A simple wind-down routine for sleep

Going straight from a busy evening to sleep is hard. The lights go off, but your mind keeps running — replaying the day, rehearsing tomorrow. A wind-down routine is simply a short, predictable set of steps you take before bed, so your body and mind get a clear signal that the day is ending.

It doesn’t need to be elaborate. The routine below takes about ten minutes before you get into bed, and the last step happens once you’re lying down. Treat it as a starting point and adjust it until it feels like yours.

Ten minutes before bed

1. Dim the screens and the lights. Turn your phone’s brightness down, close anything you don’t need, and lower the lights if you can. If you’re using the app for the next steps, that’s fine — just leave the scrolling for tomorrow.
2. Write tomorrow’s worries down. Open a Free write in your journal and get whatever’s on your mind out of your head: tasks, conversations you’re dreading, things you don’t want to forget. You don’t need to solve anything. The point is to park it somewhere safe until morning.
3. Take a few slow exhales. Breathe in gently through your nose, then breathe out for longer than you breathed in. Repeat for a minute or two. The Slow exhale or 4-7-8 calm exercises can guide you.

Once you’re in bed

4. Put on a gentle sound. A steady sound like Rainfall can soften small noises and give your attention somewhere quiet to rest. It’s one of the Premium sounds; Crickets at night is another sleep option.
5. Start the Sleep wind-down session. Get comfortable and let it guide you for 10 minutes. It runs on a timer that can end in sleep, and you can choose a background of No sound, Deep focus, Rainfall or Ocean waves.

If you drift off before the end, that’s the routine working. If you don’t, that’s fine too — you’ve still given yourself a calmer run-up to the night.

Sleep basics that help a routine work

A routine tends to help most when the rest of your day supports it. A few general habits many people find useful:

• Keep a consistent wake-up time, even after a poor night or at the weekend. It can help your body settle into a steady rhythm.
• Have caffeine earlier in the day. Coffee, tea, energy drinks and some soft drinks can keep you alert for hours, so consider switching to caffeine-free drinks from the afternoon.
• Keep your bed for rest. A cool, dark, quiet room tends to help. If you can, avoid working or scrolling in bed.
• Don’t battle it. If you’ve been lying awake for a long while, some people find it helps to get up, do something quiet in dim light, and go back to bed when they feel sleepy.
• Get some daylight. Time outside, especially in the morning, can help your body tell day from night.

When to use it

Every night, if you can. Routines tend to work through repetition — over time, the steps become a cue your mind starts to recognise. But on nights when you only manage one step, that one step is still worth doing. It can be especially helpful:

• after a stressful or overstimulating day
• when you notice you keep reaching for your phone in bed
• the night before something you’re anxious about
• when you’re trying to get back into a regular sleep pattern

A note on safety

Everyone has the occasional bad night. But if sleep problems carry on for weeks, or tiredness is making everyday life hard, talk to a doctor. Ongoing sleep trouble can have many causes, and some of them need proper care.

The app supports everyday wellbeing; it isn’t a treatment for sleep disorders. If you’re finding things hard right now, our crisis support page lists ways to reach help.