How to Fall Asleep Faster: 10 Science-Backed Tips That Work

• Based on peer-reviewed sleep research
• Sources listed at the end
• General information, not medical advice

You're exhausted. The lights are off. And your brain picks this exact moment to replay every email from the week.

We've all been there. How fast you fall asleep comes down to a handful of habits, and most of them are easy to change. Below are 10 tips backed by sleep research, plus a few signs your bed might be part of the problem.

How long should it take to fall asleep?

For most healthy adults, about 10 to 20 minutes. Sleep researchers call this sleep latency. If it regularly takes you 30 minutes or more, something in your routine, your bedroom or your health is likely getting in the way. On the flip side, if you're out within 5 minutes every night, you're probably not getting enough sleep. Here's how much sleep you need by age.

Your fall-asleep-faster timeline

Most of these tips work best at a certain time of day. Here's how they line up.

10 tips to fall asleep faster

1. Wake up at the same time every day

It sounds backward, but when you wake up matters more than when you go to bed. Your circadian rhythm, the internal clock that tells you when to feel alert and when to feel sleepy, sets itself mostly by when you get up and see light. Keep your wake-up time within about an hour every day, weekends included, and you'll start getting sleepy around the same time each night. Sleeping in on the weekend pushes that window later, which is a big reason Sunday nights are so rough.

2. Get some daylight in the morning

Light is the biggest cue your internal clock gets. Morning sunlight tells your brain the day has started, which kicks off the countdown to feeling sleepy that night. Try to spend at least 15 minutes outside in the morning. Even a cloudy day is much brighter than your living room. If you can't get outside, have your coffee by a bright window.

3. Exercise most days

A review of studies in the Journal of Behavioral Medicine found that regular exercise helps people fall asleep a bit faster and sleep better overall. It doesn't have to be intense. A brisk walk counts, and a morning walk outside takes care of tip 2 at the same time. Evening workouts are fine for most people, but if a hard late session leaves you wired, move it earlier.

4. Set a cutoff for caffeine and alcohol

Caffeine hangs around longer than most people think. In a study in the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine, caffeine taken 6 hours before bed still cut total sleep by more than an hour. Make early afternoon your last call for coffee, tea, soda and energy drinks.

Alcohol is trickier. A nightcap might make you drowsy, but it breaks up your sleep later in the night. Big meals and sugary snacks late in the evening can do the same, so try to finish eating 2 to 3 hours before bed.

5. Take a warm shower or bath 1 to 2 hours before bed

Your core body temperature has to drop for sleep to kick in. A warm shower or bath brings blood to the surface of your skin, so your body sheds heat faster once you get out. A review in Sleep Medicine Reviews found that about 10 minutes in water around 104 to 109°F, 1 to 2 hours before bed, helped people fall asleep faster.

6. Keep your bedroom cool, dark and quiet

The National Sleep Foundation recommends keeping your bedroom between 60 and 67°F. Blackout curtains, a white noise machine and breathable bedding help too. If you tend to wake up hot, your mattress could be holding heat. MLILY's cooling mattresses use gel-infused foams, ActiveTemp™ phase change material and cooling covers to pull heat away from your body. For more ideas, see how to set up your perfect sleep environment and our picks for the best mattresses for hot sleepers.

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7. Dim the lights and put your phone away an hour before bed

Bright light at night, especially the blue-heavy light from phones, tablets and overhead LEDs, can delay melatonin, the hormone that makes you sleepy. What you're looking at matters too. Scrolling the news or social media keeps your brain switched on. For the last hour before bed, switch to warm, low lamps and pick up a book or magazine instead. Read more about which light colors help you sleep and whether blue light glasses are worth it.

8. Write a to-do list before bed

If tomorrow's tasks keep running through your head, get them on paper. In a Baylor University study published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, people who spent 5 minutes writing a to-do list before bed fell asleep about 9 minutes faster than people who wrote about what they'd already finished. The more detailed the list, the quicker they fell asleep. Keep a notepad on your nightstand so you don't have to reach for your phone.

9. Relax your body with breathing, stretching or yoga

It's hard to fall asleep with your heart racing and your shoulders up around your ears. Slow breathing, where you breathe out longer than you breathe in, can help you settle down. You can also try a body scan: starting with your toes, tense each muscle group for a few seconds, then let go.

Gentle yoga is another good option. In a national survey from the National Institutes of Health, more than half of people who did yoga said it helped them sleep better. Try a few easy poses without leaving your bed with our guide to bed yoga.

10. Follow the 20-minute rule

If you've been lying awake for what feels like 20 minutes, get up. Head to another room, keep the lights low and do something quiet, like reading or folding laundry, until you feel sleepy. Then go back to bed. Skip the clock-watching. A rough guess is fine.

This is called stimulus control. It's part of cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I), which the American Academy of Sleep Medicine recommends as the first treatment for chronic insomnia. The idea is to train your brain to connect your bed with sleep instead of tossing, turning and worrying. If sleepless nights are becoming a pattern, check out these sneaky causes of insomnia.

What about melatonin?

Melatonin is one of the most popular sleep aids in the country, but it's better at shifting when you get sleepy than at putting you to sleep. It can help with jet lag or a sleep schedule that's drifted too late. For ongoing sleep trouble, the American Academy of Sleep Medicine doesn't recommend it as a treatment for chronic insomnia.

What's on the label isn't always what's in the bottle, either. When researchers tested 25 melatonin gummies for a 2023 study in JAMA, 22 were mislabeled, with actual amounts ranging from 74% to 347% of what the label said. If you want to try it, check with your doctor or pharmacist first, especially if you take other medications or you're thinking about giving it to your kids.

When your bed is the problem

You can nail every tip on this list and still toss and turn if your bed is working against you. A few signs it's part of the problem: you wake up sore, you sleep better at hotels, you wake up hot, or every time your partner moves, you wake up too.

Your mattress. Most mattresses last 7 to 10 years. If yours sags or doesn't support the way you sleep anymore, a better routine can only do so much. Here are the signs it's time for a new mattress. Shopping around? Our memory foam vs. hybrid mattress guide compares how each type handles pressure relief, cooling and motion.

Your pillow. The right height depends on how you sleep. Side sleepers usually need a thicker, firmer pillow to fill the space between shoulder and head. Back sleepers do best with medium height, and stomach sleepers with something thin and soft.

Your position. If snoring or congestion is keeping you or your partner up, raising your head a little can help. An adjustable base does that without a pile of pillows. Learn more about the benefits of an adjustable bed base and how to stop snoring.

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When to talk to a doctor

A bad night here and there is normal. Talk to your doctor if you have trouble falling or staying asleep at least 3 nights a week for 3 months or more, if you're very sleepy during the day even with enough time in bed, or if you or your partner notice loud snoring, gasping or pauses in your breathing at night. These can be signs of chronic insomnia or sleep apnea, and both are very treatable.