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5 essential gadgets for my bedtime routine (and why they make such a big difference)
My perfect day ends with me being in bed by 9:30 and falling asleep right around 10 p.m. That’s easier said than done, but I try to get as close to a consistent bedtime routine as I can. After a good night’s rest, I am a better, nicer, smarter, quicker, healthier person.
For those having trouble catching proper Zs, I’ve rounded up some of my favorite products I use ahead of bedtime while walking you through my nighttime routine. Feel free to copy any or all of these habits for better sleep — they’ve worked wonders on mine.
Also: The best smart rings of 2025: I tested and found an obvious winner
Of course, buying these products isn’t going to save your poor sleep (or poor activity patterns, lifestyle choices, stressors, and all the other variables that contribute to healthy rest), but some of them might produce a pattern or a habit that you can implement for greater consistency, and thus, greater sleep.
5 products I use for my perfect bedtime routine
I try to wrap up my day’s to-dos by around 7:30 or 8 pm. I’ve eaten dinner, washed my dishes, taken a shower, and am retiring to my room. Before I even begin my wind down (and the subsequent cup of tea I will eventually talk about), I am tidying up my bedroom.
Doing so ahead of bedtime is a great way to clear your mind and your space of distractions. I’ll put my dirty clothes that have inevitably ended up on my bed in the hamper or my dresser. I’ll take the coffee mug into the kitchen and wash it.
Studies have shown that cleaning your room can reduce stress and improve air quality. “Mess is stress,” Jourdan Travers, Awake Therapy’s psychotherapist and clinical director, tells Discover Magazine. I want to feel as at ease as I possibly can when I go to sleep, and a tidy room I’ve cleaned myself gives me that control.
Once my space is clear and ready for bedtime, I’ll make myself a cup of tea. I love Yogi’s Stress Relief tea, especially when I pair it with something sweet like a date, chocolate, or butter cookie. The tea includes kava root extract, which research has shown reduces feelings of anxiousness. It also includes deliciously warm spices like cinnamon, sarsaparilla, and carob pod. I drink it as I read a book and nibble on a little treat.
According to the Sleep Foundation, light plays an essential role in regulating your circadian rhythm — your body’s internal clock that tells you when to fall asleep and when to wake up. Dimming the lights to a warmer temperature — and reducing the number of lights you have on — will signal your brain to produce more melatonin, the hormone that regulates sleep.
Also: The Nanoleaf Skylight is one of my favorite smart lights (and just hit its lowest price)
As soon as I get cozy with my book in bed, I turn off my bright lights and turn on my smart(ish) lights. I have two Poplights above my bed. I like them for a few reasons. They are stylish and battery-powered (essential for me and my Brooklyn bedroom, which only includes one outlet). They were also simple to install and did not require any drilling — only two Command strips.
Lastly, I can control their timing and light warmth through the Poplight app. I’ll set a timer that turns them off right at 10 p.m. I’ll be reading in bed, phone docked across the room, and my lights will immediately turn off for me. Once the timer goes off, it’s time to close my book, close up shop, and go to bed.
If you sleep next to a snoring partner or, in my case, your bedroom overlooks one of Brooklyn’s busiest streets, sleep earplugs are destined to reduce all that pesky noise, whether it’s a husband with sleep apnea or a honking car. I’ve tried several sleep earbuds that play ambient noise to help me fall asleep, and while I can appreciate that for other sleepers, I’d prefer complete silence for myself.
Also: I compared these $50 viral earplugs with my $300 sleep earbuds. Here’s how it went
These Loop Dream earplugs reduce sound to near silence. Just last night, my roommates were talking loudly in the room next to me, so I put the earplugs in. Their chatter disappeared. These earplugs have gotten me to sleep more times than I can count, and they cost way less than some of their sleep earbud counterparts that have to be regularly charged for use. If you’d rather use Bluetooth sleep earbuds instead, I’ve included a pick for them down in the alternative picks section of this story.
I’ve used a sleep mask for years, as it’s another way to signal to my brain that it is, quite literally, lights out. I got one from Target brand Auden that is taut and soft around my eyes – and it covers my eyes completely. Those three factors are all you need to look for in a good sleep mask. You do not need to spend lots of money to find one either.
The Oura Ring is the sleep tracker to rule all sleep trackers. As a health wearables expert, I take smart rings, fitness bands, and smartwatches to bed all the time, but the first app I’m checking in the morning for my sleep report is hands down the Oura Ring app.
Also: Why the Oura Ring 4 is ZDNET’s product of the year
I like it for its comprehensive data illustrations, its accurate sleep tracking and staging algorithms, and its features that encourage me to get better sleep but don’t discourage me when I’ve gotten poorer rest. One night, I received a sleep score of 68. The ring notified me that this was below my typical range but told me that it’s normal to have nights like these, “so be gentle with yourself.” Then it prompted me to reflect on the influencing factors of my poor rest and reminded me “it’s about progress, not perfection.”
When I get consistent, healthy sleep, Oura shows me how it impacts other parts of my life, like my ability to bounce back from mental stress or recover from a hard workout. Those tangible results of proper rest are enough to keep me wearing the ring regularly and striving for sustained sleep patterns.
For a few reasons. The first is that I regularly get seven to eight hours of sleep a week, and I wake up every morning around 6:30 a.m. without an alarm.
Sleep is something I’m extremely passionate about, and as ZDNET’s health wearables editor, I’ve had the chance to test out gadgets that track my sleep and learn a thing or two from their data capture. Throughout my time testing this technology, I’ve learned several facts about sleep and the positive contributors of a good night’s sleep.
I am also a very regimented person who loves a good routine, and have deeply benefited from my own bedtime routine.
So many various factors impact our ability to fall and stay asleep. These include sleep apnea, diet, stress or pain, lack of exercise, and more, according to Harvard Health. It could be because you haven’t established a consistent bedtime routine, you drank one two many beers before bed, ate too close to bedtime, or are carrying stress from your day into your bed.
Healthy habits build on each other, so I’d recommend implementing a few things into your daytime and bedtime routine to improve sleep. The first is mild to moderate exercise during the day. I like to tire myself out during the day so I can actually feel tired before bed. Whether you’re hitting your reps at the gym or going on a brisk after-dinner walk, any form of exercise will contribute to better, easier sleep.
Try to avoid big dinners and caffeine or alcoholic drinks before bedtime. This one is hard if you lead a social life, but alcohol significantly disrupts your sleep and impacts your body’s ability to recover at night. When I do go out with friends and have a drink or two, I’ve noticed I’ll have no trouble falling asleep easily that night (even if my sleep scores are horrendous the following morning). Where the real trouble lies is the night after a night-out, when it takes me far longer to get to bed.
My last tip for improving your sleep might feel the most impossible, and that is to eliminate as many stressors, disruptions, and disturbances as possible. For the parents raising kids, the lawyers working well into the night, and anybody else who struggles with anxiety or worries, reducing stress before bedtime is no small feat. However, we can find peace in large and small sizes, like a cup of calming tea, a good book, or beautiful nighttime ambiance.
