Can't Sleep? Try These Tips Before Popping A Sleeping Pill

Your sleep schedule, bedtime habits, and day-to-day lifestyle choices can make an enormous difference to the quality of your nightly rest, if you find yourself tossing and turning every night.


These simple sleep tips can help you optimize your sleep so you are mentally sharp and productive in the day.

• Stick to a sleep schedule: Go to bed and get up at the same time every day, even on weekends, holidays and days off. Being consistent reinforces your body's sleep- wake cycle and helps promote better sleep at night. 
•  Avoid sleeping in—even on weekends or nights you’ve stayed up late: It can be tempting to sleep in on weekends, but even a couple hour difference in wake time disrupts your internal clock. The more your weekend/weekday sleep schedules differ, the worse the jetlag-like symptoms you’ll experience. 
• Control your exposure to light: Melatonin is a naturally occurring hormone controlled by light exposure that helps regulate your sleep-wake cycle. During the day, expose yourself to bright sunlight, let in as much natural light as possible into your home or workspace. At night,  avoid bright screens within two hours to your bedtime and make sure the room is dark when you are about to sleep.
• Pay attention to what you eat and drink: Don't go to bed either hungry or stuffed. Your discomfort might keep you up. Also limit how much you drink before bed, to prevent disruptive middle-of-the-night trips to the toilet. 

     Cut down on caffeine, nicotine and alcohol consumption too. The stimulating effects of nicotine and caffeine take hours to wear off and can wreak havoc on quality sleep. And even though alcohol might make you feel sleepy at first, it can disrupt sleep later in the night.

• Limit daytime naps: Long daytime naps can interfere with nighttime sleep — especially if you're struggling with insomnia or poor sleep quality at night. If you choose to nap during the day, limit yourself to about 10 to 30 minutes and make it during the midafternoon.
• Manage stress: When you have too much to do — and too much to think about — your sleep is likely to suffer. To help restore peace, consider healthy ways to manage stress. 

    

    If despite your effort at self-help you still have trouble sleeping, contact your doctor. Identifying and treating any underlying causes can help you get the better sleep you deserve.