Consistent bedtime

What it is

Going to bed and getting up at roughly the same time every day, weekends included. The target window is usually within 30 minutes.

What the research says

Researchers increasingly look at sleep regularity, not just sleep duration. The evidence so far is mostly observational.

• Regularity. In 60,977 UK Biobank participants, people with more regular sleep timing had lower mortality, even after accounting for how long they slept. (Windred et al., Sleep, 2024; see also Cribb et al., eLife, 2023)
• How much. Adults should sleep 7 or more hours a night on a regular basis (Watson et al., Sleep, 2015); 7–9 hours is the range for most adults (Hirshkowitz et al., Sleep Health, 2015).
• Weekend catch-up. In 73,513 adults wearing wrist accelerometers for about 8 years, sleeping longer on weekends was not associated with lower mortality or fewer cardiovascular events. The same held for people who slept under 6 hours on weekdays. That doesn’t prove catch-up sleep never helps, but it isn’t something to count on to cancel out short weeknights. (Chaput et al., Sleep, 2024)

How to try it

1. Pick a wake time first, then count back to a bedtime that fits.
2. Set a wind-down alarm 30–45 minutes before bed.
3. Keep the window on weekends too. This is the hard part.
4. Get morning light soon after waking if you can.

Longevity Arc shows how readiness, resting heart rate and HRV trend over months, so you can see if the change holds.