The New Year sleep reset: a one-week plan
After the holidays, your sleep is probably a mess. Here's how to get it back in seven days.
Between late dinners, holiday travel and that strange week where nobody knows what day it is, sleep usually takes a beating in December. The good news: you can reset it in about a week.
Day 1: choose your wake-up time
Pick the time you want to wake up for the rest of the month and set it every day, weekends included. Your bedtime will follow.
Day 2: get morning light
Go outside within an hour of waking, even for five minutes. Morning light is one of the strongest signals your body clock gets.
Day 3: set a caffeine cutoff
Try no coffee after early afternoon and notice how your evenings feel.
Day 4: refresh your bed
Wash everything. Rotate the mattress if it's due. If your pillowcase has seen better days, this is the moment to switch to silk.
New year, same you, much better rested.
Day 5: give your phone a bedtime
It goes to sleep, in another room, thirty minutes before you do.
Day 6: build a ten-minute wind-down
Wash up, stretch, breathe. Same order every night.
Day 7: notice the difference
How did you sleep? How do your mornings feel? Keep what worked and drop what didn't.
The short version
Fix your wake-up time, get morning light, set a caffeine cutoff, refresh your bed and give your phone a bedtime.
