The last hour before sleep

The last hour before sleep is one of the most critical yet most neglected moments of the entire day. It is in this short window that the decision is made about how your night will unfold: whether you fall asleep quickly and deeply, or toss and turn; whether you wake up refreshed or instead with a heavy head, elevated cortisol and the feeling of not being rested.

Research on sleep and circadian rhythms increasingly shows that the last hour works like a switch: it puts us on the track of regeneration or the track of stimulation. When our behaviors align with our biology, we gain deeper sleep, better memory, more stable mood and lower stress. When we act against biology, technology, light and psychological stimuli literally break sleep from the inside.

The biological ideal is gradual wind-down: dim light, no new stimuli, a calm ritual, predictability.

Modern reality is exposure to intense light, stimulating screens, dopaminergic social media, streams of messages, binge-watching and distraction until the moment we close our eyes.

In this text I will guide you through solid scientific evidence showing:

• why blue light, screens and social media disrupt melatonin, arousal and the circadian rhythm;
• and why a simple, repeatable wind-down ritual works like a “switch to regeneration mode”.

These are not small details. They determine the quality of our sleep — and sleep is one of the most powerful longevity levers you have at your disposal, for free.

To understand why the last hour is so crucial, we need to see what the body actually does during this time.

Melatonin begins to rise

Melatonin is not the “sleep hormone”, as people often say, but rather the hormone of darkness. Its release is sensitive to light — especially short-wavelength (blue) light. When the environment becomes dark, the pineal gland gradually increases melatonin production. This is the signal: time to slow down.

The sympathetic nervous system should be winding down

The sympathetic nervous system is part of the autonomic nervous system responsible for the fight-or-flight response.
In ideal conditions its activity decreases before sleep, while parasympathetic activity — responsible for digestion, regeneration and calming — increases.

The brain prepares for regeneration and memory consolidation

During sleep, the brain:

• consolidates memories,
• removes neurotoxic metabolic waste via the glymphatic system,
• reduces activity in networks responsible for vigilance and environmental monitoring.

All these processes require one thing: a calm, predictable transition into sleep.

And yet most people do the opposite — instead of gradually braking, they accelerate. The last hour of the day is often more stimulating than the afternoon.

It’s as if a pilot increased speed right before landing.

Our biological system simply isn’t designed for that.

Light is the strongest regulator of our biological clock. The problem is that most artificial light emitted by screens is rich in short wavelengths — blue light, which suppresses melatonin far more strongly than red or warm light.

Mechanism of action

• Blue light stimulates melanopsin-containing photoreceptors in the retina.
• This activation reaches the suprachiasmatic nucleus — the master clock in the brain.
• The clock interprets this as “daytime”.
• Melatonin production is inhibited.
• Sleep onset is delayed by 30–90 minutes.

What do studies show?

Reviews from 2022–2025
New analyses (e.g., Wahl et al., 2022; Cajochen & Chellappa, 2023) consistently demonstrate that evening exposure to blue light:

• delays sleep onset,
• reduces melatonin levels by up to 50%,
• shortens total sleep duration,
• decreases sleep efficiency (more awakenings, lighter sleep).

Randomized trials with blue-light-blocking glasses
One of the best studies is Shechter et al., 2018, conducted on people with insomnia.
Participants wore for 2 hours before bed:

• blue-light-blocking glasses, or
• placebo glasses.

The effect? The light-blocking group showed:

• shorter sleep latency,
• higher sleep quality,
• fewer nighttime awakenings.

This is one of the clearest demonstrations of the role of light in sleep quality.

Practical conclusions

In the last hour before sleep:

• avoid cold, bright light,
• dim lamps,
• enable night shift or warm-light mode,
• and ideally — turn off screens altogether.

Many people think the problem with using a smartphone before bed is only about light. It isn’t.

Screen use is simultaneously light and cognitive, emotional and neurological stimulation.

What do studies show?

Meta-analysis (e.g., Bartel et al., 2020)
It found that the more time we spend on devices in the evening, the more likely we are to have:

• poorer sleep quality,
• shorter sleep duration,
• longer sleep latency,
• more awakenings.

Population studies (students, adults, adolescents)
Analyses from 2021–2024 (e.g., in Sleep Medicine, JAMA Pediatrics, IJOERPH) show that using screens 1–2 hours before sleep:

• increases risk of insomnia,
• worsens sleep initiation,
• leads to chronically shorter sleep.

Why are screens so stimulating?

They act on two levels:

• Physiologically — light suppresses melatonin.
• Cognitively-emotionally — the brain receives stimuli that activate and excite it.

Emails, messages, new information, intense images, video — all of this prevents the brain from “slowing down”.

Conclusion

Screens in the last hour before sleep are a combination of the most destructive stimuli: light + emotion + attention.

If screens are a problem, social media is their most concentrated form. It is a dopaminergic accelerant combining rapid stimuli, unpredictability, social comparison, FOMO and never-ending content.

What do studies show?

Systematic reviews (e.g., Levenson et al., 2024)
Evening use of social media correlates with:

• poorer sleep quality,
• shorter sleep duration,
• greater daytime sleepiness,
• higher anxiety, depression and arousal.

Studies on social media addiction
Works such as Woods & Scott, 2016 show that time spent on social media predicts poorer sleep independently of other factors.

Studies on bedtime procrastination (2024–2025)
New research shows that social media strongly predicts delaying bedtime — even in people who regularly declare “I want to sleep earlier”.

Conclusion

Social media + the last hour before sleep = a neurological shock of stimulation.
It is almost guaranteed that the brain will not switch into regeneration mode.

Now that we know what to avoid, we can focus on what truly supports sleep.

The idea is simple: create a wind-down ritual — a repeatable, predictable set of signals for the brain saying: “the day is ending, time for recovery”.

Key principles

A healthy pre-sleep ritual does not have to be complicated or long. The most important thing is that it is repeatable, predictable, and supports gradual calming of the nervous system. In practice this means three pillars:

• No new stimuli — avoid anything that excites attention or emotions: social media, messages, emails, video, intense conversations.
• Darker, quieter, slower — control light, sound and pace to signal the end of the day.
• Body and breath at the center — they are the natural switch from stimulation to regeneration.

The key is not the specific activities but their consistency. The brain loves rituals — it responds well to the same cues in the same order. After a few weeks, the calming sequence begins to work like a biological “sleep button”.

Although we intuitively feel that winding down helps, it is worth knowing that strong scientific literature supports it. Over the last decade, many studies have examined the impact of relaxation practices, breathing techniques and meditation on sleep quality. The results are clear: evening rituals improve sleep both in healthy individuals and those with insomnia.

Mindfulness and meditation — some of the best-studied interventions

• Meta-analysis by Rusch et al. (2018) reviewed multiple randomized trials on mindfulness and found that these practices significantly improve sleep quality, reduce time to fall asleep and decrease pre-sleep arousal compared with control groups.
• In the study by Hubbling et al. (2020), participants using evening meditation showed significantly lower autonomic arousal, which correlated with deeper NREM sleep.
• MBSR (Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction), created by Jon Kabat-Zinn, has been tested in many clinical trials. In studies involving people with chronic insomnia, MBSR reduced symptoms of insomnia as effectively as pharmacotherapy — but without side effects.
• In a 2023 randomized study on meditation apps, participants practicing short evening meditations had:
  – higher sleep efficiency,
  – fewer night awakenings,
  – lower subjective fatigue the next day.

This shows that even 5–10 minutes of daily practice can meaningfully improve recovery.

Sleep hygiene

• Large systematic reviews of digital sleep interventions (e.g., van der Zweerde et al., 2020 in Nature) show that combining sleep education, limiting screens and simple relaxation techniques improves sleep quality in both adolescents and adults.
• Many of these studies indicate that the strongest predictor of improvement is not the specific exercise but the consistency of the evening ritual.

Conclusion

Evening relaxation practices are not a cosmetic addition or a wellness curiosity. They are a scientifically validated method for improving sleep, regulating the nervous system and reducing stress.

The following protocol is a practical implementation of everything described above. Treat it as a ready-made “recovery script” that rebuilds your natural biological rhythm and prepares your body and brain for deep sleep.

T-60 min: cut off stimuli

This is the most important stage — which is why it comes first.

• Turn off phone notifications.
• Close your computer and finish work.
• Make the last decisions of the day. Don’t start new threads at this time.
• If you must use your phone: only passive content (music, podcast, audiobook), ideally in do-not-disturb mode.

At this point the brain receives the first clear signal: we are ending the day.

T-45 min: prepare the body and environment

This stage works as a bridge between activity and winding down.

• Dim the lights and switch to warm colors.
• Aerate the bedroom — cooler temperature promotes falling asleep.
• Prepare the bed and place your phone out of reach.
• Perform evening hygiene steps: bathroom, skincare, sleepwear. The goal is predictability, not speed.

This is the moment when you begin to feel the first waves of calm — especially if you reduce light.

T-30 min: wind-down ritual

The most crucial stage of the whole process. Choose 1–2 activities that feel natural and enjoyable for you:

• 5–10 minutes of calm breathing or a short mindfulness meditation,
• light stretching or gentle spine and hip mobility,
• reading a physical book or e-ink reader (not LCD!),
• journaling — writing down thoughts and plans so you don’t take them to bed.

It doesn’t have to be anything special. The key is that the activity is calm, repeatable and not emotionally stimulating.

T-10 min: switch into “sleep mode”

This last step completes the entire ritual.

• No new content, no scrolling.
• A short gratitude practice or a visualization of peaceful sleep.
• Adjust position, temperature, pillow and room darkness.

At this point the nervous system is already calm, and melatonin reaches levels that support falling asleep.

Sometimes work or family life does not allow full disconnection from screens. In such situations:

• Set your phone to night mode / warm light.
• Reduce screen brightness as much as possible.
• Install apps that block social media after a chosen time.
• If possible, use audio instead of video.
• Keep the phone away from your bed — ideally on the other side of the room.

Treat these solutions as plan B, not the default model. The goal remains a screen-free last hour before sleep.