Tips and tricks
30 short things that actually help
No listicle padding. Each one is a single specific action with the reason it works underneath.
Sleep
Get up at the same time every day, including weekendsWake time anchors the whole circadian system far more strongly than bedtime does. If you fix one thing, fix this one.
Get light in your eyes within an hour of wakingOutdoor light, even on an overcast day, is many times brighter than indoor lighting and is the strongest signal your body clock receives.
If you are awake for more than twenty minutes, get out of bedThis is stimulus control, a core component of CBT for insomnia. Lying awake teaches your brain that bed is a place for being awake.
Keep the bedroom coolCore body temperature has to drop for sleep to begin. A warm room works against that. Around eighteen degrees suits most people.
Move your last coffee two hours earlierEasier to sustain than quitting, and often enough. Caffeine half life is five to six hours.
Do not check the clock at nightIt converts wakefulness into arithmetic about how ruined tomorrow will be. Turn it away from you.
Alcohol makes you fall asleep faster and sleep worseIt suppresses REM early in the night and fragments the second half. The sedation is real and so is the cost.
Naps before three in the afternoon, under thirty minutesLonger or later and you are borrowing from tonight.
In the moment
Make the exhale longer than the inhaleIf you remember nothing else from this entire site, remember this. It is the active ingredient in most of it.
Name the feeling in one wordAffect labelling. Anxious. Angry. Ashamed. One word beats a paragraph, and the paragraph tends to make it worse.
Put your hands under cold running waterThe mildest version of the DBT temperature skill, available in any bathroom.
Look at something at least six metres awaySustained close focus is part of a stress posture. Long focus is part of a settled one.
Unclench your jaw and drop your tongue from the roof of your mouthAlmost everybody reading this was doing both.
Say the worry out loudSpoken worries are noticeably less convincing than internal ones. This is why writing them down works too.
Move for two minutesStairs, a walk to the end of the corridor. Stress hormones are metabolised by movement, not by sitting very still and thinking.
Do the smallest possible next stepNot the task. The step before the step. Open the document. Find the number.
Building a practice
Two minutes a day beats twenty once a weekFrequency builds the habit. Duration only builds the session.
Attach it to something you already doAfter I brush my teeth. Habit stacking works considerably better than choosing a time.
Stop while you still want to continueThe urge to come back tomorrow is more valuable than three extra minutes today.
Expect it to feel pointless for the first weekAlmost everyone reports this. It is not a signal about whether it will work.
Missing a day is not a broken streakStreak thinking is why people quit. Count the month, not the chain.
Pick one technique and stay with it for a fortnightSampling twelve exercises teaches you nothing about any of them.
Do it badly rather than not at allA distracted two minutes counts. Perfect practice is a fantasy that prevents practice.
Notice when you did not need itThe days you forgot because things were fine are data too.
When it is not working
If breath focus makes you anxious, use sound insteadThis is common, particularly with a history of panic or a respiratory condition. It is not a personal failing and sound is not a lesser anchor.
If sitting still is unbearable, walkWalking meditation is a full practice, not a consolation prize.
If you feel lightheaded, breathe smaller not shorterLightheadedness is almost always over breathing rather than slow breathing.
If your thought records turn into self attack, stop and do self compassion insteadA common and counterproductive pattern.
If nothing helps for weeks, that is worth a conversation with a professionalNot a reason to try a fourteenth technique. Persistent difficulty deserves proper assessment.
Be suspicious of anyone promising a lot from very littleIncluding us. Read our evidence page and notice what we do not claim.
These are tips, not treatment.
Practical suggestions collected from sleep and behavioural research. If you have been sleeping badly for months, or low mood or anxiety is persistent, please see a clinician. Cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia is the recommended first line treatment for a genuine sleep disorder and it works considerably better than any tip on this page.