Vanessa Hill

The first step that I would recommend for anyone is set a bedtime.

I mean, I know this is so basic and we've spent this whole time talking about bedtime procrastination and going to bed.

But when I have done research studies, when I've spoken to people, when I've done public talks, I often ask people to give a show of hands for who actually has a bedtime.

And it's often less than half of the people who I'm talking to.

For adults, it's common to just go to bed when you're tired, to not really have a set bedtime.

And one of the best things for our sleep health is consistency, going to bed and getting up at roughly the same time every day.

Some really interesting new research on screens and sleep has indicated that just being consistent with screens is one of the most important things.

So there was a... And I'm...

such a research nerd where you've asked me such a simple question.

I'm like, wait, Jonathan, let me tell you about another study.

This study just came out of Canada and they looked at 1,300 people and they split them up into three groups based on their screen use.

So there were occasional users that were just using their phone before bed once a week, moderate users who were using their phone maybe three or five times a week, and then regular users who were using their phone pretty much every day before they went to bed.

And what they found was sleep health was actually best in the occasional and regular users.

So people who are using their phone every night before they go to bed, but in the moderate users, they reported the worst sleep health of the three groups.

So if you're just using your phone like three nights a week before you go to bed or watching TV or using technology or whatever it may be, and you're procrastinating your bedtime,

only those nights, that can actually have some of the worst impacts on your sleep health, right?

If you use tech before bed, whether that is your phone or a TV or a tablet or whatever it may be, but you're consistent about it and you have a bedtime where you can log off and be like, okay, it's time for me just to lie down now and listen to

an audio book or a sleep story or meditation and put on that sleep timer and actually fall asleep, you can be golden, right?

And I think one of the most important things is just thinking about consistency and thinking about having a bedtime and stop obsessing over the minutes that we're spending on our phones and the blue light and all the rest of it.

have a bedtime and think about something you can do before that, that is enjoyable, that you look forward to.