Enrichment · Wellbeing

Start from the alarm.
Work back to lights out.

Tell the page when you have to be up and how much sleep your age calls for. It gives you a lights-out time, a wind-down routine with a start time for each step, and a log to see whether the plan holds on real nights.

Build my routineWhat you get

The routine builder

The worked example is made up: a 14-year-old who has to be up at 6:30 on school days. Change anything, or start blank. Nothing you enter leaves this browser.

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If sleep is hard most nightsA routine helps ordinary restless nights. Talk with a doctor or the school nurse if, for more than a few weeks, you cannot fall asleep or stay asleep, you snore loudly or stop breathing in your sleep, or you are very sleepy in the day even after enough hours. This page teaches habits; it does not diagnose or treat anything.
If worry or sadness is what keeps you upTalk with a parent, teacher, school counselor or another adult you trust. If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, call or text 988 to reach the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline (United States), any time, free. In an emergency, call 911.

What you get

Enrichment · WellbeingFree

What you finish with
A lights-out time and an asleep-by time worked backward from your alarm; a wind-down routine you choose, time and order, with a clock time for each step; the time screens go off and the last time for caffeine; a picture of the night; a check of how far weekends drift from school nights; and a sleep log with your average, the nights you met the recommended minimum, the spread of your bedtimes and a chart of each night. A bedside card and the log print.
Who it is for
Students from about grade 4 through college, with a parent or guardian for younger children; families setting a school-night routine; and health and counseling teachers who teach sleep habits in class or homeroom.
Format
Browser tool. Works on a phone, tablet or computer; the plan changes as you adjust it. Prints a bedside card and the sleep log; downloads the log (.csv); export and import a file.
Access
Free. No account, no sign-in and nothing to install. Everything you type stays in this browser; nothing is sent to Caveat.
Where it lives
The Wellbeing space in Caveat Enrichment.
Support
Questions, a correction or a request: team@caveatacademic.com.

How to use it

  1. Pick your age band and the time you have to be up on school days.
  2. Slide the sleep target inside the range for your age. Start in the middle; the page shows lights out and the earliest and latest that still fit.
  3. Build the wind-down: untick what you will not do, add from the ideas, set the minutes and put the steps in order. Keep it short, and keep the step that puts screens away.
  4. Add your weekend wake-up and lights out to see how far the weekend drifts.
  5. Print the bedside card. Each morning, add last night to the sleep log; after a week, look at the average and the spread.

Build my routine

How the times are worked out

Arithmetic from the alarm backward, on top of published sleep recommendations.

1 Start from the alarm and work backwardUp at6:30 amthe alarmAsleep by9:30 pmminus 9 h of sleepLights out9:15 pmminus 15 min to fall asleepWind-down8:35 pmminus a 40 min routine2 Two more times fall out of itScreens off8:45 pm30 min before lights out; 30 or more is the adviceLast caffeine3:30 pm9:30 pm minus 6 hours3 The target comes from the ageHours of sleep in 24, by ageAges 6 to 129 to 12 hoursAges 13 to 188 to 10 hoursAdults7 or more hours1 Work backward from the alarmUp at6:30 amthe alarmAsleep by9:30 pmminus 9 h of sleepLights out9:15 pmminus 15 minWind-down8:35 pmminus 40 min routine2 Two more timesScreens off8:45 pm30 min beforeLast caffeine3:30 pmasleep minus 6 h3 The target comes from the ageHours of sleep in 24, by ageAges 6 to 129 to 12 hoursAges 13 to 188 to 10 hoursAdults7 or more hours
The worked example: up at 6:30 am, 9 h of sleep, 15 minutes to fall asleep and a 40-minute routine put the start of the wind-down at 8:35 pm.

How much sleep

The American Academy of Sleep Medicine recommends 9 to 12 hours of sleep in 24 for children aged 6 to 12 and 8 to 10 hours for teenagers aged 13 to 18, on a regular basis. For adults, the Academy and the Sleep Research Society recommend 7 or more hours a night; the page plans for 7 to 9. In national survey data from 2015, about 6 in 10 middle school students and 7 in 10 high school students got less than that on school nights.

The page subtracts your target from your wake-up time to get an asleep-by time, then subtracts the minutes you say it takes you to fall asleep to get lights out.

Screens, caffeine and routine

The Academy’s healthy sleep habits include a consistent schedule, a relaxing routine before bed, turning off electronic devices at least 30 minutes before bedtime and avoiding caffeine in the afternoon and evening. In one study, caffeine taken even six hours before bed cut sleep by more than an hour, which is where the page’s last-caffeine time comes from. The American Academy of Pediatrics says energy drinks are not appropriate for children and adolescents.

Your routine is laid end to end so that its last step finishes at lights out. The page checks that screens go off at least 30 minutes before.

Weekends

Body clocks shift later during the teenage years, so staying up and sleeping in on weekends comes naturally and makes Monday harder. The page compares the midpoint of your sleep on school nights with the midpoint on weekends, a gap researchers call social jet lag. The labels steady, noticeable and large are the page’s own rule of thumb (under one hour, one to two, two or more), not a clinical cut-off.

Sources

  1. Paruthi, S., et al. (2016). Recommended amount of sleep for pediatric populations: A consensus statement of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine. Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine, 12(6), 785–786.
  2. Watson, N. F., et al. (2015). Recommended amount of sleep for a healthy adult: A joint consensus statement of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine and Sleep Research Society. Sleep, 38(6), 843–844.
  3. Wheaton, A. G., Jones, S. E., Cooper, A. C., & Croft, J. B. (2018). Short sleep duration among middle school and high school students, United States, 2015. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, 67(3), 85–90.
  4. American Academy of Sleep Medicine. Healthy Sleep Habits (sleepeducation.org): a consistent schedule, a bedtime routine, devices off at least 30 minutes before bed, no caffeine in the afternoon or evening.
  5. Drake, C., Roehrs, T., Shambroom, J., & Roth, T. (2013). Caffeine effects on sleep taken 0, 3, or 6 hours before going to bed. Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine, 9(11), 1195–1200.
  6. American Academy of Pediatrics. (2011). Sports drinks and energy drinks for children and adolescents: Are they appropriate? Pediatrics, 127(6), 1182–1189; and (2014) School start times for adolescents. Pediatrics, 134(3), 642–649.
  7. Wittmann, M., Dinich, J., Merrow, M., & Roenneberg, T. (2006). Social jetlag: Misalignment of biological and social time. Chronobiology International, 23(1–2), 497–509.
  8. 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, call or text 988 in the United States (988lifeline.org).

The worked example is made up. This page teaches everyday sleep habits; it is not medical advice and does not diagnose or treat a sleep problem. Talk with a doctor about sleep that stays hard. If you or someone you know is in crisis, call or text 988, or call 911 in an emergency. Your plan and log stay in this browser. Support: team@caveatacademic.com.