8 Tips for Better Sleeping
to Boost Productivity Levels
See also: What is Sleep?
In the same way the human body needs food and water for survival, sleep is equally significant to our health, wellbeing, and the way that we work. It is not a luxury, but a fundamental biological necessity that affects everything from our mood to our cognitive performance.
It has been said that sleep is an investment in the energy you need to be effective tomorrow. Yet in our fast-paced world, many of us consistently fail to get the recommended seven to eight hours of sleep per night. This creates a "sleep debt"—a cumulative deficit that grows with each night of insufficient rest. As the week progresses, this debt leads to physical, mental, and emotional exhaustion.
When the weekend arrives, the common response is to try and "repay" this sleep debt by oversleeping. However, research suggests that a weekday deficit cannot simply be erased on Saturday or Sunday. While a lie-in can help you feel temporarily refreshed, it doesn't fully restore the cognitive sharpness and physical vitality lost during the week. The only true solution is to reset our attitude towards sleep by adopting small, consistent habits throughout the day.
With that in mind, here are eight practical tips to help you get better sleep, boost your overall productivity, and reclaim your time.
8 Tips for Better Sleep and Improved Productivity
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Start Your Day with a Balanced Breakfast
Breakfast is often labelled the most important meal of the day, and for good reason. A well-balanced breakfast kick-starts your metabolism, provides sustained energy to get you through the morning, and can even influence your sleep patterns later that night. The key is to choose foods that stabilise your blood sugar levels rather than causing a sharp spike followed by a crash.
For a meal that offers optimum energy during the day and sleep-promoting nutrients at night, nutritionists often recommend a combination of complex carbohydrates, lean protein, and healthy fats. For example, eggs and avocado on seeded rye toast provide a mix of all three. The combination of complex carbs, protein, and fibre offers a sustained release of energy that prevents that mid-morning slump and reduces the likelihood of reaching for sugary snacks.
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Take a Proper Lunch Break
When schedules become jam-packed, lunch is often the first thing to be sacrificed, relegated to a quick sandwich at your desk. However, this important meal provides the fuel you need to push through the afternoon and contains nutrients that promote better sleep later. Taking a proper break away from your screen also gives your mind a much-needed rest, which can improve focus and reduce stress.
Aim to have your lunch between 12pm and 2pm. This helps to regulate your body's internal clock and prevents excessive snacking on foods that are high in sugar or simple carbohydrates. These snacks can lead to blood sugar imbalances that disrupt the production of circadian hormones, which are crucial for a healthy sleep-wake cycle. For a snooze-friendly lunch, consider a meal rich in tryptophan, an amino acid that helps to stimulate the production of serotonin (a precursor to the sleep hormone, melatonin). Good sources include turkey, chicken, eggs, and spinach.
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Go Decaf After 2pm
Caffeine is a powerful stimulant that can significantly interfere with your ability to fall asleep. While it can be tempting to have 'one more cup' to get you through an afternoon slump, it's important to understand how long it stays in your system. Caffeine has a half-life of around five to seven hours, meaning that half the amount you consume can still be in your bloodstream many hours later.
To be safe, it is best to switch to decaffeinated drinks after 2pm. While water is always the best choice for hydration, if you want something more interesting, there are plenty of alternatives. Decaffeinated coffee, herbal teas like rooibos or mint, and even some green teas with lower caffeine content are all excellent options that won't disrupt your sleep later in the evening.
See our page: Coffee and Health for more.
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Avoid Alcohol in the Evening
While a glass of wine or a beer in the evening can feel like a good way to unwind, alcohol can be highly disruptive to your sleep. Although it is a sedative and may help you fall asleep more quickly, it significantly suppresses REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep, the most restorative stage of the sleep cycle. This is why you often wake up feeling groggy and unrefreshed after a night of drinking.
Your body metabolises approximately one unit of alcohol per hour. Therefore, the later you drink, the more likely it is that alcohol will still be in your system when you go to bed, interfering with your natural sleep architecture. If you do choose to drink, try to finish at least three to four hours before you plan to go to sleep to give your body enough time to process it.
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Finish Eating at Least Three Hours Before Bed
If you want to have a dreamy night’s sleep, you certainly don’t want to be dealing with indigestion, heartburn, or reflux. For this reason, try to avoid eating any large meals within three hours of going to bed. This will give your body enough time to properly digest your food.
Eating a heavy meal late at night can also raise your core body temperature and increase your metabolic rate, both of which can signal to your brain that it's time to be active, not to sleep. This can lead to a more restless night and even more vivid or unsettling dreams. If you are hungry before bed, opt for a small, light snack that is rich in tryptophan, such as a banana or a small bowl of porridge.
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Create a Digital Curfew
Whether it’s to clear your inbox or for some mindless scrolling through social media, you must avoid taking your phone, tablet, or laptop into the bedroom. The blue light emitted by these screens is particularly disruptive to sleep because it suppresses the production of melatonin, the hormone that tells your body it's time to wind down.
At night, your body naturally produces less of the "daytime" hormone serotonin and more melatonin to prepare you for sleep, but screen time can throw this delicate balance off. To be safe, turn off all your digital devices at least one to two hours before bed. Instead, create a relaxing, screen-free wind-down routine. This could include reading a physical book, listening to a calming podcast or music, gentle stretching, or taking a warm bath. If you absolutely must use a device, use a "night mode" feature to shift the screen from a blue to a warmer, orange tone.
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Practise Mindfulness or Meditation
Meditation involves cultivating a state of focused awareness that can help you feel at peace. It has countless benefits when it comes to sleeping, as it helps to induce the body's natural relaxation response. It can also enhance the production of melatonin and alleviate the very things that often stop us from drifting off, such as anxiety, stress, and a racing mind.
You do not need to be an expert to benefit from this practice. Even a simple ten-minute mindfulness exercise before bed can be highly effective. Focus on your breath, notice the sensations in your body, and gently guide your mind back to the present moment whenever it wanders. This practice helps to calm the nervous system and can be a powerful tool for preparing your mind for a restful night's sleep.
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Exercise at Least Three Times Per Week
Finally, regular exercise has endless known benefits for our health, but it also significantly improves your ability to fall—and stay—asleep. This is not just because it tires the body out. Studies have shown that regular, moderate exercise can cause significant improvements in both the quality and duration of sleep.
This is because physical activity can help to strengthen your circadian rhythm, promoting daytime alertness and helping to evoke a natural sense of sleepiness at night. Exercise is also a powerful stress reducer. The key is consistency. Aim for at least three sessions of moderate exercise per week. The timing is also important; while a morning or afternoon workout is ideal, try to avoid very intense exercise within two hours of your bedtime, as this can be overly stimulating for some people.
Conclusion
Improving the quality of your sleep is not about finding a single quick fix, but about adopting a holistic, 24-hour approach to your wellbeing. By making small, consistent adjustments to your daily routine—from what you eat for breakfast to when you put down your phone at night—you can significantly improve your sleep architecture and pay off your "sleep debt."
A good night's sleep is one of the most powerful tools you have for boosting your productivity, enhancing your creativity, and improving your overall quality of life. By investing in your sleep, you are investing in a more energetic, effective, and successful tomorrow.
Further Reading from Skills You Need
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About the Author
Hannah Waters is a part-time woman of letters and full-time feminist. She lives and works in London, where she is cutting her journalistic teeth in her first media role. She spends her spare time covering interests including women in business, productivity and self-care.