Trying to get a Mac to automatically sleep after a certain period of time can be

frustrating. Several things can interrupt the process, including network activity and
stubborn apps. Luckily, you can use a handy tab in Activity Monitor to quickly
diagnose what might be preventing your Mac from sleeping. Here’s how.

First, let’s open “Activity Monitor.” You can locate the app in your Applications >
Utilities folder, or you can use “Spotlight.” Click the “magnifying glass” icon in your
menu bar, or press Command+Space. When a search bar pops up, type “activity
monitor” and hit “Return.”

When Activity Monitor opens, click the “Energy” tab.

In the “Energy” tab, you will see a list of active processes (apps and background
system functions) with information on their energy impact. Look for a column header
labeled “Preventing Sleep,” and click it.
If you see a “Yes” listed in the “Preventing Sleep” column, then your Mac will not
automatically engage sleep mode while that process is still active. If it’s a process
you recognize, you can wait for an active task to finish, or try to “Quit” the app. If it’s
a process that is not behaving as you expect or is refusing to close, you can force it
to quit.

To force a process to close in Activity Monitor (on any tab), select the process in the
list and click the “Stop” button, which looks like a small octagon with an “X” inside.

When Activity Monitor asks you to confirm, click “Force Quit.” After that, if that
process was the only thing holding up your Mac’s sleep mode from engaging, then
your Mac should go to sleep the next time you expect it to.

If Your Mac Still Won’t Sleep

If you didn’t find an app preventing sleep listed in Activity Monitor, you can dig
deeper into the problem using a command line tool called pmset. However, that tool
requires much deeper Mac troubleshooting experience to figure out the cause of the
sleep problem.

Whatever happens, don’t stay up all night trying to figure it out—remember to get
some sleep yourself. If you’re having trouble, try a glass of warm milk. Good luck!