If you can't sleep, stop trying to. Turn the clock away, fix whatever is bothering your body (heat, light, noise), then give your attention one slow thing to hold, like a long out-breath or the weight of your body on the mattress. If you're still awake after around 20 minutes, the NHS suggests getting up and doing something relaxing until you feel sleepy. Lying awake for a while is normal: IQWiG's patient site says it's perfectly normal to need about half an hour to fall asleep.
Below is a plan for the next 20 minutes, a quick check of what might be keeping you up, and what to leave alone tonight.
What to do when you can't sleep: 5 steps for the next 20 minutes
- Take the clock out of the game. The NHS suggests keeping clocks out of view and placing your phone face down. Each check starts the "only five hours left" math, and that math wakes you up more.
- Fix the room. Too warm, too cold, a light on, a sound that keeps coming back? Kick off a blanket, open a window if it's safe, close the curtain, put in earplugs. The NHS lists noise and a room that's too hot or cold among the most common causes of insomnia.
- Let your body go loose, from the top. Unclench your jaw. Let your shoulders drop. Let your hands open. Our sleep meditation guide has a full 10-minute version of this in bed.
- Breathe out longer than you breathe in. No counting needed. Let each out-breath be a quiet sigh, a little slower than the last. After a few breaths, stop steering and let the breath do itself.
- Switch from "sleep" to "rest". Tell yourself you're resting now, and resting is fine. The NHS advice is to try not to force sleep: when you're comfortable and resting, you may find you fall asleep naturally.
If you're still awake after around 20 minutes, get up, sit somewhere comfortable with low light and do something quiet: a book, gentle stretching, quiet music. Go back to bed when you feel sleepy. That's the NHS advice, and it matches what IQWiG calls stimulus control: "Get up if you are having difficulty getting (back) to sleep."
What's keeping you up tonight? A quick check
Most sleepless nights have a small, fixable reason. Check which of these fits tonight. If the pattern is that you feel exhausted but never sleepy, our guide tired but can't sleep explains why that happens.
| What you notice | Likely culprit | What you can do tonight |
|---|---|---|
| Wide awake, but you went to bed earlier than usual | You're not sleepy yet | Get up, do something calm in low light, and go back when your eyes get heavy. The NHS says to only go to bed when you're sleepy. |
| Heart feels quick, body buzzing | Caffeine, a late workout, stress | Rest with a longer out-breath. Tomorrow: the NHS advises no tea or coffee at least 6 hours before bed and no exercise at least 4 hours before bed. |
| Too hot, too cold, restless under the covers | Room temperature | Adjust bedding, open a window if it's safe. The NHS suggests a room that's quiet, dark and cool. |
| Every small sound pulls you back | Noise | Earplugs, or a steady, quiet background sound. See white, pink and brown noise. |
| Your head keeps replaying the day or planning tomorrow | Racing thoughts | Write the thoughts down and use the notice, name, come back steps in our racing thoughts guide. |
| You fell asleep, then woke up and can't drift off again | Waking in the night | That's a different situation, with its own plan: how to fall back asleep. |
| You had a few drinks this evening | Alcohol | IQWiG notes that even if some people fall asleep faster after alcohol, it makes their sleep less restful. |
Can't sleep at night: what not to do
- Don't scroll. The NHS recommends not using phones, tablets or computers for an hour before bed, because the blue light can make it harder to fall asleep. At 1 a.m. the same goes double.
- Don't try harder. Effort wakes you up. IQWiG says: "Lying in bed and worrying about not being able to fall asleep can actually prevent you from sleeping."
- Don't lie there for hours. Past about 20 minutes, getting up for a while works better than wrestling the pillow.
- Don't sleep in tomorrow. The NHS advises not to sleep in after a bad night's sleep and to stick to your regular sleeping hours, and not to nap during the day.
A 3-minute reset for tonight (script)
We wrote this for the moment you notice you've been lying awake for a while. Say it to yourself slowly. Each (pause) is about two breaths.
OK. I'm awake. That's allowed. (pause) I'm not going to try to sleep now. I'm only going to rest. (pause) My jaw lets go. My shoulders drop toward the mattress. My hands open. (pause) I breathe in, and I breathe out a little longer, like a quiet sigh. (pause) Once more. In, and a long way out. (pause) I feel three places where the bed holds me: the back of my head, my back or my side, my heels. (pause) The bed is doing the work. I don't have to hold anything up. (pause) If a thought comes, it can wait until morning. I come back to the weight of my hands. (long pause)
If you've been through it twice and you're still wide awake, that's the signal to get up for a while, not to try a third time.
Can't sleep through the night?
If falling asleep isn't the problem but staying asleep is, the fixes are different: what you drink in the evening, how warm and quiet the room stays, and what you do the moment you wake. Our guides on how to fall back asleep and how to stay asleep cover both.
A calm session, then a sound at low volume
If you'd rather be talked through it, AI Meditation: Sleep & Calm has a sleep session for exactly this: Falling Asleep Gently: Settling In, Letting Go starts with a longer exhale, moves through a calming body scan and optional muscle relaxation, and ends with friendly thought practices. On nights when your head is the problem, Falling Asleep Despite a Racing Mind is shorter and simpler.
If you don't want a voice afterward, the app has white, pink and brown noise (plus blue, violet and grey noise and four tones: Deep tone, Warmth, Crystal and Resonance) with a timer: when it ends, the sound fades out and stops. Keep it quiet, just loud enough to cover the sounds that bother you.
You can make a session shorter or longer within its range, and the voices are AI voices. See how the app works, try it for free, no account needed.
When not being able to sleep is more than a bad night
Most people have nights like this now and then. The NHS says insomnia that lasts less than 3 months is called short-term insomnia, and 3 months or longer long-term insomnia. It suggests seeing a GP if:
- "changing your sleeping habits has not helped your insomnia"
- "you've had trouble sleeping for months"
- "your insomnia is affecting your daily life in a way that makes it hard for you to cope"
The NHS also lists conditions and medicines that can cause insomnia, among them menopause, restless legs syndrome and an overactive thyroid, and notes that many medicines can cause it too. If your sleep changed around a new medicine or a health change, that's worth mentioning to a doctor. A GP may offer cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) for insomnia.
Your health
This app is a wellness app and does not replace medical advice. If you regularly can't sleep for weeks, or it affects your day, talk to a doctor. The NHS insomnia page explains when to see a GP and what treatment can look like.
Sources
All pages accessed on September 25, 2026.
- NHS: Insomnia (page last reviewed March 19, 2024). Common causes, self-help do's and don'ts, short-term and long-term insomnia, when to see a GP.
- NHS Every Mind Matters: How to fall asleep faster and sleep better. Screens, clocks out of view, not forcing sleep, the 20-minute rule, a quiet, dark and cool room.
- InformedHealth.org (IQWiG): Sleep disorders and problems (insomnia) (updated July 31, 2024). Half an hour to fall asleep is normal, alcohol.
- InformedHealth.org (IQWiG): What can you do if you have trouble sleeping? (updated July 31, 2024). Worrying about sleep, stimulus control.
