1h Protocol for Better Sleep
What will help you sleep better? Find out in one hour.
Some nights feel bigger than you. In one hour, you see why yours go the way they do, and leave with a plan built from your own answers.
First chapter free. No account needed to start.4.7 out of 5 · 6 learner reviewsVersion
Learners
What learners say
A calm, straightforward guide that made building a better evening routine feel much less overwhelming.
Easy to follow and encouraging, although I would have liked more guidance for irregular schedules.
I appreciated the practical tone and how manageable the approach felt alongside a busy week.
Simple and reassuring. I finished with a clearer idea of which evening habits I wanted to change.
Some ideas were familiar, but having them organised made this a useful starting point.
I liked the gentle approach—it made working on my sleep routine feel less like another chore.
How a 1h Protocol works
This is the hour where it changes. You stop guessing, see why it happens to you, and build your plan from your own answers: a few clear moves, and fourteen nights to prove them.
- 1
Free chapter
Start from last night
You describe your own nights, in your own words. Nights like these:
- •Lights out at eleven, still awake at one.
- •Up at 3 a.m., planning tomorrow in the dark.
- •Dragging yourself up when the alarm goes at six.
- 2
Free chapter
Find your sleep pattern
Your answers point to one of five patterns. Each has its own starting point, and you get one thing to try tonight.
- •The SqueezedToo little time in bed. You start by making time.
- •The WiredYour mind switches on at lights out. You start by easing off the effort.
- •The MistimedYour body clock runs late. You start with light and timing.
- •The InterruptedSomething keeps waking you. You start with who, or what.
- •The Tune-upNo single cause. You start by setting the basics to your times.
- 3
Paid chapters
Understand why, then plan
Six chapters explain why your nights go the way they do, then set every hour of your evening to your own times.
- 01Why last night happenedSee how sleep pressure, your body clock and a busy mind shaped last night.
- 02Tonight, hour by hourSet your caffeine cut-off, dim-down, runway, lights-out and morning light to your own times.
- 03The one thing that’s yoursGet what only your pattern needs, like a stop cue, light timing or a night handover.
- 043 a.m.Try the worry list and a calm breathing exercise, then leave with your 3 a.m. plan.
- 05Tonight, againSee your protocol, set up its first changes at home, and plan for harder evenings.
- 06The fourteen nightsLearn to keep and read your fourteen-night sheet, and what to change on day fourteen.
- 4
Yours for life
Leave with your protocol
A short plan for your nights: what to do, when, and what to do on the night it gets hard. Built from what the evidence supports, fitted to your own times, with fourteen nights to prove it.
- ✓The two or three changes to start tonight
- ✓The rest kept for later, so nothing piles up
- ✓Why each change matters, with the evidence behind it
- ✓Your times for waking, caffeine, dimming the lights and lights out
- ✓A plan for 3 a.m. and for the evenings that go wrong
- ✓Fourteen nights to prove it, with four one-tap check-ins by email
Key sources
A selection of the research, official guidance and expert voices this program draws on.
- NHS Every Mind Matters: Fall asleep faster and sleep better
- NHS: Insomnia (everyday sleep habits)
- US National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute: Healthy sleep habits
- AASM and Sleep Research Society: How much sleep adults need (2015)
- AASM: How much sleep children and teenagers need (2016)
- American Academy of Pediatrics: Caffeine and kids (2025)
- Brown et al.: Indoor light recommendations for healthy adults (2022)
- Gardiner et al.: Caffeine and sleep, a review of studies (2023)
- Gardiner et al.: Alcohol and sleep, a review of studies (2025)
- Matthew Walker on Huberman Lab: Protocols to improve your sleep (2024)
- Andrew Huberman: Sleep Toolkit (2022)
- Samer Hattar on Huberman Lab: Timing light, food and exercise
- Russell Foster on Feel Better, Live More (2024)
- Jade Wu on The People’s Pharmacy (2023)
This program is practical sleep education and habit planning, not medical advice. It adapts to age: teenagers can do it on their own, and children aged 6 to 12 do it with a parent or carer. It doesn’t cover children under 6.
Questions
About the program, and about sleep itself.
Yours for life
Your sleep protocol
$19.99this program, one time
No subscription · Lifetime access · Lifetime updates
or start with the first chapter, freeSleep advice is free everywhere. Why pay for this?
Free advice tells everyone the same things. A 1h Protocol works out which of it applies to you, from your own answers. You leave knowing the two or three things to start now, and why.
I’m busy. How much time does it take?
About an hour, once, to build your protocol. After that, it works around the times you already keep, with one short sheet to check off each morning.
Is this medical advice?
No. It’s practical sleep education. It tells you when a doctor is the better first step, for example if poor sleep has lasted more than three months, or you stop breathing in your sleep.
What do I pay, and what do I keep?
One payment, with no subscription and nothing to buy inside. You keep the program, your protocol and every future update. The first chapter is free, so you see your pattern before you pay.
Can teenagers or children do it?
Teenagers can do it on their own. Children aged 6 to 12 do it with a parent or carer. It doesn’t cover children under 6.
About sleep
How much sleep do adults need?
Most adults need at least seven hours asleep, night after night, according to the American Academy of Sleep Medicine. To sleep seven hours, most adults need about seven and a half to eight hours in bed.
Why do I wake at 3 a.m. and start worrying?
Waking in the night is normal: most people wake briefly several times and remember almost none of it. At 3 a.m. you’re tired and there’s nothing to compare a worry with, so a small problem looks huge. By morning, it usually shrinks back to its real size.
Does coffee in the afternoon affect my sleep?
It can. Caffeine hides sleep pressure, the drive that makes you sleepy at night. In one study, a strong dose cut about an hour of sleep, whether people had it at bedtime or six hours before.
Does a drink before bed help you sleep?
Alcohol makes you drowsy, but that’s sedation rather than sleep. Studies find it cuts dream sleep, and more drinks cut more.
Is it OK to sleep in at the weekend?
Keeping the same times matters as much as the hours. Public advice in the UK and the US agrees: get up at about the same time every day, weekends included. Sleeping in moves your body clock, so Monday feels like jet lag.
What should I do if I can’t get back to sleep?
Keep clocks out of view, because checking the time keeps you alert. The NHS suggests that if you’re wide awake for a while, you get up and do something calm until you feel sleepy.