7 Cheap(ish) Things for a Good Night’s Sleep

If you have noisy neighbors or active pets, or you live in an area where street noise keeps you up at night, you may benefit from sleep earplugs. We found that Mack’s Slim Fit Soft Foam Earplugs blocked the most noise of any foam earplugs in our pink-noise, snoring, and traffic tests. They’re inexpensive and easy to compress, and this pack has 50 pairs.

If you prefer some ambient noise at night, a white noise machine could be a good noise-blocking solution. Our top pick, the LectroFan EVO, offers a wide range of options that sound clear and rich. In testing, it satisfied our noise-blocking standards, with different sound settings blocking out freeway traffic, party chatter, drilling, and more. If you’d rather have the machine shut off after you’ve fallen asleep, this device lets you set a timer in 60-minute increments. And you can choose from several fan sounds or two types of ocean-wave sounds.

If you tend to have a restless mind, adding meditation to your pre-bedtime routine can make falling asleep easier. Our free meditation app pick, Healthy Minds Program, offers goals-driven, user-friendly guided meditations that are great for those who are new to the practice. The meditation program is surprisingly customizable for a free app, but it’s a bit more limited in content offerings compared with our top pick, Headspace.

A comfortable set of sheets can make all the difference in the quality of your sleep. We are partial to the Target Threshold 400 Thread Count Solid Performance Sheet Set for its excellent quality at an affordable price.

These warm, sateen-weave sheets are just as soft as pricier sheets, for a fraction of the cost. They’re slightly less breathable than the L.L.Bean percale sheets we like, so they may not be the best sheets for hot sleepers. But if you love silky fabric, these budget sheets will be comfortable and durable enough for regular use.

Since bright, artificial light (especially blue light) in the evening can affect sleep, you may want to reconsider your nighttime lighting. By replacing your regular light bulbs with smart LED bulbs, you can create custom dimming schedules and reduce blue light at the same time by changing color temperature. The Wiz 60W A19 Color LED Smart Bulb, our new top pick, connects to the Wiz app over Wi-Fi, so you can create unique lighting combinations and schedules. It also offers a Circadian Rhythm mode, which changes the light throughout the day according to your custom wake and sleep schedule.

If you’re traveling, sharing a room with a partner who wakes earlier than you, or staying in a sunny vacation rental or hotel room, a sleep mask might be a helpful light-blocking solution for light sleepers. Our longtime top pick—the lightweight, contoured Nidra Deep Rest Eye Mask—fits comfortably on several face shapes and doesn’t press down on eyelids during sleep.

We’ve found that it stays in place best for those who sleep on their back or those sleeping upright due to travel or medical conditions. Side- or stomach-sleepers may prefer the Alaska Bear Natural Silk Sleep Mask. The Alaska Bear mask does put more pressure on your eyes, but its flat design and adjustable strap make it more difficult to knock off during sleep.

Scrolling on your phone late into the night can seriously disrupt your sleep. If you want to minimize screen time in the evenings, leave your phone outside your bedroom, and use an alarm clock to wake up instead. Our top pick, the DreamSky Compact Digital Alarm Clock, is inexpensive and intuitive to set, with a dial to adjust the alarm volume. And, just as you can with most phone alarms, you can snooze it in nine-minute increments to get a few extra minutes of shut-eye.

This article was edited by Alexander Aciman and Catherine Kast.