Does reading before bed help you sleep?

Key takeaways

• Reading is a common wind-down, but we found only one trial that tested it against not reading. About 42% of people who read a book before bed for seven nights said their sleep improved, against 28% of those who didn’t.

• That trial relied on self-reports. It couldn’t hide who was reading, and it didn’t track objective sleep.

• Screens have more evidence behind them. In a small lab study, reading on a bright tablet delayed sleep onset by about 10 minutes compared with a printed book.

• Pick a stopping time. We found no trial that compared reading lengths, so end at a set time or page count.

• If you’re lying awake, get up. The NHS suggests getting up after about 20 minutes awake and doing something quiet, then going back to bed when you feel sleepy.

What the research says about reading

Advice to read before bed usually comes from general sleep guidance. The NHS lists reading something you enjoy among its ways to relax before bed. The research is sparser than the advice suggests, and it mostly answers a different question, which is what screens do.

The one randomized trial of reading a book in bed is the People’s Trial, published in Trials in 2021. It randomly assigned 991 adults online to read for 15 to 30 minutes before trying to sleep or not to read, for seven nights. About 42% of the readers said their sleep had improved, compared with 28% of the others, a gap of 14 points. The Health Research Board in Ireland funded it.

It has limits. Nobody can be blinded to whether they’re reading, and the outcome was a single self-rated sleep question. About 26% of the reading group dropped out compared with 18% of the control group. The volunteers were mostly women who signed up online, and the trial didn’t say what they read or whether they used paper or a device. Daytime sleepiness was also slightly higher among the readers. It’s a signal, and a weak one.

Paper or screen?

The strongest evidence on what you read it on comes from a 2015 study in PNAS. In a sleep lab, 12 healthy adults spent five evenings reading a printed book and five reading on an iPad at full brightness, for about four hours before bed. After the iPad evenings they took about 10 minutes longer to fall asleep (25.7 minutes against 15.8), their melatonin rose later and was about 55% lower on the final night, and they felt less alert the next morning. Total sleep time didn’t change. The National Institutes of Health funded it, and one author discloses paid consulting for drug companies and, briefly in 2012 to 2013, equity in Apple. It’s a small study, with an extreme setup of four hours at maximum brightness against a very dim book.

A 2016 study in Sleep Medicine came closer to home conditions. In it, 16 students read a story for 30 minutes in their own beds, once on an iPad and once from a book, while their sleep was recorded at home. The iPad reading made them feel less sleepy and delayed slow-wave (deep sleep) activity by about 30 minutes, but it didn’t change how quickly they fell asleep. It covered one night per condition and young adults only.

Together, they suggest a bright tablet can delay melatonin and leave people less alert, though neither study tested how brightness or duration changes the effect. We cover the light research in our posts on blue light from your phone and how your phone affects your sleep, and the NHS advice is to avoid phones, tablets, and computers for an hour before bed. We found no trial of e-ink readers.

Should you read in bed or somewhere else?

Insomnia treatment includes a method called stimulus control, which asks you to use the bed only for sleep and to get up if you’re awake for about 20 minutes. The NHS advises getting up after around 20 minutes awake and doing something relaxing, such as reading a book or listening to quiet music, then going back to bed when you feel sleepy.

Whether the bed rule is necessary isn’t settled. A 2024 network meta-analysis of 23 randomized studies found that stimulus control works compared with control conditions, but it said not all of the instructions seem essential, especially those meant to recondition the bedroom for sleep. The studies were generally low in quality. So reading in bed isn’t proven to hurt, and it isn’t proven safe for people with insomnia. One workable approach is to read in bed if it makes you drowsy and to move to a chair if you’re lying there wide awake.

Our guide on when to get out of bed covers what to do in that 20-minute window.

Does the kind of book matter?

We found no study that compared genres, so no one can say whether a thriller keeps you up more than a memoir. Advice to avoid gripping or work-related books rests on the general idea that arousal delays sleep, not on a trial. The NHS says simply to read something you enjoy.

We found no trial that compared reading lengths. The two studies above used 15 to 30 minutes and 30 minutes.

What about audiobooks?

There are no trials of audiobooks for sleep. A 2026 survey in JMIR Formative Research of 1,136 Swedish adults, about 90% of them women, found that people who listened every night were more likely to say audiobooks helped them fall asleep. They were also more likely to say they had trouble falling asleep without one. It’s a self-selected survey, so it can’t show that audiobooks cause either result.

What about children?

Bedtime routines that include reading look helpful for kids, though no study singles out reading. A 2011 study of 4,274 children born in 20 US cities linked language-based routines at age 3, which included reading, singing, and storytelling, with longer nighttime sleep at age 5, but it was observational and the benefits for behavior shrank once family background was taken into account. The National Institutes of Health funded it. A 2024 trial of 105 toddlers in JAMA Pediatrics replaced bedtime screens with a box of books and puzzles and found a small improvement in one sleep measure against a box-only group, but the gain over no intervention wasn’t statistically significant. It was a feasibility trial and couldn’t separate reading from the other activities.

When you can’t put the book down

We found no research on this, so these are simple suggestions. Pick a stopping time and set an alarm on a clock. Stop at the end of a chapter or a set page count, since it’s easy to misjudge sleepiness. Use a warm, dim lamp, and if you share the bed, point it away from your partner. If you read on a device, turn the brightness down and keep it short, and switch to paper on the nights you can’t stop.

If a story is too gripping, save it for the morning or weekends and read something calmer at night. If you’re still wide awake after about 20 minutes, get up, read in another room in dim light, and return when you’re drowsy.

The short version

Reading before bed is a common way to wind down, and the one trial that tested it found that more readers said their sleep improved. The evidence is self-reported and doesn’t say how long to read or what to read. If you read on a screen, you may notice a delay at high brightness, so keep it dim or switch to paper. If sleep problems persist, see a doctor.

Frequently asked questions

Is it better to read a paper book than an e-reader before bed?

In a small lab study, reading on a bright iPad delayed sleep onset by about 10 minutes compared with a printed book. In a second study of 30-minute reading at home, the iPad changed alertness and deep sleep timing but not how fast people fell asleep.

Is it OK to read in bed if I have insomnia?

The NHS says to get up after about 20 minutes awake and do something quiet, but a 2024 review found that the rule about keeping the bedroom only for sleep may not be essential. If reading in bed makes you drowsy it’s fine, and if you’re lying awake and alert, move.

Do audiobooks help you fall asleep?

The evidence is one survey. People who listened nightly said it helped, but the survey can’t show cause, and they were also more likely to say they struggled without one.

Does reading to kids help them sleep?

Bedtime routines that include reading are linked with longer sleep in young children, but studies haven’t isolated reading from singing, storytelling, and other routine parts, so cause isn’t proven.

What kind of book should I read?

No study has compared genres, and the NHS advice is to read something you enjoy.