Sleep hygiene: what works, what is myth — and why it sometimes is not enough

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Anyone who sleeps badly has read all the lists: no screens, a cool dark room, no caffeine in the afternoon, always to bed at the same time. You did it all — and you are still awake at 3am, now with the added frustration of "I am doing everything right". It is worth sorting the subject out: what works, what is myth, and why sleep hygiene alone often is not enough.

What has real grounding

• A fixed waking time — the most powerful anchor for the body clock is the time you get up (more so than bedtime), weekends included.
• The right light at the right time — bright light in the morning (ideally outdoors); low, warm light at night. One of the most underrated regulators.
• Caffeine, counted — a half-life of around 5-6 hours: the 5pm coffee is still active at midnight. Alcohol: you fall asleep faster and sleep worse — it fragments the second half of the night.
• Bed for sleep only — working, eating, arguing and scrolling in bed teaches the brain to keep it in "alert mode".
• Regular exercise — consistently improves sleep; simply avoid intense training right before bed.

The myths that get in the way

• "I need exactly 8 hours" — need varies (7-9 hours for most people). Obsessing over the number creates the anxiety that steals sleep.
• "I catch up at the weekend" — sleeping until 11am on Saturday is self-inflicted jet lag: by Monday your clock is in another city.
• "Lying in bed resting still counts" — hours awake in bed train precisely the wrong association.
• "Screens are the main villain" — blue light counts, but content is worse: news, work and arguments at 11pm activate you more than the light does.

The step that comes after the lists

If you have been applying all of this for weeks and still sleep badly, you are not failing — you are simply at the next step: CBT-I, which works on the mechanisms sleep hygiene cannot reach. That is what we do in HICOA's Sleep Better Programme, with hypnotherapy reinforcing the downregulation. Online or in Matosinhos.