Insomnia: What to Do When You Can't Fall Asleep? 8 Tips
Regular hours, daylight, screens, coffee, bedroom, evening ritual: 8 simple tips when you struggle to fall asleep, and the signs that mean you should see a doctor.
In France, 15 to 20% of adults say they sleep poorly on a chronic basis. Insomnia is called chronic when the difficulties come back at least three nights a week for at least three months.
This article is about falling asleep: those evenings when you toss and turn without finding sleep. If you tend to wake up in the middle of the night instead, also read our article Waking up at 3 a.m.
1. Keep regular hours
Go to bed and get up at roughly the same time every day, weekends included. This is the foundation: your internal clock needs steady landmarks.
2. Get daylight in the morning
Expose yourself to natural light as soon as you wake up, even just a few minutes at the window or outside. It helps you stay alert during the day and feel sleepy in the evening.
3. Stop coffee after 4 pm
Coffee, tea and caffeinated sodas stay active for several hours. In the evening, also avoid alcohol, which knocks you out but causes waking in the night, and cigarettes.
4. Put screens away an hour and a half before bed
Smartphones, tablets and computers stimulate the brain and delay falling asleep. And avoid watching TV in bed: your bed should stay linked to sleep.
5. Prepare your bedroom
A bedroom between 18 and 20 °C, dark, with bedding that is neither too soft nor too firm. Move the clock away from the bed: checking the time every ten minutes keeps insomnia going.
6. Move during the day, not in the evening
Regular physical activity helps you sleep well, as long as you avoid it after 8 pm. If you nap, keep it short, around twenty minutes, and not too late.
7. Set up an evening ritual
Reading, soft music, a few minutes of calm breathing: a ritual repeated every evening prepares the body for sleep. Go to bed when the signals come, yawning and heavy eyelids, without fighting them.
8. Get up if sleep doesn't come
If you still are not asleep after a long while, get up and do something calm, in soft light, without screens. Go back to bed when sleep returns. Lying in bed ruminating ends up linking the bed with being awake.
For chronic insomnia, the first recommended treatment is cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia, usually in six sessions, before sleeping pills. Talk to your doctor about it.
When to see a doctor
Book an appointment with your doctor if you sleep poorly more than three times a week for more than three weeks, if you wake up tired every morning or feel drowsy during the day, if the problems started after a new medication, or if they become hard to bear. Also talk to them if lack of sleep goes hand in hand with anxiety or low mood.
A bedtime ritual, designed for people who find it hard to fall asleep
I designed the Restful sleep listening programme for people who find it hard to fall asleep or suffer from insomnia and want to set up a soothing ritual: 29 minutes in bed, lights off, headphones on, one session every 8 days. It does not treat insomnia and does not replace your doctor's advice. To discover the method, the first session of the Anti-Stress programme is free.
Éric Rosati, osteopath with 30 years of experience. This article is for information and does not replace your doctor's advice.
Sources (in French): Vidal, Tips for sleeping well · Vidal, Insomnia in adults (2026)
🎧 Recommended programme: Restful sleep · insomnia
To listen to with headphones, in a quiet place, at your own pace.