6. Keep it Bright in the Morning and Dark at Night

A dark, quiet sleep environment is critical to a good night's sleep. Even a little bit of light can wake your body up, undermining sleep quality. On the flip side, bright light in the morning is critical to getting fully awake, and the more awake you are in the morning, the more deeply you’ll sleep that night.

7. Eat More Tryptophan

Tryptophan is an amino acid that your body converts into melatonin, which is the primary chemical that puts you to sleep. Most people don’t eat nearly enough Tryptophan. Tryptophan is found in free range turkey and chicken, grass fed diary products, and avocado. Look for grass fed yogurt and milk at health food stores, and try a warm glass before bed. With grass fed milk, as opposed to normal commercial milk, this actually works. Alternatively, Tryptophan can be bought on the web and added to meals. Add a gram to a gram and a half of pharmaceutical grade tryptophan (with B6 and B3 if you can find it)  to your dinner to help with sleep.

8. No Caffeine after 3pm

Even if you’re sure it doesn’t affect you, caffeine inevitably disrupts sleep chemistry. It takes at least 8 hours from the time your drink it to clear the majority of caffeine from your body, so if you have a cup of coffee, or even a diet soda, after 3, you’ll have more difficulty falling asleep that night.

9. Watch the Sunset

Watching the sunset is a great way to wind down the day. As discussed our bodies have been using the setting of the sun as a queue to go to sleep for millions of years. This is probably part of why we find sunsets so very calming.

10. Try to Get to Sleep and Wake Up at the Same Time Every Day 

Our bodies are meant to maintain a consistent sleep rhythm. Ideally this rhythm involves going to sleep around 9:30pm and waking around 6:30am. For many people this isn’t realistic, but the coser you can get to this the better. In any event, to get the most out of the time you spend sleeping, it’s critical to go to bed and wake up at around the same times every day. This will help your body develop a consistent sleep rhythm, which will make it easier to fall asleep, and help you to sleep more deeply as well. Try to get to bed before 11:30pm and wake up by 9am, and hold to this schedule 6 nights per week.