For the Best Sleep, This is When You Should Go To Bed

We all want to feel well rested in the morning. But, for the best sleep, it seems there’s an actual time you should go to bed.

Yahoo Health spoke with board-certified sleep specialist Dr. Michael Breus (the guy wrote a whole book on sleeping well) and found out the magic formula to determine your ideal bedtime. “The average sleep cycle is 90 minutes long, and the average human has five of those sleep cycles per night,” says Breus. To set yours, Breus says to “work backward from your wake-up time. Follow that bedtime for 10 days in a row and you’ll begin, quite naturally, to wake up a few minutes before your alarm clock sounds.”

In other words, you need 7.5 hours of sleep a night. Which means, if you need to wake up at 7am, go to bed at 11:30pm.  Now, that’s a great idea and all, but what about those of us who can’t fall asleep instantly? According to Breus, don’t worry about it. The body will catch on. “It’s all about the wake-up time. If you are consistent about getting up a [the same time] every morning, your body will adjust.”