Work hard, sleep harder

Cut down screen time
You may be logging in to your email account or maybe watching a movie every night before you go to sleep, or even playing a game on your mobile, and SMSing your friends while at it. You may only be killing time and waiting for your eyes to get droopy. However, that’s exactly what you shouldn’t be doing. When you sit in front of a computer monitor or maybe a TV, it stimulates the brain and makes it even more difficult for you to sleep. Simply put, darkness makes the body realise that it’s bedtime and exposure to light interferes with the body clock by creating a fake sense of alertness.

Exercise enhances sleep
Exercising has many benefits – good sleep being one of them, provided you exercise in the morning or at the most during the afternoon. Research has shown that those who follow a regular fitness schedule during the day sleep much better during the night. However, those who exercise just before bedtime enjoy no such benefits.

Eat right
Remember the age old trick of having warm milk before going to bed? It was certainly not without a reason. Some foods are more beneficial for a good night’s sleep as compared to others. Eating fruits like bananas and pears and foods like whole wheat bread help one sleep better. So does having a glass of warm milk, or hot chocolate. Going by that logic, if you find yourself struggling to keep your eyes open during the day, make sure you cut down on similar foods in your day time meal.

The power nap
The benefits of a power nap have been recognised all across the world, with more and more companies even moving a step ahead and providing ‘power nap’ breaks for its employees. Depending on how feasible it is for you, get a power nap when you are feeling exhausted. It energises you and provides the same benefits as a sound sleep in the night.

Avoid the strong Alarm
You are enjoying your beauty sleep and suddenly your buzzer (that sounds more like the emergency fire alarm) goes off. As a result, you wake up, extremely startled, and ready to spend the rest of your day in a zombie like state, and with a severe headache. However, the catch-22 situation is that anything mild will not wake you up. In cases like these, use the dual alarm system. Set up a soft alarm (that can be heard) near your bed and the fire alarm-like buzzer away from you and set to go off exactly two minutes after the softer alarm. This way, you won’t be jolted from sleep and yet have the stronger backup to pull you out of bed.

Visualise
Few things in life are as frustrating as lying on the bed and waiting for sleep to take over. And it gets worse every passing second and as you get desperate for sleep that simply refuses to come by. The problem in this case is your overactive mind that’s still focusing on the fact that you are not getting sleep. Visualise a beautiful beach, breathe in and out and use meditation techniques to get your mind off the issue.