7 Steps To Retrain Your Brain For Deep Sleep

Deep sleep, which should make up about a quarter of your overall sleep, is crucial to feeling rested.

But about a third of adults don’t get enough consistent sleep to enjoy the necessary 120 minutes or so a night.

Speaking to HuffPost UK, psychologist Dr Bijal Chheda of Nos Curare said that’s far from inevitable, however.

She shared seven tips to help train your brain to enjoy deep sleep:

Some research suggests that sleep regularity – going to bed and waking up at roughly the same time – might be a better predictor of mortality than even sleep duration.

“Our circadian rhythm, or natural sleep-wake cycle, functions like a finely tuned clock. By going to bed at drastically different times each day, you’re essentially confusing your system,” Dr Chheda said.

“This interferes with the release of sleep hormones like ‘melatonin’, which rise in the evening and drop in the morning. As a result, you may struggle to fall asleep, wake up frequently at night, or feel groggy even after a full night’s rest.”

This could be especially common among those with ADHD, whose circadian rhythms are more likely to make them night owls.

Once you try to set stricter bedtimes, “It may take a few weeks for your body to adjust, but once it does, you’ll notice falling asleep becomes easier,” Dr Chheda said.

“Caffeine can linger in your system for longer than eight hours, subtly stimulating your brain and central nervous system, even when you don’t feel particularly jittery,” the psychologist said.

“If you find yourself constantly tossing and turning at night, I suggest cutting off caffeine after 2pm to give your body enough time to metabolise it fully. This allows ‘adenosine,’ or the chemical that promotes sleepiness, to do its job without being blocked by any caffeine lingering in your body.”

If you open emails or “doomscroll” in the sheets, you’re likely to “weaken the body’s automatic ‘sleep cue’” when you go to bed to sleep, Dr Chheda warned.

In fact, it might even “rewire your brain to start associating the space with wakefulness rather than rest” – an especially difficult scenario for those with anxiety, she shared, as racing thoughts are likelier to keep them up to begin with,

We sleep better in cooler rooms. Dr Chheda explained, “Cooler temperatures act as a natural trigger for sleep onset. When your core body temperature cools down, it signals to your brain that it’s nighttime, triggering melatonin release and making you drowsy naturally.

“Meanwhile, darkness reinforces this. Light, especially blue light, suppresses the production of sleep hormones, whereas darkness allows your body to fully transition into rest mode. Therefore, maintain a calm, controlled sleep environment by keeping room temperature at night to around 18 to 20°C.”

For me, it’s reading. However you choose to relax, it’s important to do it at roughly the same time before bed.

“Start by incorporating relaxing activities, such as reading or journaling, to help quiet mental clutter that can keep you awake. Add in a few minutes of stretching or breathing exercises to slow your heart rate and reduce stress levels, helping your body shift into rest mode effortlessly,” Dr Chheda told us.

Sleep expert after sleep expert has shared a similar sentiment to Dr Chheda in the past: “blue light emitted by smartphones and tablets suppresses melatonin production, delaying the onset of sleep,” she said.

“Set a bedtime schedule and aim to put your screen away at least an hour before.”

“While sleeping in until noon on the weekends may feel rewarding in the short term, doing this too often can make it harder to fall asleep the following night,” the expert said.

“Waking up at the same hour every day helps regulate your body’s circadian rhythm. A consistent sleep-wake cycle stabilises hormones like cortisol and melatonin, which are responsible for maintaining your internal biological clock.”