Reading before bed is one of the easiest ways to build a steady rhythm. We do not promise it puts everyone to sleep, but it has two upsides: it replaces phone scrolling and gives the evening a clear end. Below is what is known about screens before sleep, how to make a quarter of an hour into a ritual and what to read so you do not regret the choice after three pages.
Does reading before bed help you sleep
Yes, as part of an evening routine, but it is not a cure for insomnia. If you have long-term sleep problems, talk to a doctor. Here we mean an ordinary evening: instead of scrolling, you pick something calmer and predictable.
Paper or screen: what a study shows
In a controlled experiment, Chang and colleagues compared reading on a light-emitting device with reading a printed book in the hours before bed. People reading on the light-emitting device took longer to fall asleep, felt less sleepy in the evening, secreted less melatonin, had a later body clock and were less alert the next morning. The study was about backlit screens, not every e-reader.
The practical takeaway is modest: if you read in the evening, choose a paper book or a reader without its own backlight. If you read on your phone, switch on a warm tone and a dark theme and do not jump from the book to notifications. The pros and cons of both devices are in our e-reader vs phone comparison.
How to turn reading into an evening ritual
- Set a time. For example 15 minutes before planned sleep. A fixed time works better than “sometime tonight”.
- Prepare the spot. The book lies by the bed and the lamp gives warm light.
- Put the phone away. Charge it out of arm’s reach. If you read on it, switch off notifications.
- Read for 10 to 15 minutes. That is enough for something to stay with you, and the ritual does not stretch the evening.
- Log the page and switch off the light. Logging progress takes ten seconds and closes the session.
How many pages fit into a quarter of an hour depends on your pace. How to check your own is in how many pages a day to read.
What to read in the evening
- A familiar or light book. A story that is too gripping will stretch the evening by an hour.
- Short chapters or stories. It is easy to stop at the end of a section.
- Something you look forward to. The evening is not a good time for a read you dread.
There is no wrong genre: romance, fantasy and reportage are all fine if you like reading them.
When you fall asleep after three pages
That is a good sign, not a failure. Log the page where you stopped and return to it the next day. A habit forms through repetition, not through page count. More on building rhythm in how to build a reading habit, and to see your pages add up, take a look at our guide to reading tracker apps. If the phone tends to win in the evening, see how to focus while reading.
Want to log your evening pages? See how Talemi works and join early access.
Sources
- Chang, A.-M., Aeschbach, D., Duffy, J. F., Czeisler, C. A. (2015). Evening use of light-emitting eReaders negatively affects sleep, circadian timing, and next-morning alertness. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
