The First Ten Minutes: Habits of People Who Sleep Well

Good sleepers are made in the morning. Sleep researchers keep landing on the same unglamorous truth: what you do in the first ten minutes after waking sets up the night that follows.

Open the curtains before the phone

Morning light is the strongest signal your body clock gets all day. Two minutes at the window does more for tonight's sleep than any evening routine.

Let the bed air out

Do not make the bed immediately. Fold the duvet back and let the sheets release overnight moisture while you make coffee — ten minutes is enough, and your bedding stays fresher between washes.

Then make it anyway

A made bed at 8 a.m. is a quiet promise you keep to your evening self. It does not need to be perfect — pulled straight, pillows stood up, done.

Keep one soft thing in reach

A throw at the foot of the bed, a robe on the hook: mornings go gentler when the first thing you touch is something you like touching. That is most of what we mean by mornings worth staying in.

Start where you wake up — our bedroom pieces and bedding are picked for exactly these ten minutes.