If You Want to Live Longer, Start Sleeping Better
The old saying “I’ll sleep when I’m dead” is deeply flawed. Get too little sleep and you might just be speeding toward the end of your life. It’s not just your diet and exercise habits that are linked with your lifespan. You should also be prioritizing getting enough high-quality sleep on a nightly basis.
Getting too little sleep is linked with chronic and sometimes life-threatening health concerns, including high blood pressure, stroke, heart disease, and kidney disease, according to the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. One 2022 study in Sleep Medicine found adults who regularly got seven to nine hours of sleep at night were likely to live an extra one to three years compared to those who got less or more rest.
And it’s not just about quantity: Disturbances in your sleep quality, such as waking up a lot during the night, are tied to a number of signs of genetic aging, according to a 2022 study in Current Opinion in Endocrine and Metabolic Research. Newer 2025 Lancet research found the brains of people with poor sleep habits show signs of faster aging.
Consistency matters, too. People getting regular sleep had a 20 to 48 percent lower risk of dying of any cause compared to people with the least regular sleep schedules in a 2024 Sleep study.
All that said, it’s easier said than done to actually find the time to get more sleep. That’s why we asked experts for their go-to tips to optimize your sleep to help you live longer and happier.
1. Put Down the Phone
Or tablet or laptop. And turn off the TV. The light from these screens suppresses your body’s natural production of the hormone melatonin, which would otherwise help you fall asleep, says Dr. Scott Rosenberg, a pulmonologist and sleep medicine specialist at Inspira Health in New Jersey.
Plus, unless you’re watching something truly relaxing, whatever you’re doing on your screens is probably making it harder to unwind and drift off when you’re ready, he says.
In a perfect world, you’d power down electronics at least an hour and preferably two before bed, says Dr. Aatif Mairaj Husain, professor of neurology and division chief of epilepsy, sleep, and neurophysiology at Duke University School of Medicine.
2. Create a Bedtime Routine
Nope, this strategy isn’t just for babies. A calming evening routine can improve sleep quality, Dr. Rosenberg says. “Many people have trouble ‘turning off’ their brains at nighttime, which often results in an erratic sleep schedule,” he says. “This inability to shut down at nighttime increases stress hormone levels and disrupts your circadian rhythm, which have been shown to have effects on your health.”
To help you quiet your mind, try calming, screen-free activities, such as reading an actual book, meditating, or doing some gentle yoga, Dr. Husain says. “Having that routine tells your body that this is the time when things are winding down, and you should start to think about falling asleep,” he says.
Part of that routine should include sticking to regular bedtimes and wake-up times, even on weekends and holidays. This helps you fall asleep more easily and aligns your sleep habits with your circadian rhythm (your body’s internal clock that dictates when you’re sleepy and when you’re alert), according to a small 2020 PLOS One study.
3. Prep Your Bedroom
Your bedroom should be conducive to your best night’s sleep. Sleep experts often recommend your room be cool, dark, and quiet.
“The ideal temperature for sleep should be in the mid-sixties,” Dr. Rosenberg says. “This helps the body’s core temperature stay low, which is essential for initiating sleep.” Here’s why: Your core body temperature is aligned with your circadian rhythm. Your body naturally cools down before bed, helping you fall and stay asleep. A cool room helps mimic these conditions. (So does a warm bath or shower—and the chill you might experience after getting out—before bed.)
Keeping your room dark makes some amount of intuitive sense. It’s safe to assume no one’s favorite way to sleep is with bright light shining in their eyes. But there’s also a scientific reason: artificial light and sunlight both suppress melatonin production, Dr. Rosenberg says.
And of course noisy disruptions could wake you up or make it harder to fall asleep. “Whenever there is a loud sound, the brain goes from a deep stage of sleep to a lighter stage of sleep,” Dr. Husain adds.
4. Watch What You Eat and Drink
Not to be the midnight snack police, but notice what and when you eat and how it affects your rest. You might want to make some of the following tweaks:
- Avoid big meals within a few hours of bed. “The process of digestion increases metabolism, heart rate, and core body temperature. All those factors will delay the onset of sleep,” Dr. Rosenberg says. Eating too close to when you lie down might also increase your chances of dealing with acid reflux, which can be uncomfortable enough to prevent you from reaching deeper stages of sleep, Dr. Husain adds.
- Be mindful of water intake. Chug too much too close to bedtime, and you could end up with multiple mid-slumber bathroom trips, Dr. Husain says.
- Cap caffeine in the early afternoon. Even if you think you sleep just fine after a late coffee, try to cut yourself off at least four hours before bedtime, Dr. Rosenberg says. Caffeine blocks receptors to a chemical in your body called adenosine. Without caffeine, adenosine builds up and makes us tired. With caffeine, the adenosine is much less potent, Dr. Husain says.
- Limit alcohol in the evenings. An adult beverage is a popular part of many people’s wind-down routines. But booze actually keeps you from sleeping as deeply, and it may wake you up in the middle of the night after it’s worked its way through your body. “Alcohol tends to increase our tiredness, fatigue, and sleepiness; it helps us get to sleep,” Dr. Husain says. “The problem is once it washes out of your system in about three to five hours, then … you’re awake in the middle of the night, and you can’t go back to sleep,” he says.
5. Move More During the Day
Regular exercise is linked with a number of sleep benefits, including better quality sleep, more total time asleep, and falling asleep faster, according to a 2023 Cureus review.
But the timing matters: Try to get your workout in at least two to three hours before bedtime, particularly if it’s an intense one. “Exercise, especially vigorous exercise, increases core body temperature and stress hormones, and this will delay sleep onset,” Dr. Rosenberg says.
That said, something gentle and relaxing like yoga or stretching is fine to do close to bedtime, he says, and might even make for a relaxing addition to your bedtime routine.
6. Talk to a Doctor
Lastly, don’t be a hero. There’s no need to suffer in silence, feeling like you never get enough good rest. Talk to a doctor about symptoms such as:
- Snoring loudly
- Waking up during the night, gasping for air
- Getting up more than twice during the night to go to the bathroom
- Regularly waking up feeling like you haven’t slept
- Frequently falling asleep during the day
- Often having trouble sleeping, with no relief from the tips above
These could be signs of treatable sleep disorders, and a healthcare provider can help you figure out the right treatment so you can start getting better rest.
Many of us are mismanaging our sleep, Dr. Husain says. Think about it this way: If you’re waking up to an alarm rather than waking up on your own, you’re probably depriving yourself of at least some sleep, and “ultimately, it’s going to catch up to you,” he says. So just like you strategically prep balanced meals and methodically plan your training, it’s time “to recognize sleep as critically important,” he says.