Adopt this simple sleep habit for more free time
Most people have a relatively consistent wake-up time. Author and time management expert Laura Vanderkam says fewer people have a set bedtime, which may be why you feel like you don’t have any free time during the day.
The logic works like this: Without consistent sleep habits, most people can be productive in general but struggle to focus consistently all day, every day. Without consistent focus, your task list can pile up and leave you in a mad rush to get things done. And when you rush, you make mistakes. Now the time you intended to save is spent backtracking or trying to catch up.
“The problem is that people generally get enough sleep for a week, but it’s very irregular,” says Vanderkam. eight books about time management. “One night you stay up too late and you wake up too early in the morning. The next night someone crashes on the couch… and weekends are all over the map.”
In spring 2021, Vanderkam surveyed more than 150 participants who implemented the app for nine weeks. nine preset rules For productivity, including sticking to a consistent bedtime. “One of the people in my study called [setting a bedtime] It’s the least sexy of them all, but the most effective,” says Vanderkam.
A. July 2025 survey The article published in Nature, a peer-reviewed medical journal, reached a similar conclusion. Researchers observed more than 79,000 working adults in Japan and found that irregular sleep times were linked to lower productivity and more disconnection at work.
Vanderkam says bedtime “sets shape for the entire day,” adding that it helps you know how many hours you need to work each day, which helps you plan your time more effectively. “We know that the day has a beginning; people are putting a lot more thought into the idea that every day has an end, but it does. And everything you do has to fit into that time. It’s kind of like a puzzle.”
Vanderkam made a decision 23:00 bedtime She speaks for herself years ago, saying routine “allowed me to make smarter choices about what would actually fit into my day.”
Disordered sleep can also negatively impact your circadian rhythm, or your body’s innate sleep-wake pattern, Rachel Salas, a sleep neurologist and professor at Johns Hopkins University, told CNBC Make It in July 2022. To find yours, observe what time your body naturally wakes up without an alarm for a few days and make 30-minute adjustments if necessary, Salas suggested.
“Sleep is a basic human need, and if we don’t get enough sleep, many things are compromised: our cognition, our memory, our digestion,” Salas said. “I can’t think of a single thing where sleep isn’t important.”
Most adults need about seven hours of sleep per night. Mayo ClinicBut sleep experts generally say each person needs a different amount. Once you determine how much sleep each day helps you feel mentally sharp, Vanderkam recommends using that figure to reverse engineer your ideal sleep time.
“Look at what time you need to wake up, count down the hours you need to sleep, and we have bedtime,” says Vanderkam.
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