The Wind-Down Guide

10 ways to switch your brain off tonight.

Evidence-based habits that lower evening cortisol — plus the sleep track 40 million people play at bedtime.

No gimmicks — each one lowers evening cortisol or nudges your nervous system out of fight-or-flight. Stack two or three and you'll feel it this week.

01

Wake up at the same time every day

Even weekends. A fixed wake time anchors your whole cortisol rhythm — it does more for tonight's sleep than anything you do at 10pm.

02

Get daylight within 30 minutes of waking

Morning light tells your body clock when "day" starts — which sets the timer for when melatonin rises 14–16 hours later. Even a cloudy sky works.

03

Last coffee by 2pm

Caffeine has a six-hour half-life — a 4pm cup is still a quarter-cup in your blood at 4am. It doesn't just delay sleep; it flattens the deep stages.

04

Cool the room to 16–18°C

Your core temperature has to drop for sleep onset. A cool, dark, quiet room is the cheapest sleep upgrade there is.

05

Screens off — or at least dim — an hour before bed

It's less about blue light than stimulation. Scrolling keeps cortisol up. Dim the house lights too — your brain reads it as sunset.

06

Do a two-minute brain dump

Write tomorrow's list on paper before bed. Studies show it shortens the time to fall asleep — the rumination has nowhere to live once it's written down.

07

Breathe out longer than you breathe in

In for 4, out for 8, for a few minutes. A long exhale activates the parasympathetic system — the physiological "off switch" your wired brain won't flip on its own.

08

Warm shower, 1–2 hours before bed

Sounds backwards, but the heat pulls blood to your skin, and your core temperature crashes afterwards — riding that drop into bed is a proven sleep-onset trick.

09

Awake for 20 minutes? Get up.

Lying there fighting it teaches your brain that bed = frustration. Get up, keep lights low, read something boring, return when drowsy. Protect the association.

10

Play delta-wave binaural beats as you drift off

Slow-frequency audio helps some brains disengage from the mental chatter loop. Use headphones or a speaker at low volume (20–30%), and let it run as you fall asleep.

Tonight's Sleep Track

The Deepest Healing Sleep
3.2Hz Delta Brain Waves

One of the most-played sleep tracks on YouTube — slow delta-frequency binaural beats designed for the drift-off. Press play, screen down, lights out.

▶ Play Tonight's Track

Habits set the stage. Biology closes the deal.

If you do all ten and still lie there wired at 1am, the problem is usually cortisol — and that's exactly what CLARIA's six ingredients are dosed for.

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