We’ve all had those days when bedtime can’t come soon enough: you get home from work, throw together the quickest dinner possible and escape underneath the covers as soon as the clock strikes 9pm. Some days are simply more tiring than others, and going to bed early seems like a surefire way to top up your energy levels before it all starts again. Right? Well, not necessarily.

While going to bed early might seem like a good thing, it may not be the all-encompassing fix it’s been made out to be. Don’t get us wrong – going to bed late isn’t any better – but there may be such a thing as going to bed too early, especially if it’s becoming a common occurrence.

To set the record straight, we spoke to Dr Hana Patel, an NHS GP and resident sleep expert at Time4Sleep. Here, she explains why going to bed too early too often can have a detrimental impact on your sleep quality and wellbeing, and what to do if you can’t resist the urge to curl up under the covers. 

Giving your body the sleep it needs is always going to be the right choice, so if you’re feeling particularly drained and struggling to keep your eyes open pre-10pm, going to bed is probably a good shout.

However, going to bed too early – for example, over an hour earlier than you normally would – can take its toll on your circadian rhythm. “Going to bed an hour or two earlier than usual once in a while is generally not an issue, but the problem comes when you find yourself waking up earlier than usual,” Dr Patel explains. “This can lead to a temporary or permanent change to your circadian rhythm.”

Also known as the body’s internal clock, the circadian rhythm is responsible for everything from regulating your body temperature to controlling the release of cortisol and melatonin throughout the day.

Going to bed and waking up at the same time every day is one of the best ways to keep your circadian rhythm regulated; if you change your bedtime drastically over a short period of time, you can end up misaligned with your circadian rhythm, leading to a phenomenon known as ‘social jetlag’ where your body’s cortisol and melatonin spikes are out of sync with your energy needs.  

This means you might find yourself waking up in the early hours of the morning, dealing with reduced energy levels throughout the day and finding it hard to get to sleep (and stay asleep) the following night. And this can lead to a yo-yo-like schedule, where you find yourself staying up late one night (because you can’t sleep), followed by extremely early nights because you feel the need to ‘catch up’.

At the end of the day, Dr Patel says the most important thing you can do for your sleep is to stick to a regular sleep and wake schedule. “I would always advocate maintaining a regular sleep routine to ensure you get the most out of your night’s rest,” she says. 

“If you need to go to bed earlier, try to stay awake until you’re as close as possible to your usual bedtime to minimise any potential disruption to your sleep quality. You should also make sure that you get back into your regular sleep routine as soon as possible to avoid any long-term disruption or changes to your sleep cycle.” 

What if, in a bid to improve your sleep, you simply start going to bed early every night – even when you’re not tired? If you’re able to get to sleep at this time and wake up feeling refreshed around 7–9 hours later, then that’s not necessarily a problem.

However, if you’re spending hours tossing and turning because you can’t get to sleep, your body might start to associate your bed with being awake. This can make it harder for you to relax, negatively impacting your sleep quality in the long run. And the same can be said if you go to bed earlier and continue to wake up at the time you used to: oversleeping can not only have a detrimental impact on your health but also reduce your sleep quality over time, as your sleep drive (the tiredness that builds up throughout the day) is reduced.

If you’re frequently ending the day feeling exhausted and like you need to go to bed earlier and earlier, that could be a sign that something else is going on. In that case, it’s worth speaking to your GP just to make sure everything’s OK. 

“Ongoing tiredness or fatigue could be a sign of an underlying condition,” Dr Patel adds. “If you consistently find yourself feeling tired throughout the day, even when you’ve had enough sleep, you should speak to a GP to check for potential health conditions.” 

Images: Getty