The One Where A Consistent Sleep Schedule Became My Superpower
- Yew and Me
- Sep 10
- 9 min read
This is part of my Sleep Mini-Series. Read the introduction here.
Prioritising sleep has become one of my cornerstones for building resilience, and good physical and mental health. Of all the changes I’ve made over the years, instilling a consistent sleep schedule has been one the biggest game changers. It really is my superpower — and it could be yours too.
Sleep experts back this up, emphasising that consistency is key to good-quality sleep. Dr. Matthew Walker, author of Why We Sleep, explains that going to bed and waking up at the same time each day improves both sleep quantity and quality.
Why Consistency Matters for Better Sleep
A consistent sleep schedule means going to sleep and waking up at the same time every day, including weekends.
This is important for good quality sleep, and long-term health, because it allows your body to follow its natural rhythms. Remember the Circadian Rhythms I mentioned in my earlier post The One Where I Took Sleep Hygiene Seriously (And It Helped)? This is your natural body clock, following this allows your body to know when it’s time to be awake, alert, digest food etc, and also when it is time to slow down, switch off, rest and sleep.
When we’re going to sleep and waking up at different times each day our body can’t keep up, not knowing when it’s the right time to slow down ready for rest. Sleeping in later at the weekend contributes to what sleep experts call Social Jetlag. This is due to our Circadian Rhythms being knocked out of kilter, similar to jetlag when travelling through different timezones.
It can take a few days for your body to adjust to a new time zone. Now, imagine doing that every week—your body literally doesn’t know which time zone you’re in! Thinking about it like that, it makes total sense that the body is designed for and needs routine, meanwhile it's doing its utmost to keep every system functioning, in the middle of a chaotic routine akin to flying across timezones continually week after week.
Research further demonstrates the importance of routine, suggesting that consistency in sleep is more important than sleep duration for better health.
Understanding all of this helped me to realise that I needed to give consistency a proper try — and lockdown gave me the perfect chance to explore this secret weapon.
How a Consistent Sleep Schedule Improved My Sleep with Chronic Illness
My first venture into a consistent sleep schedule started in the first half of 2020. It was the outbreak of the Covid Pandemic, in the UK we were on lockdown, we were only allowed to leave the house under certain circumstances. Those of us shielding were not able to leave our homes at all.
I had already made a start with the usual sleep hygiene tips, see my earlier post The One Where I Took Sleep Hygiene Seriously (And It Helped), it now seemed the right time to try a consistent sleep schedule.
For most of us, this seems unachievable, and why shouldn’t we treat ourselves to a lie in at the weekends?
But, trusting the experts, I decided on my sleep and wake up times, and set about sticking to that schedule. I used an alarm to remind me it was time to go to bed, as well as when to wake up. And I also put a smart bulb in my bedside lamp. I set it on a timer to dim 5 mins before my sleep time, so I had time to finish reading, put my book away and get myself settled. Then the light would go off at my sleep time. This really helped when my self-discipline was lacking.
At first, I found it hard. I was initially lying awake, not able to sleep. I then adjusted the time I wanted to go to sleep. But I kept my wake up time fixed. Although, I also found that hard to stick too, at first, as some days I just felt too tired to get up. Luckily, the weather was consistently lovely
and unseasonably warm. So it soon became my routine to get up, make a coffee and sit outside. It was lovely! Plus it enabled me to get the early morning sunlight that experts say also helps to balance our Circadian Rhythm. I’ll explore this further in The One Where I Catch Daylight and Ditch Screens for Better Sleep.
It took several weeks, lots of trial and error, but soon it was working quite well. I found times that worked for me. I noticed that I was actually feeling tired and ready to go to bed at my set time, I was sleeping better, and it was easier to get up in the mornings. I still follow the same schedule now, 5 years later.
How to Try a Consistent Sleep Schedule
I appreciate that when I chose to try this out it was during an exceptional time, the likes of which we will hopefully never see again! Not leaving the house, and not working, meant that every single day was the same for me, for months. It was the perfect time to try and then incorporate this routine.
However, that doesn’t mean that it’s not possible outside of pandemic lockdown conditions. Just a little more difficult, I admit. Whenever you attempt this, it does take discipline. But for better sleep and long-term health, it is worth it.
To start with you need an idea of how much sleep you ideally need. Which, if you’re already having trouble with sleep, will be impossible to answer to begin with. Experts say that most adults need on average 7-9 hours of sleep a night. But it can vary from person to person. Former British Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, allegedly managed to get by on 4 hours sleep a night (although experts question what impact that had on her long-term health), Einstein slept 10 hours a night and American Basketball player LeBron James apparently sleeps for 12.
This is why it will start with some trial and error. Most of us have a time that most mornings we either have to be or wish to be awake by. So work backwards from there. It is usually a good idea to be in bed for one hour longer than you want to sleep. For example, if you need to be awake at 07:00 and you want to aim for 7 hours sleep, you need to have your lights out and be settled for sleep by 23:00. Why? Because it takes time to fall asleep (experts suggest 10-20 mins for healthy sleep, quicker suggests you are sleep deprived, longer signifies insomnia) and it is usual to wake several times during the night, even without any sleep problems, although you won’t be aware of most of those awakenings.
I would suggest you pick when you’re going to try this carefully i.e. with no planned late nights. Then stick to the regime for at least a week and see how it goes. We often use alarms to tell us when it’s time to wake up, why not also have one to remind us it’s time to go to bed? This is what I did. Otherwise it’s all too easy to think “just one more episode”. What does a parent say to a child in this situation? Usually, it’s something about having to stick to their routine, otherwise they’ll be tired and grumpy in the morning, and won’t perform so well at school. A wise pep talk we also need to give to ourselves!
Once you’ve decided on your sleep and wake times, set your relevant alarms and then stick to it, every day of the week. Resist that urge to hit snooze button at the weekends! Then assess how it went and if the timings need to be adjusted at all. Then keep going, be disciplined and think of the longer term benefits.
It does get easier to do, and you will reap the benefits if you stick to it.
Obviously, we’re all human, old habits can sneak back in, or different events can necessitate a later night or earlier start. That’s ok, we are not robots. But it’s best to avoid the temptation of sleeping in an extra few hours at the weekend to catch up. An hour earlier or later, occasionally, shouldn’t hurt.
Personally, I find if a late night makes me feel tired, then a slightly earlier night or two is the best way to catch up. But that’s mainly because I’ve been doing this for 5 years, and tend to wake up about the same time every morning, regardless of what time I went to sleep. On the rare occasion I sleep later, I allow myself to do that, with no negative self talk. It’s clearly what my body needed.
Consistency Helps Everyone Sleep Better — Even with Chronic Illness
There are two ways I know that a consistent sleep schedule improves my sleep and wellbeing—what I see and what I feel.
For anyone, sticking to regular sleep and wake times can make falling asleep easier, reduce night-time awakenings, and leave you more refreshed in the morning. But if you live with a chronic illness, the difference can be even more dramatic. In my case, with ME/CFS and Fibromyalgia, the short-term effect of missing my routine can be more severe than it might be for a healthy person.
That’s why I track both my FitBit sleep data and how I feel each day in a journal. Tracking my sleep using a FitBit has given me some fascinating insights — especially into how restorative my sleep really is. I’ll be sharing a separate post in the series, The One Where Fitbit Helped Me Understand My Sleep Quality Better, about what my tracker has taught me. But for now I’ll just say this: the difference with a consistent routine really does show up in the data, as well as in how I feel.
I generally no longer need an alarm anymore for waking, as I usually wake up at around the same time, even if I’ve had a rare late night. I fall asleep easier, and have less long awakenings at night. And I have more energy.
This isn’t to say that my chronic fatigue is gone, it’s still there, but if I stick to a consistent sleep schedule I sleep better and my fatigue is less disabling. I still take a nap (of sorts) most days, but this is carefully timed and crafted, in a way that improves my sleep quality at night. I’ll cover this in more detail in The One About How Napping Improved My Energy and Sleep.
Consistency Over Perfection: Key to Better Sleep
Please don't think that I am doing this perfectly all the time—I'm not! Most nights I stick to my schedule, but life happens — late nights, holidays, or just days when things don’t go to plan. That’s okay. Sleep is about patterns over time, not perfection every night.
And if you live with a chronic illness, like I do, that flexibility is important. Sometimes your body simply won’t cooperate, and beating yourself up about it only makes things worse. What matters most is gently returning to your routine, because that’s where the long-term benefits lie.
I know this from experience. As I started writing this Sleep Improvement Series, my blog was very new and setting up the website became all-consuming. In the evenings, I’d lose track of time, stay up far too late, and soon enough my fatigue and mood were both suffering. It was no coincidence. But within a few days of returning to my sleep schedule, my energy started to improve and my sleep quality bounced back.
That experience was a powerful reminder: pushing too hard and ignoring what my body needs played a big part in me becoming ill in the first place. These days, I try to hold onto the lesson that consistency is what counts — and even if I slip, I can always reset.
My Real-Life Consistent Sleep Schedule
Although the right sleep schedule might be very different for you, it may help to see what mine is like:
In bed by about 21:45/22:00
Read until light dims at 22:25
Then lights out for sleep at 22:30
Awake by 07:00
Average about 7.5 hours sleep a night
We are all different, require different amounts of sleep to function well each day, and have different lives and routines. Therefore you need to work within all that to find what works best for you. But, trust me, consistency really is key, and I’m sure you won’t regret it.
Try it, and please come back here and let me know in the comments how you get on. Maybe a consistent sleep schedule will become your superpower too, I’d really love to hear. And if it’s something you already do, then let me know how you’re finding it.
Share your story in the comments below👇🏻 I’d love to hear!
Remember, no one element is a magic key to unlocking good-quality sleep. Having a consistent sleep schedule has had the most impact on my sleep. That’s why I call it my superpower. But it is within the landscape of other changes I have made. So make sure you subscribe and don’t miss further posts in my Sleep Improvement Series.
Enjoyed this post? Stay in the loop with my latest stories—subscribe 👇🏻
Maybe also share it with someone who might need it 👇🏻
Comments