What Time Should I Go to Bed? Bedtime Chart for Every Wake-Up Time

If you wake up at 6:00 AM, go to bed at 10:15 PM for 7 hours 30 minutes of sleep (5 sleep cycles), or at 8:45 PM for 9 hours (6 cycles). Both times assume you take 15 minutes to fall asleep and sleep in 90-minute cycles. A bedtime of 11:45 PM gives only 6 hours (4 cycles), under the 7 or more hours the CDC recommends for adults 18 to 60.

For a 7:00 AM alarm the times are 11:15 PM (5 cycles) and 9:45 PM (6 cycles). For any other wake-up time, use the chart below, which runs from 4:30 AM to 9:00 AM in 15-minute steps. If your bedtime is the fixed part, jump to the reverse chart, or enter it in the Sleep Calculator. This is general information, not medical advice.

How the Bedtime Chart Works

Sleep runs in repeating loops of lighter sleep, deep sleep and REM sleep. The Sleep Foundation says a typical night holds four to six of these cycles. The first is often the shortest, at 70 to 100 minutes, and later ones run 90 to 120 minutes, so 90 minutes is a convenient average, not a measurement. The chart counts back from your wake-up time in whole 90-minute cycles and leaves time to fall asleep:

Bedtime = wake-up time - (cycles x 90 minutes) - 15 minutes to fall asleep

The Sleep Foundation puts a normal time to fall asleep for most adults at about 10 to 20 minutes, so we use 15. If you usually take longer, move your bedtime earlier by the difference. A chart that skips this step lists 10:30 PM for 5 cycles before a 6:00 AM alarm, which is 15 minutes later than ours.

How many cycles should you aim for? The CDC recommends 7 or more hours for adults 18 to 60, so use the 5-cycle (7 hours 30 minutes) and 6-cycle (9 hours) columns on most nights. Four cycles is 6 hours: a short night, not a target.

Bedtime Chart by Wake-Up Time

Find your alarm time in the first column. Each time is when you should be in bed with the lights out the night before; 12:00 AM is midnight, so a time such as 1:15 AM falls after midnight. Every row has its own link, so you can bookmark or share the one for your wake-up time.

Check one row: for a 7:00 AM alarm and 5 cycles, 7:00 AM minus 7 hours 30 minutes is 11:30 PM, and 15 minutes to fall asleep makes lights out 11:15 PM. The 4-cycle column is amber because 6 hours is under the CDC's 7-hour minimum for adults 18 to 60. For other times or cycle lengths, use the Sleep Calculator.

Reverse Chart: When to Wake Up for Each Bedtime

If lights out is the fixed part, add 15 minutes to fall asleep and then whole cycles. In the first row, lights out at 9:00 PM means you fall asleep around 9:15 PM, and 5 cycles ends at 4:45 AM.

For any other bedtime, switch the Sleep Calculator to I am going to bed at and enter it, or press Use current time in that mode to see wake-up times if you lie down right now.

How Much Sleep You Need by Age

The chart is built for teens and adults. These are the CDC's daily totals from age 6 up, and the last column shows which cycle counts fit:

Take a teen who has to be up at 6:30 AM. The 6-cycle bedtime of 9:15 PM gives 9 hours, inside the CDC's 8 to 10; the 5-cycle bedtime of 10:45 PM gives 7 hours 30 minutes, just under. Children aged 3 to 5 need 10 to 13 hours with naps included, so for a child, count back from the CDC hours instead.

Why Cycle Timing Is Only an Estimate

A chart cannot see your sleep stages. It takes an average and does arithmetic, and cycles change even within one night: the Sleep Foundation says the first cycle is often the shortest, you spend the most time in deep sleep in the first half of the night, and REM stages get longer in the second half. A fixed 90-minute count may be off from your real cycle boundaries by morning.

The popular promise is that waking at the end of a cycle prevents grogginess. The evidence does not settle it. A 2019 review of sleep inertia, the slow, groggy feeling after waking, found mixed results on whether the depth of the sleep you wake from matters, and found that it is worse after sleep loss. So we do not claim the chart cures grogginess. It steers you toward 7 hours 30 minutes or more instead of a short night, which lines up with the CDC's hours.

Use it as a starting point. Pick a time, hold it for a week or two, and move it in 15-minute steps if you keep waking unrefreshed. The CDC advises going to bed and getting up at the same time every day, so put the steady schedule first and the cycle math second.

Worked Examples

A 6:30 AM alarm when you take 25 minutes to fall asleep

The 6:30 AM row shows 10:45 PM for 5 cycles, which uses 15 minutes to fall asleep. If you usually take 25 minutes, go 10 minutes earlier. Check: 6:30 AM minus 7 hours 30 minutes is 11:00 PM, and minus 25 more minutes is 10:35 PM.

In bed at 11:30 PM with a 6:30 AM alarm

You fall asleep around 11:45 PM, so you sleep 6 hours 45 minutes, which is 405 minutes or 4.5 cycles, and the alarm lands mid-cycle. Do not trim it to 6 hours (4 cycles, lights out at 12:15 AM) just to land on a boundary. Move lights out 45 minutes earlier, to 10:45 PM, for 7 hours 30 minutes (5 cycles).

Naps: 20 Minutes or a Full Cycle

The Sleep Foundation says the best nap for adults is about 20 minutes and no longer than 30, because napping more than 30 minutes can leave you groggy and slower after waking. The sleep inertia review above agrees that it is less likely after naps of 30 minutes or less. A nap of around an hour and a half, close to one cycle, may help shift workers and emergency workers because it lets the body move through the stages of sleep.

Timing matters too. Experts typically recommend napping at least eight hours before bedtime, which for most people is before 3 PM, and a nap too late in the day can contribute to nighttime sleep problems. With a 10:15 PM bedtime, eight hours earlier is 2:15 PM. Start the Countdown Timer when you lie down, set to 20 minutes (30 at most), so the nap includes the time it takes to drift off. On a phone, keep the screen on, since a locked screen can delay the sound.

Set the Alarm and Keep One Wake-Up Time

Once you have your time, set your alarm for it. On a computer, the Alarm Clock rings in your browser, so the tab must stay open with the computer awake and the sound on, and it holds one alarm that rings once. On a phone, use the phone's own clock app instead, because phone browsers often pause a page when the screen locks; the clock app also handles a repeating daily alarm.

Then protect the wake-up time. The CDC says every day, so that includes weekends. A check-off grid such as the Habit Tracker shows your streak of nights in bed by the chart time.

When to Talk to a Doctor

A chart cannot diagnose anything. The CDC advises talking to a healthcare provider if you regularly have problems sleeping or notice signs of a sleep disorder such as insomnia, restless legs syndrome, narcolepsy or sleep apnea. Worth raising:

• It regularly takes much longer than 20 to 30 minutes to fall asleep, which the Sleep Foundation says may point to insomnia or another sleep issue.
• You keep waking in the night and it affects your days.
• You feel very sleepy or tired in the day even after 7 or more hours in bed.
• Someone notices frequent loud snoring, gasping for air or breathing that starts and stops, which the NHLBI lists among signs of sleep apnea.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is 6 hours of sleep enough?

For most adults, no. The CDC recommends 7 or more hours for adults 18 to 60, and a joint statement from the American Academy of Sleep Medicine and the Sleep Research Society says that regularly sleeping less than 7 hours is associated with adverse health outcomes. In a 2003 experiment, volunteers limited to 6 hours in bed for 14 nights showed growing cognitive deficits, yet their own sleepiness ratings changed little after the first days, so feeling fine is not proof.

Is 4.5 hours of sleep better than 6?

No. Four and a half hours is 3 cycles, and it only looks better because it ends at a cycle boundary. A 2019 review found mixed evidence that the sleep stage you wake from matters, and found that sleep inertia is worse after sleep loss. A 2003 study found cognitive deficits that were dose-dependent, meaning they grew as time in bed shrank. For a 6:00 AM alarm, 4.5 hours of sleep means lights out at 1:15 AM, and 6 hours means 11:45 PM.

What time should I go to bed if I wake up at 5 AM?

Go to bed at 9:15 PM for 5 cycles (7 hours 30 minutes of sleep) or at 7:45 PM for 6 cycles (9 hours). A 10:45 PM bedtime gives 4 cycles, which is 6 hours and short for most adults. These times count 15 minutes to fall asleep and 90-minute cycles, so move them earlier if you usually take longer to drift off.

Why do I wake up at 3 AM every night?

The Sleep Foundation says waking may be more likely in the early morning hours because you spend more time in light sleep as the night goes on, and light sleep is easier to disturb. Common triggers are stress, alcohol and caffeine late in the day, light, noise, needing the bathroom and sleep apnea. Cleveland Clinic adds that your body can become conditioned to wake at a certain time, and suggests getting up for something calm if you are still awake after 15 to 20 minutes. Talk to a clinician if the waking affects your quality of life or comes with other health symptoms.

How long should it take to fall asleep?

The Sleep Foundation says about 10 to 20 minutes is normal for most adults, and the chart uses 15. Falling asleep almost immediately can be a sign of insufficient sleep or excessive sleepiness, and taking much longer than 20 to 30 minutes may indicate insomnia or another sleep issue. If your usual time is different, move your bedtime by the difference, or enter it in the Minutes to fall asleep field of the Sleep Calculator.

Sources

Figures and rules in this guide were checked against these references. The chart arithmetic is our own and matches the Sleep Calculator. This guide is general information, not medical advice.

• CDC, About Sleep: sleep by age, a steady schedule, when to talk to a provider
• Watson NF et al. AASM and Sleep Research Society consensus statement, Sleep 2015;38(6):843-844: 7 or more hours on a regular basis
• Sleep Foundation, Stages of Sleep (updated July 25, 2025): cycle count and length, deep sleep and REM across the night
• Sleep Foundation, Sleep Latency (updated July 21, 2026): normal time to fall asleep
• Hilditch CJ, McHill AW. Sleep inertia: current insights. Nat Sci Sleep 2019;11:155-165: sleep stage at waking, sleep loss, short naps
• Van Dongen HPA et al. Sleep 2003;26(2):117-126: 14 nights of 6 or 4 hours in bed
• Sleep Foundation, Napping (updated May 27, 2026): nap length and timing
• Sleep Foundation, Why Do I Wake Up at 3 am? (updated August 21, 2025): causes of early morning waking
• Cleveland Clinic, Up at 3 a.m.? This Could Be Why (2025): conditioning, what to do when awake
• NHLBI, Sleep Apnea Symptoms (updated January 9, 2025): signs to raise with a provider