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• Falling asleep

  Evening brain dump: a to-do list before bed that lets you sleep

  The evening brain dump is a notebook page in two parts: tomorrow's list, with the next small step for each item, and the worries, each with what you'll do about it and when. Five minutes at the kitchen table, then you close it. Written down, a task stops needing to be held in your head.

• Falling asleep

  Breathing timer for 4-7-8, box and slow breathing

  A pacer for slow breathing, with nothing to count: follow the circle, let the out-breath take its time, and stop when the timer does. It offers 4-7-8 and box breathing because people search for them, and slow breathing at six a minute because that's the pattern with the best measurements behind it.

• Health & sleep

  Sleep diary template: two weeks, in your browser

  This sleep diary has the columns a sleep clinic asks for, works out your time in bed, time asleep and sleep efficiency for you, and keeps the whole fortnight in your own browser. One row a morning, within an hour of getting up. Nothing you write is sent anywhere, and nobody at Serune can see it.

• Life & sleep

  When do the clocks go back? The clocks-change planner

  The clocks go back at 2am on Sunday 25 October 2026, when 2am becomes 1am and British Summer Time ends. They go forward again at 1am on Sunday 28 March 2027. The planner below takes your usual lights-off time and weekday alarm and gives you the week around the change, day by day.

• The evening

  Wind-down planner

  The wind-down planner turns your lights-off time into the hour before it: when the quiet hour starts, when the bath or shower goes in, when the phone goes on charge somewhere else, and the one alarm that makes the whole thing happen. It's a bedtime routine for adults with the deciding taken out.

• The evening

  Sleep calculator

  This sleep calculator works back from your alarm rather than forward from when you feel tired, because the alarm is the fixed point and the body clock learns the morning. Put in your wake-up time, the hours you're aiming for and how long you take to drop off, and it gives you lights-off and when to start winding down.

• Health & sleep

  How to keep a sleep diary (and what to write in it)

  A sleep diary is a morning note of last night: bedtime, roughly how long you took to drop off, how often you woke, when you got up and how you feel. Keep it for two weeks. Fill it in within an hour of getting up, because the memory of a bad night fades and warps by lunchtime.

• Life & sleep

  How to adjust your sleep when the clocks go back

  At 2am on Sunday 25 October 2026 the clocks go back an hour and British Summer Time ends. You gain an hour on paper, but your body clock doesn't move with the kitchen clock; it shifts a little each day. So keep your usual times by the new clock, and expect a few early mornings.

• Food, drink & sleep

  How late is too late for caffeine?

  Keep caffeine at least six hours from bed, and earlier if you can; it lasts far longer than you'd think. In the trial that tested timing directly, a large dose six hours before bed cut sleep by over an hour and nobody noticed. The half-life is two and a half to five hours, and in some people much longer.

• The next day

  Morning light: why the first hour of the day shapes the night ahead

  The light that reaches your eyes in the first hours after waking sets your body clock earlier, which is what makes you sleepy at a sensible time tonight. Daylight through a window helps; outside is better, even under cloud. It won't fix poor sleep by itself, but it's the cheapest lever you have.

• The next day

  How to wake up feeling refreshed

  Wake at the same time every day, give the night enough hours, get light within minutes of the alarm, and stand up rather than lying there. The heaviness is sleep inertia, a normal half hour while the brain switches on, and it fades by itself. What you can change is how long it lasts and how heavy it is.

• Staying asleep

  How to get back to sleep after waking in the night

  If you're still awake after about 20 minutes, get up, keep the lights low and do something dull until you feel sleepy. Then go back to bed. Lying there trying harder keeps your brain alert, because trying is a waking job; stepping away lets the sleepiness come back on its own.