by Emily Monaco

Created on: October 10, 2007

There are several obvious things to avoid before going to bed, such as coffee and caffeinated tea. However, if you are still having trouble sleeping, some habits you weren't even aware of could be the culprit:

1. Time your dinner appropriately. You don't want to go to bed hungry, but eating too close to bedtime could give you indigestion and make it difficult to sleep. Leaving at least an hour between the last thing you eat and the time you go to bed should help this situation, but time it even further apart if you can. It's difficult to eat heavily in the afternoon with our busy work schedules, but ideally, your largest meal should be lunch with a light supper. If you can't do this, try eating several lighter meals, one at noon, one at three, and one around six or seven.

2. Don't drink too much water, or too much of any liquid for that matter, before going to bed. It may make you have to use the bathroom, which will make it difficult to relax enough to go to sleep.

3. Don't overstimulate your body. You make think that exercising before bed will tire you out, but the endorphins will make it difficult to relax your muscles. Time your workouts to end at least an hour before bedtime, so you have time to let your body relax and come back down to its resting state.

4. Don't overstimulate your mind. Watching loud television programs or listening to fast-paced rock music may make your mind race, which makes it hard to sleep. Read a quiet book before bed, or sit and relax with classical music.

5. Don't work in bed. Separating working and sleeping has been proven to aid in more restful sleep. If you can, keep your office and your bedroom separate: work in the living room. If this isn't possible, then at least try to take your mind off your work an hour before you go to bed, and put all your work away before trying to go to sleep so that your mind isn't racing before bed.

Please also bear in mind that even famous insomniacs like Bill Clinton simply don't realize how tired they are. Most of us need between six and eight hours of sleep a night, so you should be aiming for this amount. Trying to go to sleep and get up at the same time of the day should help as well, as your body gets used to this sleeping schedule and will use the regained energy more efficiently when it senses that your sleep cycles are regular.

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