RazzWorks

1
This first one for most people is a no-brainer, however, I should mention it just in case.
Your body knows how much sleep it needs, so you don’t have to worry about it. When you’re tired you need rest, therefore if it’s night you should not resist by staying up just go to bed and go to sleep now while you can.

2
So you go to bed for the night and you want to sleep now but you can’t seem to fall asleep. What I do is similar to the old advice to count sheep. I just count up to 100 and back down while breathing slowly. Most times I just doze right off.

However on rare occasions when it does not work don’t try to force yourself to sleep. It rarely works for most people. Maybe counting does not work at all for you. Simply get up out of bed, go make a warm herbal tea if you have any, sit in the living room, and do some light reading. If it’s not too cold go sit outside and stare at the stars. Once you start to feel a little tired head back to bed.

3
Try for the most part to head to bed around the same time each evening. I don’t mean you should go at exactly something o’clock, however, generally around the same time. Your tiredness might fluctuate a little bit though for the most part it will usually be around the same time each evening and as soon as you put your head on the pillow your body wants to go to sleep now.

4
To get good quality sleep it’s best to have an evening routine rather than going by the clock. At first, it can be difficult if you’re used to always going by the clock. Going to school you’re told to go to bed early. You get a job that requires you to be there at a certain hour so you base your sleep around that. Again I suggest it’s better to go by a routine instead.

5
In warmer climates or seasons, it helps to have a warm bath before going to bed. It makes the bed feel nice and cool and inviting. It’s been known to help you to fall into a deeper sleep too, which is a nice bonus.

6
Try to avoid oversleeping. Sleeping in can confuse your internal clock. So if you want the best rest possible get up when your body wakes up even if it happens to be a little earlier than usual.

7
For your body to get the best sleep it can get you need to treat your bed as a place for sleeping. Not for reading, playing games, watching TV, working on your laptop or tablet, or texting. Not for studying, working out, phone calls, or homework. Use your bed for sleeping and this way your body will know when you shut off the lights and lay your head on the pillow it’s supposed to stop being alert and go to sleep now.

Bonus: Naps, do or don’t, it’s up to you.

If you deal with fatigue or sleep apnea naps can be good. This doesn’t mean you have to nap every day or at the same time. I do nap sometimes, sometimes 2 or 3 times on the same day. Then there are odd days here and there where I don’t have a nap at all. In general, naps work for me, however, I have had days where I felt worse after a nap. So for me, naps are good but do not follow any predictable pattern.

Even though they work for me I want to also point out naps are not good if you suffer from insomnia. If the goal is to sleep more during the night napping can interfere with that. If you’re having a hard time going to sleep at night, and you do nap each evening, stop for a while and see how that works out for you.

So to nap or not to nap, that is the question. This one you will have to experiment with for yourself. I certainly don’t want you to be in the middle of the night, asleep, strutting around the kitchen, accomplishing nothing. lol

Razz