Many people have difficulties falling asleep at night. Instead of sleeping and dreaming, they roll around in their beds trying to fall asleep. The result usually is people not rested enough in the morning and tired all day. This results in stress and poor performance on the job or at home.

Here are some pointers to help you achieve better quality sleep.

• Room temperature: Keeping the temperature in your bedroom at 70 degrees Fahrenheit or below is recommended. Too often an overheated bedroom causes poor sleep. The body falls asleep better when it is slightly cooler, (but with warm hands and feet).

• Reduce caffeine. A recent study showed that caffeine is not metabolized efficiently at night. The effects of caffeine last much longer than most people expect. The result is difficulty falling asleep. Studies have shown better sleeping patterns caffeine is not consumed after 4.00 PM.

• Avoid alcohol. Alcohol keeps the body from reaching the deeper stages of sleep, where the body does most of its healing and resting. The result of drinking can be a very light sleep or difficulty falling asleep in general.

• Beds are for sleeping. If you frequently watch TV in bed or even work while being in bed, you may find it much harder to relax and to fall asleep. Remove the TV and do not work in bed. Sleep requires your brain to slowly shut down and any distraction will cause sleeping problems.

• Go to bed at around the same time every day. Don’t change your bedtime back and forth. Having a certain schedule will make it easier to fall asleep pretty much at the same time every day.

• Remove the alarm clock from your view. Staring at the time will only create the feeling that you have to sleep, but you are not. These worries will make things even worse. Losing the feeling for time by not seeing how long you have been awake has been shown to improve healthy sleep. Plus, the blue light that clocks emit, blocks melatonin.

• Make a list of what you need to do the next day, write it all down and keep that paper and pen near your bedside in case you think of anything else you need to do. When you write things down you’re giving your brain the signal that it no longer needs to think about those tasks.

• Don’t watch television or listen to the radio (especially the news) before retiring for the night – and certainly do not fall asleep with the TV or radio on.

• Read some inspirational or self-growth material for at least 30 minutes prior to bed. Your goal is to fill your mind with inspirational thoughts before falling asleep so that the last thoughts you have before drifting off are uplifting thoughts – as opposed to the stressful thoughts that most people fall asleep thinking about.

• Make sure the room that you’re sleeping in is as dark a room as possible – the body is made to sleep when it’s dark out – the darker the room the more potential for a deep sleep.

• Make the room as silent as possible – turn off all electric devices and ask others in the house to be as quiet as they can be.

• Don’t eat for at least 3 hours before going to bed. When there’s undigested food in the stomach, your body is forced to focus on digesting that food rather than being focused on repairing your body and mind – which is what sleep is all about! The body was designed to digest food best while moving – not while laying down.

• Try to go to bed at approximately 10:00 pm and awake at approximately 6:00 am. In Ayurvedic medicine it’s believed that there are cycles that are the most conducive for certain activities. Going to bed at 10:00 pm and arising at 6:00 am appears to allow the body to rest the deepest, rejuvenate the most, and give the person the most energy throughout the day.

• Don’t take drugs that are supposed to help you sleep (unless required by your physician). Most of these artificial sleeping aids do nothing more than deaden your senses – the goal of ‘sleep’ is to give your body the time and means to repair itself and prepare for the coming day. When you drug yourself to sleep, every system in your body is slowed down, including all those systems that are responsible for repairing you. Certain vitamins and herbs may be helpful though. These offer co-factors and amino acids that support the natural sleep process, rather than knock you unconscious.

• Make sure that there’s a fresh air supply in the room. The air indoors is said to be some of the most toxic air around. When you sleep, you’re only able to breath in the air that surrounds you in your enclosed bedroom. Try opening a window (if it’s cold outside then just open the window a crack). The fresh air that comes in while you sleep will help your body repair itself because you’ll have access to cleaner, more oxygenated air.

• During the day, do 60 minutes of mild exercise. If you don’t have time to do 60 minutes in a row, then break it up into 2 – 30-minute sessions, or 3 – 20-minute session, or 6 – 10-minute sessions — just get a full 60 minutes in. The best exercise when talking about general health and preparing your body for a great night’s sleep, is walking.

These work very well if you resolve to do them diligently.

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Jules