According to the expert, the cornerstone of good sleep hygiene is maintaining a consistent routine. A person’s biological clock, he said, begins with the moment of waking — and that determines when the body will naturally want to fall asleep.
“If you wake up at the same time every day, you’ll start falling asleep at roughly the same time too,” Dr. Kudinov noted.
He explained that sleep duration should be calculated backward from your wake-up time. Since the average required sleep is 6–8 hours, he recommended using 7 hours as a reference point.
“If you get up at 7 a.m., going to bed before midnight makes little sense. And if you get up at 9, going to bed before midnight is also pointless — you’ll just be lying in bed without falling asleep,” he said.
Dr. Kudinov warned that anxiety over not falling asleep only exacerbates the problem.
“A person lies down and thinks, ‘I won’t be able to sleep again.’ That anxiety itself prevents them from falling asleep,” he explained.
To restore healthy sleep, he emphasized the importance of adjusting wake-up time rather than bedtime. It is the shift in waking hours that gradually resets the body’s internal clock.
“It’s better to get six hours of real sleep than to lie in bed for eight hours without sleeping,” the doctor stressed.
He gave a clear recommendation for those who can’t fall asleep until 3 a.m.:
“You still need to get up with your alarm. No naps during the day,” he said firmly.
The doctor also underlined the importance of digital hygiene. He advised against watching TV, scrolling through your phone, or reading the news before bedtime.
“It’s better to take a 30-minute walk in the fresh air. Sometimes a shower before bed helps — for some, hot water works; for others, cold. Just not a contrast shower,” Dr. Kudinov concluded.
