3 Ways to Sleep Soundly

By Editorial Staff

After a draining day of work, sleep is the first thing on your mind – but the last thing on your schedule. After all, you've got more than a thousand cable channels to scroll through for hours, not to mention your Wii, Xbox, iPad, cell phone and countless other diversions. Even when we hit the sack, we stay awake, getting progressively more tired and setting the stage for a restless night.

Grab a Nap

You might think that a nap would make you more likely to stay awake all night, but it actually can have the exact opposite effect. Why? Because when you're overly tired, you're less likely to enjoy sound sleep. Grabbing a nap whenever you can (or the non-sleep equivalent, anything that allows you to close your eyes and relax body and mind) prepares you for a good night's sleep.

Forget Food

No, we don't mean all day; we mean right before bedtime, particularly anything that's heavy, greasy, spicy, sugar- or caffeineladen, or otherwise "disturbing" to your body. Give your body at least two hours to digest your last meal of the day so when it's time for bed, the focus can be on falling asleep, not processing that cheeseburger and fries you just ate.