Sleep is a type of primary, human capabilities that ought to be simple. In idea, you’d merely cosy up in an opulent mattress, conk out, and get up feeling like a greater model of your self. Nevertheless it’s hardly ever ever that straightforward (thanks quite a bit, rumination).

You in all probability know that winding down effectively earlier than you attempt to dose off might help immensely. On a macro degree, “we wish to transition from ‘doing day to being evening,’ however everyone seems to be totally different,” Jade Wu, PhD, board-certified behavioural sleep drugs specialist and writer of Hey Sleep: The Science and Artwork of Overcoming Insomnia With out Medicines, tells us.

A constant sleep routine alerts to your physique that it’s time to energy down — however whenever you solely have 15 to twenty minutes to dedicate to your self earlier than mattress, what must you lean into? “Typically all I wish to do is lie down and scroll on my telephone,” Dr. Wu says. “That’s actually tempting, however it’s unhelpful for sleep.”

When she will be able to solely choose one step in her pre-snooze course of — apart from brushing her tooth and washing her face — she reads or listens to an audiobook. “It actually slows my thoughts right down to transition to sleep,” Dr. Wu says. “It’s such a robust cue for my physique that it’s time for mattress.” On an excellent evening, she spends at the very least 20 minutes studying or listening to a e-book, however even 5 minutes makes a distinction if that’s all she has the vitality for.

What she reads varies relying on her temper, however she cautions in opposition to selecting one thing boring: “That may simply make you bored and annoyed — not emotions conducive to sleep.” Good ol’ paper books are your most secure guess, however for those who favor an e-reader like a Kindle, you need to ideally use one which has a “evening mode” to minimise blue gentle publicity, a infamous sleep disruptor.

So why does story-time, particularly, direct her into dreamland? As Dr. Wu places it, there’s “a misplaced artwork of being gradual.” Studying is a “targeted, gradual cognitive exercise” that has “fewer sources of stimulation” than, say, watching a present or swiping by means of dozens of TikToks, she explains.

And the proper cue — an exercise that’s genuinely soothing to you—steadily turns down the stimulation dial in your mind. “We regularly consider falling asleep as turning off a lightweight, however it’s extra like happening a ramp,” she explains. For instance, throughout the early phases of sleep, your core physique temperature steadily drops, your coronary heart charge slows down, and your muscle mass chill out, she says, priming you for peaceable shut-eye.

After all, studying is Dr. Wu’s private sleep cue, and it may not give you the results you want in the identical manner (particularly for those who favor, say, thrillers and horror tales — not precisely calming materials). Should you haven’t discovered your cue but, the hot button is to choose one thing that stops your mind and physique from working too onerous, even for somewhat bit, earlier than your head nestles into your pillow. If studying doesn’t do this for you, strive an expensive bathe, static stretching, a 10-minute meditation, or one thing related — wherever you land, it ought to really feel blissfully undemanding.

This text initially appeared on SELF.