A doctor helped me fix the simple sleep hygiene mistake I didn’t realize I was making
Good sleep hygiene doesn’t start when your head hits the pillow — the hours leading up to bedtime are just as important. As I discovered when I asked a sleep expert why I’m waking up tired and she identified my ‘higher-stimulus’ environment as the cause of my lower-quality sleep.
So what’s a ‘higher-stimulus’ space? Think bright lights, social media scrolls and lots of flashing screens. Things I keep out of my bedroom but that I’m surrounded by in the hours before sleep.
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Key take-aways: At a glance
- A higher-stimulus environment keeps your body and brain on alert, increasing cortisol and suppressing melatonin.
- If you prepare for bed in a higher-stimulus room, you’ll often struggle to achieve deep, high quality sleep, leading to groggy mornings.
- Bright lights, screens, and scrolling both contribute to a high-stimulus environment.
- Dimming the lights and switching to warm-toned bulbs mimic the natural sunset to prepare your body for sleep.
- Swapping screens and scrolling for low-intensity hobbies like meditation and gentle stretching also help you switch off.
- And try literally switching off as well — showering by candlelight is another way to create a lower stimulus home.
- This teaches your brain that it can start relaxing, so by the time you get into bed you’re ready for sleep.
What is a higher-stimulus environment and why is it bad for your sleep?
“Many people spend their evenings under bright lights, switching between screens, and mentally processing the day’s events,” explains Dr. Anita Raja, GP and women’s health expert with Herbalife. This creates a ‘higher-stimulus’ environment.
Why is that a problem? It’s all to do with hormones and your circadian rhythm.
Bright lights suppress the release of melatonin, a hormone associated with sleep, because your body thinks light equals daytime. As a result, you’re kept in daytime ‘focus’ mode.
This is an issue I didn’t even notice I had. My lights are just my lights, I never realized that my cozy wind-down was lit like a midday hang-out.
Meanwhile, excitement from doomscrolling and one last cheeky work email keeps cortisol, often known as the stress hormone, flooding through your body so you stay keyed up.
With cortisol levels elevated and melatonin suppressed, Dr. Raja explains that this high-stimulus environment makes it harder to reach the “deeper, restorative stages of sleep.”
Your sleep works in a cycle but when your body is alert, it struggles to move through each stage and often lingers in light sleep.
“Even if you manage eight hours in bed, this can result in lighter, fragmented sleep, leaving you feeling exhausted the next day.” says the sleep expert.
Why low-stimulus creates higher quality sleep
“Creating a lower-stimulus environment signals to the body that it is safe to relax,” says Dr. Raja.
She explains that through “dimmer lighting, limiting screens, or a short wind-down ritual,” you can start the circadian shifts that are needed for high quality sleep.
This is because your body clock, or circadian rhythm, responds to signs in your routine and surroundings that indicate it’s time to let go off stress and start switching off so you can fall asleep and stay asleep.
But when your high-stimulus environment is telling your body it’s still daytime, you don’t get that all-important cue to sleep.
“We sleep best when we feel mentally ‘off duty’,” adds Dr. Jordan Burns, D.C., Licensed Chiropractor and Sleep Health expert at Eachnight.
That means telling your body clock that you’re safe, it’s nighttime, and you don’t have to be alert. Here are some ideas for how to do it:
5 expert tips for creating a low-stimulus environment for better sleep
I’d created a high-stimulus environment without even realizing it because screens and lights were such a normal part of my routine. However, I’m familiar with feeling like my brain’s too busy to properly drop off, so I wanted to know how to switch my surroundings to something lower stimulus.
This is what the experts suggest:
1. Consider your lighting
Dr. Raja recommends “dimmer lighting” when at home in the evening, as this mimics the natural sunset your circadian rhythm expects to experience in the evening.
Amber light bulbs are available from retailers such as Amazon and recreate the warm tones of evening light, while dimmer switches can help you pitch the inside lights just right.
As for me, I’m going to start making the minor effort to plug in my soothingly warm string lights, rather than default to my cool overhead bulb.
2. Step away from screens
“The act of doomscrolling can keep your brain in a high state of alert when it should be winding down,” says Dr. Burns. “You are exposing yourself to blue light, emotional triggers, and unpredictable stimulation, which can delay the release of melatonin and make it more difficult to fall asleep.”
The jury is still out on exactly how much blue light affects melatonin production, but screens definitely impact sleep, there’s recent research showing that insomnia risk increases by 59% for every hour spent on screens in bed.
While Dr. Burns tells you to put the phone down, he does note you can use it “intentionally” by listening to calming music or sleep meditations.
However, when it’s time to go to bed, he advises you keep your phone off your nightstand.
“Notifications, light, or even the anticipation of a message can keep your brain in a lighter sleep state,” he explains.
3. Tidy your bedroom
Your messy bedroom isn’t just a cause of daytime stress — clutter can contribute to nighttime anxiety, particularly if you’re climbing over piles of clothes and half-finished tasks to reach your mattress.
Mess means your bedroom isn’t the calming space it should be and while you might not be consciously thinking about it, your brain is aware of the problem.
If a full clean sounds a little daunting, start with the nightstand: it may well be the last thing you see before sleep so you want it to be clutter-free.
4. Have a wind-down routine
Experts have previously told us that having a wind-down routine is a great, practical way to get consistently high sleep quality and keeping things low-stimulus should help you fall asleep faster.
So what are some low-stimulus activities you can include in your pre-bed routine? Sleep meditation and gentle stretching are good options, while reading is a screen-free favorite — but opt for a boring book, rather than the latest true crime blockbuster.
5. Take a soothing shower
Lately I’ve been enjoying dark showering, which is when you switch off the lights and wash via the gentle flickering light of a candle. It feels indulgently calm, like a trip to the spa.
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