring yourself that it's normal to wake up in between sleep phases and that your body knows what to do to fall back asleep. All you have to do is relax and resist the temptation to turn on the lights or check what time it is on your phone.

What to do instead: Aim to wrap up your dinner at least three hours before you plan to go to bed; bonus if it includes sleep-supporting nutrients like magnesium. This doesn't have to mean going to bed hungry—which can also mess with sleep quality. If you feel peckish closer to bedtime, just reach for a healthy, low-sugar dessert like the ones on this list.

What to do instead: Find a bedtime and wake-up time that you can realistically stick with all week long. Figuring out your sleep chronotype—or your body's ideal natural sleep-wake timing—can help. Here's a quiz to get you started.

The world would be a better place if we all slept a little more. Put deep, restorative rest—and the mental sharpness, energy, and better mood that follow—at the top of your resolution list this year with these six tweaks. Looking for more pro tips on how to improve sleep? We've got you covered.