A screen-free evening routine: a realistic transition to sleep

In a laboratory study published in 2015, young adults read on several consecutive evenings, either on a backlit e-reader or a paper book. With the e-reader, they took longer to fall asleep, secreted less melatonin in the evening, had a shifted biological clock, and felt less alert the next morning.

A 2023 systematic review covering 42 good-quality studies in 16-to-25-year-olds links digital device use to shorter, lower-quality sleep, particularly phones, computers, and social media at bedtime or during the night. In adults, a Belgian survey of 844 people also links phone use after lights-out to longer time falling asleep and more fatigue.

These studies are mostly observational: they show an association, not a single cause. Light plays a role, but content matters too, whether it's stressful messages, engrossing videos, or scrolling that eats into bedtime.

Minutes 0 to 5: close out the day. Turn on silent mode, put the phone outside the bedroom or away from the bed, and let anything that can wait, wait.

Minutes 5 to 15: prepare for tomorrow. Jot down two or three priorities, lay out your things, and dim the lights. Writing down reminders keeps you from replaying them in bed.

Minutes 15 to 30: a calm activity. Read on paper, listen to soothing audio, do a few minutes of slow breathing, or take a warm shower. Keep the same activity for several nights.

The hardest step comes at the moment you're already tired. So prepare the ground beforehand: charger out of reach, book on the nightstand, soft lighting, a dark bedroom. Night mode on screens reduces blue light somewhat, but it doesn't make scrolling or late-night work relaxing.

If you need to stay reachable, keep a clear exception for emergencies rather than checking the screen continuously. With children, shifted work hours, or someone to care for, anchor the routine to your next sleep opportunity, not a theoretical bedtime. Music can also be part of the transition, provided you test it cautiously.

Change just one thing and note each night the start time, the activity chosen, the time you turned off the lights, and how you felt on waking. A few words are enough. If you skip a night, simply pick back up the next day. After a week, keep what genuinely reduces stimulation and drop what adds a constraint with no benefit.

The morning matters too: waking up without a smartphone naturally extends this habit.