Sleep advice is everywhere. Blue light glasses. Melatonin supplements. Sleep apps that track your REM cycles. Weighted blankets. Sleep podcasts.

Most of it is marketing dressed up as science. Here’s what the research actually supports.

The Eight-Hour Myth

You’ve heard you need eight hours of sleep. It’s repeated so often it’s treated as medical fact.

It isn’t. The research shows that most adults function best on seven to nine hours. Some people genuinely do well on six. A small percentage need nine or more. The exact number varies by individual, age, and genetics.

The fixation on eight hours causes its own problems. People who naturally sleep seven hours lie in bed stressing about their missing hour, which ironically makes their sleep worse.

Find your number. Track how you feel with different amounts. When you consistently wake up feeling reasonably rested without an alarm, you’ve found it.

What Actually Improves Sleep

A few interventions have strong evidence behind them.

Consistent wake time. This matters more than consistent bedtime. Your body’s circadian rhythm anchors to when you wake up. Pick a time and stick to it, including weekends. This is the single most impactful change most people can make.

Temperature. Your body needs to cool down to initiate sleep. A bedroom between 16-19°C is ideal for most people. This is colder than most people keep their bedrooms. Try it.

Light exposure. Get bright light within the first hour of waking. This sets your circadian clock. In the evening, dim the lights. Not just screens — room lighting too. Your body uses light as its primary time signal.

Caffeine timing. Caffeine has a half-life of about five to six hours. That 3pm coffee still has half its caffeine in your system at 9pm. Most sleep researchers recommend cutting off caffeine by noon, or 2pm at the latest.

What Probably Doesn’t Help Much

Blue light glasses. The evidence is weak. The amount of blue light from screens is tiny compared to daylight. If screens affect your sleep, it’s more likely the content keeping your brain active than the light itself.

Sleep tracking apps. They can create anxiety about sleep quality. Lying awake worrying about your sleep score defeats the purpose. If tracking helps you notice patterns, fine. If it makes you anxious, delete the app.

Melatonin at standard doses. Over-the-counter melatonin in Australia typically comes in 2mg doses. Research suggests 0.3-0.5mg is the effective dose for most people. Higher doses can actually disrupt sleep architecture. It’s useful for jet lag and shift work, less so for everyday sleep issues.

Alcohol. Yes, it makes you fall asleep faster. It also fragments your sleep in the second half of the night and suppresses REM sleep. You wake up feeling terrible even if you were unconscious for eight hours.

The Anxiety-Sleep Loop

This is the big one nobody talks about enough.

Sleep problems and anxiety feed each other. You have a bad night. You worry about sleep the next day. That worry makes the next night worse. Which creates more worry.

The clinical term is “conditioned insomnia.” Your bed becomes associated with frustration and alertness rather than rest.

Breaking this cycle is harder than any sleep hygiene tip. It often requires cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia (CBT-I), which has better long-term outcomes than sleeping pills for most people.

The key principle: if you can’t sleep after about 20 minutes, get up. Do something boring in dim light. Go back to bed when you feel sleepy. Don’t lie there fighting it.

Napping: It Depends

Short naps (10-20 minutes) in the early afternoon can genuinely restore alertness without affecting nighttime sleep. The research supports this.

Longer naps or naps after 3pm can interfere with your ability to fall asleep at night. If you’re struggling with nighttime sleep, cut the naps entirely for a few weeks and see what happens.

Exercise and Sleep

Regular exercise improves sleep quality. This is well-established. But timing matters.

Vigorous exercise within two to three hours of bedtime can delay sleep onset. Your body temperature is elevated, your adrenaline is up, and your system is activated.

Morning or early afternoon exercise is ideal. But honestly, any exercise at any time is better than no exercise. If evening is the only time you can work out, don’t skip it because of sleep concerns. Most people adapt within a week or two.

The Simple Version

Most sleep advice overcomplicates things. Here’s the version that covers 80% of what matters:

Wake up at the same time every day. Get sunlight in the morning. Keep your room cool and dark. Stop caffeine after lunch. Don’t use alcohol as a sleep aid.

If those basics are covered and you’re still struggling, see a doctor. Sleep problems can indicate underlying health issues that no amount of sleep hygiene will fix.

Stop buying gadgets and supplements. Start with the boring fundamentals. They work.