Digital sunset – Screens off 60 minutes before sleep
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Digital Sunset: screens off 60 minutes before sleep
A simple ritual to let melatonin do its job.
🌙 Practice – 60 min
🧠Focus – falling asleep / night quality
đź“š Sources – PNAS (2015), J Appl Physiol (2011), AASM (2026), Harvard Health (2024)
In the evening, your brain needs a clear signal: the day is over. Screens do the exact opposite: they extend daytime, visually and mentally. Digital Sunset is a deliberate cut-off – 60 minutes with no phone, laptop, or scrolling – so your body can shift into sleep mode without friction.
TEB note – The body follows light. It is up to you to choose which one.
The protocol
- When: 60 minutes before your bedtime.
- What: phone, laptop, tablet, TV, and especially notifications.
- Instead: warm light and a slow activity like paper reading, a warm shower, gentle stretches, journaling, or ambient music.
- Visual cue: lower the lights, ideally warm lamps, no ceiling light.
- Mental cue: no more decisions, anything that requires replying or choosing goes to tomorrow.
Start with 30 minutes three to four nights per week, then move to 45 or 60 minutes once it feels natural.
What you feel
At first, you may feel a kind of emptiness, the reflex to pick up your phone. Then, often: less agitation, slower thoughts, easier sleep onset.
If you pair this ritual with a stable routine, a consistent bedtime, and glycine 3g at night if it works for you, you create a glide path into sleep instead of a hard drop. And if the day has been heavy, the decompression walk helps the nervous system come down before you even switch the screens off.
🌙 This ritual takes nothing from you. It gives your night back. One hour, and sleep becomes a space again, not a crash.
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Chang A M, Aeschbach D, Duffy J F, Czeisler C A. Evening use of light-emitting eReaders negatively affects sleep, circadian timing and next-morning alertness. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2015. DOI:
10.1073/pnas.1418490112. - Cajochen C et al. Evening exposure to LED backlit computer screen affects circadian physiology and cognitive performance. Journal of Applied Physiology, 2011.
- American Academy of Sleep Medicine. Public recommendation on screen use before bedtime, 2026.
- Harvard Health Publishing. Blue light has a dark side, 2024.
- American Academy of Ophthalmology. Digital Devices and Your Eyes, updated 2025.
