Sleep: what to do when you can't sleep — and how to steady it without pills

Everyone has bad nights. The trouble starts when bed becomes the place where you lie awake and worry — and the brain starts linking bed with being awake.

The best-studied approach to persistent poor sleep is behavioural: a fixed rise time, bed only for sleep, getting up when you can't sleep, and a “sleep window” that matches how much you actually sleep. Here: what to do tonight, a sleep-window calculator from your diary, and why sleep-hygiene tips are not enough.

Not every sleep problem is a self-help job. Loud snoring with pauses in breathing, dozing off in the day without meaning to, sharp mood swings, driving for work or shift work — talk to a doctor first.