How to Fix Poor Sleep Hygiene as a Working Professional

Sleep hygiene sounds clinical. As I teach it, it's a set of behaviors and practices that can have an impact on your sleep, good or bad.

Does it work? Partly. A 2015 review found that research generally supports an association between individual recommendations and nighttime sleep, but their direct effects remain largely untested in the general population.^[1] For people with insomnia, a 2018 review of 15 studies found small to medium improvements, significant only on self-reported measures. Sleep hygiene education was less effective than cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I).^[2] A 2025 review of 42 trials agreed, though most had a high risk of bias.^[3]

Here's how I put it for insomnia:

That fits the evidence: the American Academy of Sleep Medicine suggests clinicians not use sleep hygiene as a single-component therapy for chronic insomnia,^[4] and it is less effective than CBT-I.^[2] So I start with the body clock. Circadian rhythms are daily biological rhythms of physiology and behavior. We all have them. In my experience, habits help most when they support your body's own schedule.

You probably know the tips already: no late coffee, no phone in bed. The trouble is a job that doesn't care about them, not a character flaw.

In the Whitehall II study of British civil servants, people working more than 55 hours a week were more likely to develop difficulty falling asleep, and possibly shorter sleep, than those working 35 to 40. About 7% of the long-hours group developed trouble falling asleep, against 3.5%: small numbers, wide margin of uncertainty.^[5]

Pressure too. In a Swedish study of 4,827 workers, higher work demands predicted disturbed sleep two years later, while overtime and shift work did not. Disturbed sleep also predicted higher demands later: a two-way street.^[6]

Then there's the evening. Researchers call going to bed later than planned, with nothing forcing you to, bedtime procrastination; in a survey of 177 people it was related to reports of insufficient sleep.^[7] ("Revenge bedtime procrastination" began as a popular label and is now being studied: in a survey of 393 military servicemembers, published in 2026, more work role overload went with more bedtime procrastination.^[8]) Feeling you must answer messages fast, called workplace telepressure, was linked to burnout, absenteeism and sleep quality in another study.^[9]

That's the bad news. Here's the good: just because it's normal doesn't mean it's healthy, and it doesn't mean it's inevitable. For the performance cost, see our guide to sleep and productivity.

My guidance is to build and protect a routine, predictable sleep window. The consensus minimum for adults is at least seven hours of actual sleep,^[10] and I teach an eight-hour window to get there. Canada's 24-hour movement guidelines for adults aged 18 to 64 say 7 to 9 hours of good-quality sleep on a regular basis, with consistent bed and wake-up times.^[11]

Why consistent? I teach that your brain needs to anticipate your sleep, so it can prepare for that window.

A large UK study also backs regular timing. Among 60,977 adults who wore accelerometers (average age about 63), those in the four more-regular fifths of sleep timing had a 20% to 48% lower risk of dying over roughly six years than the least regular fifth. Regularity was also a stronger predictor than sleep duration.^[12] It is an association, and two of the authors disclose ties to circadian-health companies, so I treat it as a signpost, not a promise.

The good news: you can practice regularity. Choose a wake time you can keep seven days a week, then protect the window around it. Here's the line I come back to: build the window, protect it with what you do by day and when you can't sleep at night, and let your sleep accountant fill it. Your sleep accountant is what I call the process that keeps track of the sleep your body needs.

We've all said it: "I'll catch up on the weekend." The research is mixed. In a small lab trial of healthy young adults, weekend recovery sleep added about 1.1 hours. But the body clock was delayed afterward, and in the recovery group insulin sensitivity still fell by about 9% to 27% when short nights resumed. The authors concluded it was not an effective strategy to prevent metabolic dysregulation.^[13]

In a Swedish cohort of 43,880 people, adults under 65 who slept little on weekdays but long on weekends had a mortality rate no different from the reference group, so long weekend sleep may compensate. That is self-reported, and an association.^[14]

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In my experience, sleeping in may help repay a short week, but it pushes your clock later and makes Monday harder. Researchers call a gap like this social jetlag.^[15] Let's aim for a weekday schedule you can keep, so the weekend does not have to rescue you. More in our circadian rhythms guide.

We all know what we need to do: eat right, exercise and get plenty of sleep. What most people don't realize is that when you do these things can matter as much as what you do. I'd argue sometimes more. Timing is everything.

Now the rest of the day. Let's talk about caffeine, the evening drink and the late dinner.

Maybe you're lying there replaying the day, or rehearsing tomorrow's meeting. The hardest part of the evening isn't the bedroom. It's your head. Let's give it somewhere to put all that.

What about blue-blocking glasses? I recommend them in my coaching: good amber lenses for the two hours before bed. The evidence is mixed: a 2023 Cochrane review could not say whether blue-light filtering lenses improve sleep quality.^[22] So dim the house too, and treat the glasses as one tool, not a cure. Never wear them while driving.

You don't have to give up evening workouts: a review of 23 studies in healthy adults did not support the idea that evening exercise harms sleep, though sleep might be impaired after vigorous exercise ending within an hour of bedtime.^[23] And I want you to get up and move every 30 to 60 minutes; in my teaching, long sitting sends your body clock a weak day signal.

In a lab study of 24 healthy young good sleepers held to about five hours of sleep, a 10-minute nap at 3 p.m. improved sleepiness and performance right away, while a 30-minute nap first caused impaired alertness.^[24] In my coaching, even 10 to 15 minutes can be restorative, and up to about 45 minutes is the sweet spot. Never over 90 minutes: that isn't a nap, it's daytime sleep. The natural window is roughly six hours after waking; at work, take the length the day allows. The study tested naps only up to 30 minutes; longer naps can leave you groggy, so allow time to wake up before anything critical.

Lying awake? As I teach: "What you do when you can't sleep matters. It determines your capacity for future sleep." Don't turn night into day: skip the bright light, the activity and the snack. If you do get up, keep it dim and quiet. And keep the bedroom dark, quiet, cool and for sleep, not work. It's entirely up to you.

Please don't skip this one. Loud snoring, gasping or pauses in breathing, or heavy sleepiness despite enough time in bed? Talk to your physician. As I teach: "If you have sleep apnea and you do not address it, none of what I'm doing for you here is going to make a difference."

If trouble sleeping keeps coming back despite a steady schedule, see your physician. For chronic insomnia disorder, the American Academy of Sleep Medicine strongly recommends multicomponent CBT-I, and suggests clinicians not use sleep hygiene alone.^[4] I don't recommend melatonin or sleep medications as a fix. If you're using them, talk to your physician before changing anything.

If none of those red flags fit, let's measure first. The Free Sleep Assessment shows us where to start; it is not a diagnosis. A tracker gives you data, not decisions. Your wearable can tell you what happened to your sleep last night. We tell you what to do about it. In the Advanced Sleep Assessment, we review the sleep stages your wearable estimates. If you want one-to-one guidance, coaching with Dr. Glenn J. Landry, PhD is a higher level of care, and we build the plan around your life together.

Working shifts? Within any shift system there are ways to adapt: see our night-shift guide. Leading a team? Our workshops are a good place to start.