Counting Sheep

     Recently I have been having some trouble sleeping.  Some nights, I stay up until around 3 in the morning wide awake.  When I finally go to sleep, I wake up at 8 or 9 am completely exhausted!  As you can guess, this is not going to be acceptable when I go back to work next week.  While I was up all of those hours, I did some research (I know, probably not a great idea when trying to sleep).  I found the two websites below helpful.  Since the sites have a lot of ideas, I posted the ones that stood out to me below.  So far, my sleep patterns have actually gotten better!  I'm not really a fan of medications, so I hope this doesn't become a consist issue that needs a prescription.  Hope these help you also!

Mind Body Green
Greatist

~If you don't fall asleep instantly, don't be too hard on yourself.
I'm definitely guilty of this one!  If not asleep within 15 minutes, I instantly start thinking about how terrible the next day is going to be.  These thoughts actually make falling asleep even worse.  It's almost like you sabotage yourself!

~Establish a regular bed time routine.
For us, it's bedtime around 10-10:30 every night.  We clean up anything left from dinner.  Turn everything off and go to bed.  We also both read to kind of shut our brains off and fully relax.  I can't vouch that when I don't have a book, it's much harder to fall asleep.

~Exercise early in the day.
I had actually never thought of this!  The article said that you should exercise at least 3 hours before going to sleep.  That will allow your body enough time to cool and wind down.  Makes sense, right?!?

~Nap the right way.
Again, I'm VERY guilty of this one!  Naps should only be 10-20 minutes and should not be taken after 4 pm.  This I'll have to work on!

~Dim the lights.
This is another thing that we already do and makes sense.  Dim the lights two hours before bedtime.  This will help your body wind down.