How to Fix Your Sleep: Advice That Actually Works

Discover how I overcame chronic insomnia by fixing the hidden problems behind poor sleep, no hacks, just what works.

Mostly Media

04 Oct 2024 — 10 min read

You don’t just struggle with sleep you’re battling a broken system.

The advice out there? Mostly noise. Wear blue light glasses. Cut caffeine. Meditate. But if you’ve tried all that and you’re still wide awake at 3AM, you already know the truth: none of it goes deep enough.

Sleep isn’t random. It’s not about tips and tricks. It’s about alignment between your body, your mind, and your environment.

This isn’t a list. It’s a rebuild.

Let’s fix the system. The rest will follow.

Inside the Cycles of Chronic Insomnia

If you’ve dealt with relentless insomnia, you already know the drill. The racing thoughts.

The endless tossing.
The desperate attempts to “wind down” with caffeine cutoffs, blue light glasses, meditation apps, or midnight walks that feel more like pacing. Maybe you’ve even tried medication.

And yet, the results are always the same. A scattered handful of decent nights, usually after sheer exhaustion forces your body to crash, not real rest, just survival.

These aren’t solutions. They’re symptoms.

Signs that your sleep system is out of alignment. And no matter how many surface-level fixes you stack on top, nothing sticks until you deal with the core problem: broken sleep patterns that need a full reset, not another hack.

Start by Understanding the Patterns

Before you can fix your sleep, you need to understand what’s happening.

Insomnia isn’t just about not sleeping, it’s about how you’re not sleeping. That means tracking patterns.

For some, that’s using sleep apps or wearables to collect data.
For others, it’s as simple as journaling sleep times and noting habits that affect rest.

The point isn’t to obsess over numbers, it’s to build awareness.

You might think you’re going to bed at the same time every night, but without some form of tracking, it’s easy to miss the variables that quietly sabotage your rest.

Things like late meals, screen exposure, or even what you watched before bed can have ripple effects.

Recognizing these patterns is the first real step toward change. You can’t solve a problem you don’t fully see.

For more on how tracking data helped me, check out my Power of Metrics article, where I dive into why measurable data is a game-changer.

Debunking the Sleep Myths: It’s Not What You Think

A lot of sleep advice sounds good on paper: cut screens, less caffeine, don’t eat too late.

But for those who struggle with real insomnia, the problem often runs deeper than what these tips imply.

It’s not that the advice is wrong. It’s that it’s incomplete.

Phones

Sure, blue light might play a role.

But if you’re already someone who sleeps poorly, you’re probably not blasting your eyes with TikToks in a pitch-black room.

The real problem isn’t the screen, it’s the content. Social media, videos, even articles can spark thought loops that carry into the night.

You’re not kept awake by light, but by mental stimulation. Doomscrolling might be the cliché, but even work-related or “productive” content can keep your brain wired if you consume it too close to bed.

Food

We know late-night eating can disturb sleep, but it’s not just digestion.

It’s behavioral. Eating feels like a prelude to activity.

Most people eat before doing something, not to wind down.

So when you eat late, your brain stays subtly alert, expecting what’s next. Even if you feel sleepy, your mind doesn’t register “end of day.”

The effect is more psychological than metabolic.

Caffeine

Caffeine’s half-life, not just its strength, is what messes with your sleep.

It can linger in your system for 6–10 hours, depending on genetics, which means that a late afternoon cup isn’t harmless.

And it’s not just how much you consume, it’s when and why.

The crash often comes from stacking caffeine on top of intense physical or mental effort.

You burn through the perceived energy, but what’s left behind is still in your system when you try to rest. The stimulant remains, even if you don’t feel it.

The Real Fix

It’s not about strict cutoffs or total avoidance.

It’s about understanding how behaviors cue your brain and what unintended signals you’re sending.

Whether it’s mental activation, routine disruption, or lingering chemicals, the common culprits behind bad sleep are often hiding in plain sight.

Why You Can’t Sleep: It’s Not Just Exhaustion

We tend to treat sleep like it’s owed to us after a long day, but your body and mind need a reason to shut down.

For those who deal with chronic insomnia, the issue often comes down to a lack of earned closure, both mentally and physically. Sleep isn’t just about being tired. It’s about being finished.

Let’s break that down.

Mental Exertion: The Mind Needs to Feel Done

If your brain is firing off a highlight reel of tasks, regrets, ideas, and unspoken conversations the moment your head hits the pillow, you’re not alone.

That mental restlessness is often mistaken for anxiety, but it’s usually something simpler: unfinished business.

Think about it. If your thoughts are dominated by people, maybe you didn’t connect enough today.

If you’re haunted by tasks, maybe your day lacked structure or follow-through.

Creative surges before bed? A sign you didn’t express or explore enough during the day.

Your brain isn’t sabotaging you — it’s just catching up.

The fix isn’t to exhaust yourself with mental tasks. It’s to create a day that feels complete.

Even a few intentional actions social interaction, journaling, and finishing small tasks, can give your mind closure.

One powerful technique: write down whatever surfaces at night. That mental unload tells your brain the message was received, and it can rest.

Physical Exertion: The Body Needs to Be Used

Modern life is still.

Even with a busy schedule, we often barely move.

If your body hasn’t burned real energy, it’s not ready to sleep. Physical fatigue is one of the strongest cues for the brain to release sleep signals.

Without it, you’re trying to shut down a system that hasn’t run.

But here’s the twist: forcing a walk or workout right before bed can backfire.

It stimulates rather than settles.

Instead, focus on daily minimal movement, not just pre-bed routines.

Let the day itself carry the weight of physical use. And when evening comes, shift environments. Change clothes. Dim the lights. Signal to your body: we’re done for the day.

The Core Insight

Sleep comes easiest when both mind and body feel like the day is complete.

Not perfect. Not maxed out. Just enough.
Enough action. Enough thought. Enough closure.
That’s when rest stops being a fight, and starts becoming natural again.

Creating the Ideal Sleep Environment: It’s Not Just You, It’s the Room

Sleep isn’t just a matter of mindset.

The space you’re trying to sleep in can either calm your nervous system or keep it wired. And if you’re someone who struggles with insomnia, this matters more than you think.

One of the biggest myths is that you’ll fall asleep “anywhere” if you’re tired enough.

But your brain doesn’t work that way. It builds associations fast.

If your bedroom is where you eat, work, scroll, or binge-watch, your brain no longer sees it as a place for sleep. It’s been trained to expect stimulation.

I made one rule that changed everything: the bedroom is for sleep only. No food, no work, no TV, no phones.

I had to break the cycle and teach my brain to associate the space with one thing: sleep.

It was surprisingly effective. My body started recognizing that stepping into the room meant the day was over.

Temperature and Light

Then came the physical side.
Sleep needs a cool, dark, and quiet environment.

Your core body temperature naturally drops at night.

If your room is too warm, you’ll toss and turn.

I switched to lighter blankets, breathable sleepwear, and kept the room slightly chilled. It made falling asleep feel effortless.

Light is another hidden killer. Even small amounts, like the glow from a street lamp or hallway, can disrupt melatonin release.

I added blackout curtains, and for the first time, my sleep felt uninterrupted.

Darkness cues your body to shut down. It’s not optional. It’s foundational.

Distractions and Boundaries

I used to leave my laptop by the bed, check emails “just in case,” or bring in a snack while watching something.

All of it sent the wrong signal.
I was reinforcing the idea that the bed was part of my daily grind, not a break from it.

Cutting those habits was tough at first, but the payoff was immediate.

No reminders of the day, no half-finished tasks lying in sight.
Just stillness. The absence of stimulation made room for rest.

The New Association

Over time, the space itself started doing the work.

I didn’t have to force relaxation, it happened automatically.

Your environment can either reinforce insomnia or undo it. Cool. Dark. Still. Free of distractions. That’s the blueprint.

Finding the Right Amount of Sleep: It’s Not About Sleeping More

When you’re stuck in the cycle of insomnia, it’s easy to think that more sleep is the solution.

Bad night? Sleep in.
Rough week? Crash on the weekend.

But that instinct to “catch up” does more harm than good. It throws off your rhythm, deepens the problem, and reinforces the very imbalance you’re trying to fix.

The Myth

We’ve all been fed the magic number eight hours.

But that’s a guideline, not gospel.
The idea that “more sleep equals better sleep” is one of the most persistent myths out there.

For some, more than what their body needs feels just as bad as too little, grogginess, brain fog, and a day that never quite gets going.

The Oversleeping Trap

When you oversleep to make up for bad nights, you’re not repairing your system, you’re disrupting it.

Your body operates on rhythm, not totals.

Sleep isn’t a balance sheet where you can borrow from one day and repay the next. Every time you oversleep, you push your internal clock further off course, making the next night even harder.

We’ve all been there, weekend mornings that stretched to noon after restless weekdays.

It felt like recovery, but it only made Sunday night worse. And the cycle repeated.

The Sweet Spot

After experimenting and tracking, I found my sweet spot: 7.5 hours.

Any more and I’d wake up foggy, any less and I’d crash halfway through the day.

The goal isn’t to max out your hours, it’s to find the point where your body and brain reset most efficiently.

Sleep should sharpen you, not slow you down.

Routine Over Rigidity

Waking up early isn’t productive if you’re sleep-deprived.

Going to bed earlier isn’t helpful if you aren’t ready.

The key isn’t just discipline, it’s alignment.

Once you’re locked into your ideal window and stick to it even on weekends, you’re energy will stabilize, your focus will sharpen, and your nights will stop feeling like a coin toss.

Rest Is a Tool, Not a Reward

This mindset shift changed everything: sleep isn’t something you earn or something you owe. It’s fuel.

The same way you hydrate or eat or recharge your devices, you sleep to perform, not to recover from guilt or failure.

If you treat sleep like a backup plan, you’ll always be running at a deficit. But treat it like an essential tool, and it becomes the thing that powers every part of your day.

Urgency and Balance

Too little sleep robs your body of restoration. Too much dulls your edge.

The idea is to keep your internal battery in range, not constantly draining or force-charging. And the only way to find that balance is through consistency.

What You Can Do

Test. Track. Adjust. See what makes you feel good, not just what the internet says. Your sweet spot might be 6.5 or 8.25 hours.

But once you find it, protect it.
Guard it the way you guard your time, energy, and priorities.

When sleep becomes a tool you use with intention, not a reward you hope for, everything else starts falling into place.

Decision Fatigue: Sleep Starts Long Before Bed

Insomnia doesn’t begin when your head hits the pillow. It starts the moment you wake up.

From the first decision, what to wear, what to eat, what to do next, your brain starts chipping away at its mental bandwidth.

By nightfall, it’s overloaded or drained.

Whether you’re physically exhausted or mentally frayed.

Either falls under decision fatigue, and it’s one of the most overlooked causes of poor sleep.

Sleep comes easier when your day has a rhythm, some structure, and some closure.

Even small systems like planning your next day or winding down with intention can quiet the mental noise.

Because most insomnia isn’t built at night. It’s built during a day without resolution.

More Resources:

If you want to dive deeper into decision fatigue and how it impacts every area of your life, check out my full article on Breaking Free from Decision Fatigue: A Guide to Confident Choices.

It’s filled with practical strategies for reducing decision fatigue so you can free up mental space, not just for better sleep but for more productive, focused days.

In Summary: How to Fix Your Sleep

Track your patterns.
You can’t fix what you don’t understand. Start paying attention — whether it’s through tech or simple observation.
Cut through the myths.
It’s not just blue light or caffeine. It’s overstimulation, poor timing, and routines that work against you.
Design your environment.
Cool, dark, quiet. No clutter, no distractions. Let your space signal rest, not activity.
Exert your body and your mind.
Sleep doesn’t come when the day feels incomplete. Move enough. Think enough. Then shut it down.
Find your sleep window.
Forget the 8-hour rule. Discover the amount that leaves you clear, not groggy — and stick to it.
Reduce decision fatigue.
Simplify your day so your mind doesn’t stay wired at night. A calmer day leads to a quieter brain.

Fix these, and sleep stops being a struggle; it becomes your strongest asset.

Sleep as a Foundation for Everything Else

Getting your sleep in check doesn’t just improve your nights; it elevates everything else. More clarity. More energy. More control.

Sleep isn’t a luxury. It’s the base layer for growth, focus, and resilience. Build everything on top of that, and it all holds stronger.

Prioritize it and watch the rest of your life follow.

Thank you for reading. If this article resonated with you, there’s plenty more where that came from.