10 Ways To Sleep Better

Cool Your Room
This is an easy one to do, just make your room colder when you sleep at night. Nobody likes a hot pillow so we don't need science and studies to help us on this one. But if you want those stats then check out the info on this sleep study. They found that insomniacs who wore a special cooling hat to bed fell asleep faster than an average sleeper without the hat. They also stayed asleep just as long as an average sleeper.

Stick To A Sleep Schedule
Got bed at the same time each night and get up at the same time each morning. This includes weekends, holidays, and any other days you don't have to work. Consistency reinforces your body's sleep cycle.

Avoid TV And Computer Screens
Screens give off a blue light that could mess with your body's melatonin production. They sort of trick your body into thinking it's time to be awake. That could make it more difficult for your body to fall asleep. Avoid screens from TVs, phones, tablets, and computers at least an hour before bedtime. When it's unavoidable, try using an app that filters the blue light out of your screen. See Twilight App Review for an android solution or F.lux for PC

What What You Eat
Going to bed hungry or overly full is not a good idea and could keep you up at night. Limit the food items you eat near bedtime and especially avoid caffeine, nicotine, and alcohol. Avoid drinking too many fluids in general at night to avoid getting up to use the bathroom.

Fall Asleep Fast Or Get Up
If you can't fall asleep in around 20 minutes you may be better off getting up for a bit. Laying in bed worrying about not falling asleep won't help you any. Instead, get up and go to another room. Listen to some quiet and relaxing music or read a book. Avoid computer and TV screens. Then come back in 20-30 minutes and try again.

Drink Cherry Juice
Studies have shown that drinking 8 ounces of tart cherry juice can help you fall asleep faster and stay asleep longer. Tart cherries have melatonin in them which help you sleep. Read Better Sleep With Cherry Juice for more information. This trick has worked great for me.

Make Your Room Dark & Quiet
Just like a cool room can help you sleep better, a dark and quiet room can as well. Try black out shades on the windows or even cover them in tinfoil for a cheap test. Remove things that make noise like ceiling fan with an annoying tick. Pull the plug on things that have LED (or other) status lights on them (including routers, cable modems, power strips, etc).

White Noise
Although you generally want a quiet room when sleeping, white noise may help. You can buy a white noise generator to help. Or, try using a fan. Not a ceiling fan, but a window fan or an upright fan on a pole. Put it on the low setting and blow the air near you or right on you (depending on what you prefer). A gentle breeze combined with the white noise may help.

Fresh Air
When possible, open a window and let fresh air in while you sleep. Assuming it's not noisy out this is could make sleeping easier for you. If it's hot outside and you are running the air conditioning, you can still crack a window an inch to get a little fresh air. On colder nights open it up as you'll get the benefits of fresh air as well as cooler air. I use this window fan to blow in fresh, cool air.

Clean Sheets
I don't have any scientific studies to back this one up, but clean sheets help me sleep better. You're already washing your bed sheets weekly, right? If not, you should be. Anything less is a bit gross. Try washing them weekly and enjoy the feeling of clean sheets. If that works you could even clean them twice a week. It's a pain in the butt for sure, but clean sheets just feel better. Buy two sets and wash both sets together each weekend. Put one freshly washed set on your bed on the weekend, then swap to the other clean set on Wednesday. Repeat each weekend.