Ask HM: How do you get good sleep?

This is not medical advice. See a doctor to check for underlying illness causing insomnia.

1) Concentrate on sleep hygiene first.

(http://www.nhs.uk/Livewell/insomnia/Documents/sleepdiary.pdf)

(http://www.cks.nhs.uk/insomnia/management/scenario_insomnia/...)

(http://www.papworthrssc.nhs.uk/sleep-services-hygiene.php)

You'll see that routine is important. Develop a "going to bed" routine. For some people that will be having a shower at wearing particular clothing. Others will have a warm milky drink then brush their teeth. The routine is important because it 'tells' your body that it's time for sleep.

2) You might find that sleep hygiene is still not enough. You could try one of the z drugs for a week to help kick your body back into a routine.

3) If that doesn't work you can try CBT for insomnia. It's hard to find quality CBT for insomnia.

Here are a few things that have worked for me.

* No soda - I found soda messed with my body chemistry quite a bit, also affecting my sleep patterns. I sleep and feel better without it.

* No caffeine after 12pm - I have most of my caffeine between 6-8 AM, with the occasional cup of coffee before lunch.

* Very little alcohol on work nights - More than two beers/one cocktail, I've found, contributes to a really poor quality sleep for me.

* Wake up between 5-6 AM, reading in bed by 9 PM (sleeping by 10 usually). Getting into a routine helps me set aside the 7-8 hours of sleep I need each night.

* Exercise - I go to a personal trainer 3x a week after work, and do cardio on the off days. This helps get me to sleep at night, since I'll usually be pretty tired after workouts.

* Eliminate stress at work - I found that for a few months, big projects at work were keeping me up at night. I had to consciously stop thinking about work in my personal time, which helped me sleep.

The single best thing that helps me consistently to get restful enough sleep that I wake up feeling refreshed the next day is to be OUTSIDE (not just indoors in bright light, but actually outside in daylight) doing aerobic exercise such as walking or biking somewhere where I need to be to accomplish some task. (We chose our housing location to be near a city trail so that we can walk or bike to the public library and to the bank and to much of our shopping. Our son who attends the local high school can walk or bike there too.) Generally, people who get outside (for light exposure to reset their biological clock) and exercise (for physical tiredness and mental relaxation) sleep fairly well. As DanBC correctly points out in his top-level comment, you may need medical advice for persistent insomnia, but if what he advises and what I advise here works for you, great. Good luck.

I used to find sleeping hard. The best solution i have found so far is really simple.

-Stop thinking so much!!!

A few years ago, i asked my brother (who somehow falls asleep within 5 minutes every time) what he dreams about. He responded, saything that he does not dream! I was like, yea right. Who doesn't dream! Then, the otherday i found this really interesting article on how to fall asleep faster. They went on to say that although there are alot of factors that affect us (light, food, water etc), the biggest reason we are not sleeping easily is because we are just thinking too much!

It's really not hard, just try not to think about anything analytical. Dream of flowers, clouds etc (don't count sheep), just don't dream of anything that makes you think.

I now see why my brother fell asleep so fast, it's because he wasn't thinking. (well, he probably was but not nearly as much as what I was).

I have a weird problem that when I'm around people I fall asleep before midnight, when I'm alone for several days I start staying up way too late (1:00am and beyond). Normally after work (which can be anytime between 4:30pm and 6:00pm) I have to start winding down and stop thinking about all the work I did and have to do. I either read for 1-2 hours right after work or exercise such as yoga, running or soccer. That calms me down mentally and I go home, cook dinner, watch one tv show or play on my 360, shower and then iron my clothes for the next day. Showering and ironing clothes send a clear signal that it's time to go to bed.

I find that when I've been working late my mind is a mess of racing thoughts and it's impossible to get to sleep quickly.

What I have been doing lately is listening to audiobooks, which really help to prevent my thoughts from jumping around. My books of choice have been the Harry Potter series (the ones read by Stephen Fry, of course) - his voice is really soothing, and the books are (generally) not too loud, or varying in volume. I find that generally I fall asleep within about 10-15 minutes of starting.

The worst thing is that I struggle to get to sleep without it now.

I listen to BBC Radio 4 podcasts on my iPod.

I think a key think is when you finally lie down and shut your eyes, have something "neutral" to think about until you drop off. EG Do not think about how you have too much to do at work, instead think about something harmless like (daft examples) what your perfect PC would look like, how you would spend a lottery win, etc. Or listen to a Radio 4 podcast on a subject that mildly interests you.

Here are a few things that work for me:

  - Limit the number of hours you're in front of a screen during the day.
  - Don't look at any screen past 5 p.m
  - Don't exhaust yourself mentally during the day, stay focused.
  - Exercise regularly.
  − Go outside.
  - Don't concentrate on hard problems a few hours before going to bed. Relax.

This post is already 14 hours behind, but here's what worked for groggy mornings. Groggy mornings are attributed to a dehydrated body.

1) Drink couple of (large) glasses of water.

2) First thing you do after waking up, is drink water. Cold water - better.

Try it for a week. Good luck.

* Work out - Exhaust yourself

* Meditation - Empty the mind. Inculcate thoughtless awareness

* Yoga - Stretch the stress out of the body, let it relax

I barely get any sleep (too busy making things) and when I do, it's great. So get less sleep and it will all be great!

Reading a book in a sleeping position helps a lot. I usually fall asleep after 10 pages. You should try it.

Personally, I generally don't.

Simplest way: get exhaustively I-can't-keep-my-eyes-open-tired.

Don't sleep 10 hours every day. Wake up at 6:30am starting tomorrow. Go to sleep when you get tired. Repeat.

It also helps to do things in the real world. If you're spending all your time inside not moving around very much, you'll end up with that annoying situation where it's 2am, you're tired, but you can't fall asleep.