Sleep Hygiene Tips

Tips for More Sound Sleep 

1. Go bland before bedtime. To fall asleep quickly, avoid caffeine, nicotine and alcohol for at least four hours before you go to bed. 
2. Be predictable. Go to bed around the same time every night, and try to follow a similar routine. 
3. Don’t toss and turn. If you can't sleep after 20 minutes, get out of bed and do something else. 
4. Save the bed for sleep and sex. Avoid paying bills, reading the paper or watching TV in bed. 
5. Take a bath. When your body gets ready for sleep, your temperature drops. A bath may nudge your bedtime biochemistry along. 
6. Exercise early. If you exercise, do it before dinner, not after. 
7. Get dark. People usually sleep best in a cool, dark environment. Invest in heavy drapes if city lights glare outside. 
8. Grab a snack. It's hard to sleep hungry, so try a light snack before bedtime. Some researchers think tryptophan, a chemical found in milk, naturally induces sleep. 
9. Cut naps short. If you have trouble falling asleep, consider avoiding naps. At the very least, limit them to less than an hour before mid-afternoon. 
10. Deal with stress. If daytime troubles keep you awake, try jotting notes about ways to deal with them. Leave stress at the bedroom door, if you can. 
11. Counting backwards.  If you find it hard to get worrying thoughts out of your mind, count backwards from 1000 taking away 7 each time.
12. Relaxation tape.  If you find it hard to wind down, listen to a relaxation tape prior to settling down to sleep.
13. Drinking milk.  Drinking milk prior to going to bed, increases your calcium levels, which calms the nervous system, making it easier to relax.
14. Spots on ceiling.  If you go to bed, but find that you cannot sleep, you can focus on a point on your ceiling just outside of your visual field, this will make your eyes tired and help you to fall asleep.
15. Stop clock watching.  Sometimes when it is difficult to fall asleep, there is a tendency to keep looking at the clock.  This clock watching, increases your worry and prevents you from settling to sleep.  Therefore, turn the clock around, or move it out of sight, since if the alarm is set, you will still wake up on time.