How to Get a Good Night's Sleep

We've all heard about or read about someone, usually an elderly person, that no longer requires any sleep. For the rest of us, however, sleep is a requirement as important as eating and drinking liquids. Sometimes our sleep cycles get out of kilter for no apparent reason. Here are some tips to help reset your internal clock and get you back to sleeping like the sweet innocent baby's we see on occasion in the stores or in church.

Try to get up at about the same time every day. Sleeping later (because you lost sleep the night before) can mess with your internal clock and may start a bad habit.

When you get up in the morning use sunlight to help jump start you. If you live in an area with a lower sunlight ratio then turn on a few brighter lights for an hour or so in the morning and make sure to sit under them. This helps to maintain your internal clock. When its light, you are awake. When its dark, you are sleepy and tired.

Get plenty of exercise but not too close to bedtime or you body will still be all wound up from exercising. Start your day with a walk and perhaps a nice walk after dinner. If you like to work out at the gym make sure to do it mid day or before dinner to give your body a cool down time.

Don't take naps. Its fine to take a short break for about 20 minutes and a smaller power nap but do not allow yourself the luxury of a nap longer than about 20 minutes. This will keep you from being tired and ready for bed at bedtime.

Avoid caffeine and other stimulants within 4 hours of your routine bedtime.

Stick to a routine and go to bed at the same time every night. If you find that you seem to be only requiring 5 to 6 hours of sleep readjust your schedule and reset bedtime to a later time.

If noise at night is a factor (noisy neighbors or children still up doing homework etc.), use a fan in your room, a cd player with nature sounds or ocean sounds. Learning to fall asleep to soothing sounds is often very relaxing. Blocking outside sound from your room can be very beneficial to sleep.