Good sleep isn’t an accident. It comes from small habits that support your body’s natural rhythms. While your sleep environment plays a major role, your daily routines and behaviours shape how deeply you sleep, how often you wake, and how rested you feel in the morning.
The Sloom Sleep Score Index (SSI) measures sleep quality across five pillars: sleep duration, night wakings, restedness, mattress comfort and routine consistency. In this guide, we unpack each one with simple, research-backed tips to help you improve your score and feel better day to day.
1. Sleep Duration: Getting Enough Hours (But Not Too Many)
Most adults function best on seven to nine hours of sleep. Too little sleep affects mood, immunity and focus. Too much sleep, especially more than nine hours on a regular basis, can be a sign of low sleep efficiency or disrupted sleep cycles.
How to improve your sleep duration:
- Go to bed 15 minutes earlier for a week
- Keep a consistent wake-up time, even on weekends
- Use warm lighting at night to help your body wind down
- Avoid stimulating activities like scrolling or emails before bed
Quick win: set a lights-out reminder. One cue can stabilise your entire routine.
2. Night Wakings: The Biggest Sleep Disruptor
Night wakings have a major impact on sleep quality. Even if you fall asleep easily, waking once or twice (or experiencing tiny micro-wakings from discomfort) reduces the time you spend in the deeper stages of sleep.
Common causes include stress, overheating, noise, discomfort, bright light or pets moving around.
How to reduce night wakings:
- Avoid caffeine after 2pm
- Limit liquids an hour before bed
- Dim lights earlier in the evening
- Keep your bedroom cool
- Review your mattress comfort, as physical discomfort often causes broken sleep
Quick win: replace late-night scrolling with something calming like a warm shower or light stretching.
3. Restedness on Waking: Your Body’s Most Honest Feedback
Restedness is one of the clearest indicators of sleep quality. If you wake up sluggish or heavy-eyed most mornings, your sleep cycles are likely being interrupted, even when your total hours look fine.
What affects morning restedness:
- The depth of your sleep
- Room conditions like light, temperature and noise
- Hormonal balance
- Mattress and pillow comfort
- Consistency of your routine
How to improve restedness:
- Get natural light within the first hour of waking
- Avoid the snooze button, as it fragments sleep
- Keep your room dark and cool overnight
- Notice stiffness or discomfort in the morning. This often means your pillow or mattress isn’t right for you
Quick win: open your curtains as soon as you wake or step outside for a few minutes.
4. Mattress Comfort: The Quiet Factor That Changes Everything
Your mattress influences two pillars directly: night wakings and restedness. The wrong mattress can cause pressure points, overheating, disturbed posture and frequent tossing and turning. All of these interrupt sleep cycles and make mornings harder.
A supportive mattress reduces micro-wakings, stabilises your posture and helps your brain move into deeper, uninterrupted sleep.
Sloom’s Modular Mattress was created for this exact reason. It lets you choose the comfort level that suits your body best, from soft to firm, and even split it for couples. When your needs change, you can adjust your layers instead of replacing the entire mattress.
Quick win: if you wake up stiff, your mattress may be too firm. If your hips sink too deeply, it may be too soft. Small adjustments can make a noticeable difference.
5. Routine Consistency: The Rhythm Your Body Depends On
Your circadian rhythm is your body’s internal clock. It thrives on predictability. When your routine swings wildly from day to day, your sleep depth and energy levels take a hit.
Signs your routine may be out of sync:
- Feeling wide awake late at night
- Struggling to wake in the morning
- Sleeping in to compensate for sleep debt
- Heavy reliance on caffeine
- Bedtime shifting by more than an hour
Tips for building a steady routine:
- Keep your wake-up time within 30 minutes each day
- Set a reminder to begin winding down in the evening
- Avoid strenuous exercise late at night
- Create a simple wind-down ritual like reading or stretching
- Reduce evening screen time or switch to warm light mode
Quick win: choose one bedtime for the next seven days and stick to it.
6. Simple Sleep Tips You Can Start Tonight
Small changes often lead to the biggest improvements.
Try these:
- Dim lights an hour before bed
- Keep your room cool and ventilated
- Use breathable cotton linen
- Adjust your pillow height for better alignment
- Charge your phone across the room
- Avoid heavy shows or intense scrolling before bed
- Repeat the same wind-down cue each night
- Get morning light exposure
If you want quick progress, start with one change. When it feels natural, add another. These small adjustments compound quickly.
Conclusion: Better Sleep Comes From Simple, Consistent Choices
Improving your sleep doesn’t require a full lifestyle overhaul. Small, consistent changes can reduce night wakings, deepen your sleep cycles and help you wake with more clarity and energy. Whether you adjust your caffeine timing, your bedtime or your morning routine, each shift nudges your Sleep Score in the right direction.
Better sleep is built one habit at a time.