Action Steps:

1. Engineer your Sleep Environment

A quiet, dark, comfortably cool sleep environment is a necessity for quality sleep. If you are in a brightly lit neighborhood, invest in some quality blinds and curtains to block out light from outside. Turn off any appliances in your bed room that have LCD displays, and put your alarm clock at the opposite end of the room from the head of your bed facing the wall so that any light it gives off won’t be in your eyes. Turn off any noisy machines, and if there is noise from the outside that you can’t do anything about, consider getting a sound machine. Some people find that the white noise, sea sounds, nature sounds, and other sounds these machines put out help them sleep more deeply. Alternatively, try using wax earplugs.

2. Meditate Before Bed

Meditation is a great way to calm your body down and prepare it for sleep. See our Meditation Tutorial for more.

3. Nap if you Can

Afternoon naps are a great way to recharge, and as long as you don’t nap too long (keep it under 80 minutes) or to late (don’t nap past 3pm or 4pm in the afternoon), an afternoon nap can actually help you sleep more deeply at night. This is because afternoon naps can help regulate your circadian rhythm (see Stay Energized Naturally for more of the circadian rhythm). Our bodies are meant to take a rest break in the early afternoon (12:30pm-2pm is ideal). Presumably, our ancestors had to siesta after lunch to avoid the hottest time of the day. Long Naps before noon or after 4pm aren’t a great idea. They mess up your circadian rhythm, and will generally leave you more tired and make it hard to fall alseep come bed time. Short power naps in the late afternoon are OK if you're really feeling exhausted (alternatively, try exercising for 10 minutes to wake up) but be careful about any napping in the evening. It will almost inevitably make it hard for you to fall asleep that night.