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How to go to bed on time

By Katherine Bruce

I generally call myself an ex-bedtime procrastinator, but it’s not really true. I’m actually a bedtime procrastinator who has learned how to go to bed on time. Not because I want to, but because I’ve trained myself to...night by night, week by week. I've built a strong bedtime habit that I can trust, even when motivation fails me!

The best bits of that training process (together with a LOT of research) now make up the Untired Me programme. And one of my favourite sections is module 4: designing a new weekly and nightly routine using the HABIT acronym.

Here’s a whistlestop tour of how it works…

H = Half the week - You halve (ish) the week into Sleep Nights when you go to bed on time, and Relax Nights when you can go to bed whenever you want. Then design your Sleep Nights, as follows...

A = Activity - You get really specific about what you're going to do in the evening.

B = Bedtime cue - You use a cue to remind yourself it's bedtime.

I = In bed - You create a set routine.

T = Time to sleep - You plan what to focus on when you turn off the light, so that you're not tempted to sneak in some extra screen time!

Why it works

Once I started researching habit, I could see why my process worked so well in teaching me how to go to bed on time, and why it's continued to work long-term:

1. Halving the week gives your willpower a break.
2. Having a specific plan means you don't need to put your self-discipline to the test by making decisions.
3. Every repetition of the routine builds the neural networks in your brain for a new habit. 

I might still be a bedtime procrastinator at heart, but this focus on building a habit means I can now rely on myself to go to bed on time - whether I want to or not!

And I’ve had hundreds of hours more sleep because of it.

If you've been struggling with how to go to bed on time, I’ll leave you with this little quote from habit expert, Charles Duhigg, in his famous book, The Power of Habit:

“Change might not be fast and it isn't always easy. But with time and effort, almost any habit can be reshaped."