Each year, 20% to 40% of adults experience difficulty sleeping, whether falling asleep, staying asleep, or waking tired. The use of sleeping pills doubled between 2000 and 2004, even though many doctors feel that these medications may cause more problems than they solve.

However, there are steps you can take to improve your sleep:

• Don’t take a nap during the day. You want to be tired at bedtime.
• Avoid exercising late in the day. Morning or early afternoon is best.
• If you are taking prescription medications, make sure to take them at the time of day specified.
• Starting six hours before bedtime, don’t smoke or drink caffeine or alcohol. This includes, coffee, tea, and, unfortunately, chocolate.
• Starting six hours before bedtime, don’t eat spicy, sugary, or heavy foods.
• It’s okay to have a light snack in the evening. And warm milk really can help you sleep!
• Stop drinking liquids a few hours before you go to bed so that you don’t have to get up to use the bathroom.
• Do something quiet and soothing before bedtime.
• Learn some relaxation exercises to do before you go to bed (for instance, you can focus on your breathing or relax each of your muscles in turn, or do yoga).
• Listen to soothing music before bedtime.
• If worrying keeps you awake, take some time each day to write down your concerns or “to‐do” items. You may even come up with some constructive problem‐solving ideas that can help put your mind more at ease.
• Don’t watch TV or read in bed.
• Keep a regular sleep schedule, even on weekends. Your body works in cycles and will appreciate the regular rhythms.
• Use a mattress that allows your spine to be straight when you are sleeping on your side. For larger people, this may mean a softer mattress. For thinner people, a firmer mattress may be better.
• Keep your sleeping room cool, dark, and quiet. Earplugs or a white noise machine can help you to deal with noise.
• If you snore heavily and experience daytime sleepiness, you might want to talk with your healthcare provider about being tested for sleep apnea, which can cause significant sleep disruption and can put sufferers at risk for serious health problems.
• Don’t take over‐the‐counter sleeping pills without talking to your doctor first. And never take a friend’s prescription sleeping pills (or any other type of pills).
• Turn your clock away from you.
• If you don’t fall asleep within 20 minutes or so, get up, go to another room, and read something that’s not too exciting or take a warm bath—and don’t turn on a lot of lights. Don’t watch TV.
• Try to use the snooze alarm only once each morning.
• Be sure to get some sun every day. This will help to set and maintain your body clock.
• If these methods don’t solve your sleep problems, talk to your doctor and don’t just shrug off the problem. We don’t know what sleep is, but we do know that we need it!