Your heart rate at bedtime might be the single most important metric you're not tracking. While most people obsess over total sleep time, researchers and longevity experts like Bryan Johnson have identified pre-sleep heart rate as a powerful predictor of sleep quality and recovery.
What is Pre-Sleep Heart Rate?
Pre-sleep heart rate (also called bedtime resting heart rate) is your heart rate in the 30-60 minutes before you fall asleep. It reflects how prepared your body is for rest—whether your nervous system has shifted into recovery mode or whether it's still working on something else.
A lower pre-sleep heart rate indicates your parasympathetic nervous system (the "rest and digest" branch) is dominant. A higher one suggests your body is still in a more active state, often due to stress, stimulants, or digestion.
Why Pre-Sleep Heart Rate Predicts Sleep Quality
Research from a 2025 study in Frontiers in Physiology found that pre-sleep heart rate variability (HRV) and mean heart rate can predict sleep efficiency and total awakenings—two key markers of sleep quality. Athletes with better pre-sleep HRV metrics experienced fewer disruptions during the night.
The mechanism is straightforward: your body needs to be in a calm, low-metabolic state to achieve deep, restorative sleep. If your heart rate is elevated at bedtime, you're essentially trying to sleep while your body is still "on."
Bryan Johnson's Pre-Sleep Heart Rate Protocol
Bryan Johnson, the tech entrepreneur known for his rigorous Blueprint longevity protocol, considers resting heart rate at bedtime "the strongest predictor of sleep quality."
His target: 47-49 bpm at bedtime.
Here's what he's found through years of data:
- When his bedtime heart rate is in the high 40s, he gets optimal sleep quality
- When it's elevated to 55-58 bpm (usually from late eating), his sleep quality drops by approximately 30%
- At 65 bpm, he knows he's "in for a rough night and following day"
The key insight? Most of his heart rate elevation comes from one factor: digestion.
The Digestion-Heart Rate Connection
When you eat, your body redirects blood flow to your digestive system and increases metabolic activity. This is called the thermic effect of food. Research from Oura shows that big meals elevate your metabolism and resting heart rate before bed.
A 2020 study found that eating within three hours of bedtime led to more awakenings during the night and more disrupted sleep—even after adjusting for body mass index.
The digestive system releases enzymes and increases blood flow to the gastrointestinal tract. These responses elevate body temperature and metabolic rate, creating increased alertness that interferes with your natural transition into sleep. Heavy or high-fat meals can prolong this process for hours.
The Bedtime Consistency Factor
It's not just what you do before bed—it's when you go to bed. Research published in npj Digital Medicine found that going to bed even 30 minutes later than your normal bedtime was associated with a significantly higher resting heart rate throughout sleep.
This elevated heart rate persisted into the following day, only converging with normal levels by early evening. In other words, one late night can throw off your cardiovascular recovery for almost 24 hours.
What's a Good Pre-Sleep Heart Rate?
This varies by individual, but here are general guidelines:
| Fitness Level | Target Pre-Sleep HR | |---------------|---------------------| | Highly trained athletes | 40-50 bpm | | Fit adults | 50-60 bpm | | Average adults | 55-70 bpm | | Deconditioned | 65-80 bpm |
More important than absolute numbers is tracking your personal baseline and noticing what causes elevations.
How to Lower Your Pre-Sleep Heart Rate
1. Stop Eating Earlier
Bryan Johnson stops eating 9 hours before bed (his last meal is around 11 AM for an 8:30 PM bedtime). That's extreme, but the research supports earlier eating.
Start here:
- Minimum: Stop eating 2-3 hours before bed
- Better: 4-6 hours before bed
- Experiment: Track your bedtime heart rate and sleep quality with different cutoff times
If you must eat close to bedtime, choose easily digestible options under 200 calories with a higher protein-to-carbohydrate ratio.
2. Create a Wind-Down Routine
Stimulating thoughts—like replaying an argument or stressing about tomorrow—elevate heart rate and make it harder to relax. Johnson's approach includes an internal dialogue where he embraces his "professional sleeper" identity and writes down any intrusive thoughts to address the next day.
Effective wind-down activities:
- Dim lights 1-2 hours before bed
- Avoid screens or use night mode
- Light stretching or yoga
- Breathing exercises (try 4-7-8 breathing)
- Reading (not on a bright screen)
- Journaling to externalize racing thoughts
3. Avoid Late-Day Stimulants
Caffeine has a half-life of 5-6 hours, meaning half of that afternoon coffee is still in your system at bedtime. Cut off caffeine by early afternoon at the latest.
Alcohol is also problematic. While it might make you feel relaxed, it elevates heart rate during sleep and disrupts sleep architecture.
4. Time Your Exercise Right
Intense exercise temporarily elevates heart rate and body temperature. Allow 3-4 hours between vigorous workouts and bedtime for your system to return to baseline.
Morning exercise can actually help by reinforcing your circadian rhythm and allowing full recovery by evening.
5. Optimize Your Sleep Environment
Your body needs to drop its core temperature for sleep. A cool room (65-68°F / 18-20°C) helps your heart rate settle:
- Use blackout curtains
- Keep the room cool
- Consider a fan for white noise and airflow
- Remove electronic devices that emit heat or light
6. Manage Stress Throughout the Day
Chronic stress keeps your sympathetic nervous system activated, making it harder to shift into recovery mode at night. Research from the MIDUS II study linked poor sleep quality and reduced HRV to metabolic syndrome.
Regular stress management practices—meditation, time in nature, social connection—help your nervous system become more resilient.
How to Track Pre-Sleep Heart Rate
Most wearables can track this, though few highlight it as a specific metric:
- Apple Watch: Check your heart rate in the Health app around your typical bedtime
- Oura Ring: Shows "lowest resting heart rate" and graphs your overnight curve
- Whoop: Tracks recovery metrics including resting heart rate trends
- Fitbit: Records continuous heart rate during sleep
The key is consistency in measurement. Check your heart rate at the same time each night—ideally 15-30 minutes before you typically fall asleep—and log what you ate, when, and any other relevant factors.
Over time, you'll start seeing clear patterns. That's when pre-sleep heart rate becomes truly useful as a feedback mechanism for your evening habits.
The Cardiovascular Health Connection
Beyond sleep quality, there's a deeper reason to care about pre-sleep heart rate. During healthy sleep, your heart rate, blood pressure, and cardiac output naturally drop—a phenomenon called nocturnal dipping. This adaptive process reduces cardiovascular workload and protects your arteries.
If you go to bed with an elevated heart rate, you're starting from a disadvantage. Your system has to work harder to achieve that protective dip, and it may not get there fully.
Research consistently shows that sleep disturbances contribute to cardiovascular disease, including hypertension, coronary artery disease, and heart failure.
Bottom Line
Pre-sleep heart rate is an underappreciated metric that reflects how prepared your body is for recovery. The research supports what biohackers like Bryan Johnson have discovered through self-experimentation: a calm, low heart rate at bedtime predicts better sleep quality, deeper recovery, and better next-day function.
The biggest lever most people have? Meal timing. Stop eating earlier, track your bedtime heart rate, and see for yourself how digestion affects your sleep.
Your ideal routine will be personal—some people do fine eating 3 hours before bed, others need 5-6 hours. The data will tell you. Start tracking, experiment with earlier meal cutoffs, and let your heart rate guide you to better sleep.