There are a great deal of ways that people utilize when trying to get to sleep. Some of them work and some of them don’t. Some of the best sleep tips involve all natural techniques that you can do in your own home without a daunting middle of the night trip to the drug store.

Make sleep a priority. Don’t stay up till all hours of the morning when you know you must get up early. Do this enough times and then your body will no longer sleep when you want it to. You will have reset your internal alarm clock, which will only make you groggy and very cranky.

Start a sleep/bedtime ritual. Start getting ready for bed earlier in the evening. Unwind from the madness of the day at least 2 hours before bed. Start lowering noise and lighting, along with any other stimulants. Take a shower or bath or just wash your face. Put on your pajamas and get comfortable. Create a bedtime for yourself. Going to bed at the same time every night tells your body what time to go to sleep.

Create a restful place to sleep. No television in the bedroom. No clutter in the bedroom. Make your bedroom an oasis from the rest of the house. Make sure that you have a good quality mattress and foundation on your bed. It should be comfortable and support your spine.

Cut back on what you take in before bed. Avoid foods. Cut back on or reduce the amount you smoke and the amount of alcohol you consume before bed. Try warm milk or herbal tea , like chamomile, to help you relax in the evening.

Need more help to relax? Listen to music. Not crazy music, but soft, lilting music to practice deep breathing to. Get your spouse to give you a massage. Close your eyes and clear your mind. Some people swear by practicing meditation techniques at bed time as well as counting backward from 10,20, or even 30.  The belief is that your body comes to understand that you are ‘counting down’ to sleep and it begins to relax into the beginning stages of the sleep mode.

If you just cannot sleep, get up. If you are laying in bed staring at the ceiling then get up. Attempting to force yourself to sleep results in a horrid restless sleep. So get out of bed and deal with whatever issues may be dealing with.

One last way to help you sleep is exercise. Now don’t exercise within 1-2 hours of bedtime. Find some time during the day, even first thing in the morning, to exercise. It has been scientifically proven  that people who exercise have a better quality of sleep. Exercise helps to reduce stress levels and increase health, both of which help to create a more peaceful quality of sleep.

I came across some information that I found surprising. Most doctors recommend that you abstain from drinking caffeine after 2 pm. I thought that this was amazing, I mean how many of us enjoy a caffeinated beverage with dinner or a nice brew of coffee after dinner; apparently, it takes a long time for the caffeine to dissolve, and to completely leave our bodies only once this occurs we can start to relax. I decided to see if this was true and I soon realized that it’s much harder to do than I thought.

I found out that after eating a big meal I had become incredible custom to that much needed caffeine boost and avoiding coffee or stimulants I fell asleep watching television. I did notice that I slept better than I have ever slept before, I got to sleep right away no tossing or turning, I didn’t wake up half way through the night and when I woke up the next morning I felt much more alert even before my morning brew.

I have decided to make this one of my permanent rules when I get home from work I stay away from caffeine unless I don’t feel like I am going to be able to make it to bedtime of course. I hereby issue you the same challenge you may find it difficult at first but I encourage you to stick to it.

I would like people to try this simple and easy method and see if it works for them. In one of my other articles I wrote about the over use of stimulants and relaxants or as I called them uppers and downers. This is your chance right now to remove yourself from this negative cycle and stop your body from working against you and help it work for you. Not to mention think of all the money you will save on sleeping pills and coffee.

Bill Hanson

I suffer from TMJ (Temporomandibular joint disorder) which is a popping and clicking of the joint of the jaw. TMJ can cause a wide variety of symptoms such as headache, dizziness, severe migraine, and considerable jaw pain. Severe sleeping disorders can develop due to this very common condition. You may find it hard to get and stay comfortable or you may wake up with extreme pain in your jaw here are some tips to minimize these problems:

1. Advil relieves more inflammation than other over the counter pain medicines (when you’re feeling pain from TMJ it’s inflammation of the jaw muscles consult a pharmacist for more info

2. Get a exercise regimen from your doctor i.e. jaw stretching

3. Night guards may help minimize the stress on your teeth; however, I know several people who managed to bite clean threw their bite plate at night.

4. There are surgical options to correct congenital jaw malformations.

5. Orthodontics

6. Modifying the way you chew your food

Avoiding certain behaviors can minimize your TMJ & sleep related problems. Such as avoiding Alcohol or Stimulants this can reduce the severity of your TMJ. It’s proven that excessive amounts of stimulants for example caffeine and alcohol before sleep can intensify some symptoms.

I was instructed by a health care provider when I try to sleep I should start on my back. Place the tip of my tongue gently behind the front teeth. Some people find it helpful to start off in this position. I place large pillows or cushions along both sides of my head, that may help keep me from rolling over to my side.

Avoid sleeping on your side Try cradling your head, or putting your arm under it so the pressure is not on the jaw joint; however, just this method can cause some people to experience jaw aching.

I recently heard that there was a supplement on the market that was helping a lot of people. It’s called ‘natural calm plus calcium’ I believe it dissolves in water and you take it before bed. I am going to try this stuff before I recommend it. I will give it a month trial run before I post a review on the message board.

Bill Hanson