- Don't eat a large meal before bed, but don't go hungry either. A glass of milk sometimes helps because of the amino acids it contains
- Soak in a long, hot bath right before bed
- Make sure the room is as dark and quiet as you can make it. If you live somewhere noisy, you can create your own white noise with a small fan. It helps mask motor noises. Or wear foam earplugs.
- Sleep regular hours, even on the weekend. Sleeping in Sunday morning can make it harder to fall asleep Sunday night, which makes it harder to get up Monday morning and your cycle is skewed for another week.
- If you are in a pattern of lying awake fretting about a few relatively small problems, write them down before you turn out the lights, roll over, and then focus on things that are going well. Negative thoughts trigger slight adrenaline rushes, which do nothing to relax you.
- If you can't get the problems out of your head, imagine them written down on Rolodex cards, sorted and filed. Flip through other problem cards. Select an easier unsolved problem- everyone's got one. Exchange one for the other. It helps.
- If there is ever a time to allow yourself to feel sensual, lying in bed is one. Feel the warmth of your sleeping partner, the bedding, the dark, the calm, and the quiet. Like being in a pool of warm water, bedtime is one of the few times every square inch of your skin feels good. Remember how good your bed feels when you are waking up from a good sleep. Imagine that feeling as you try to doze off.
- To make your trip to sleep more interesting, fantasize about anything along the way. Go ahead- its your imagination.
- Be considerate: save emotional conversations with your partner for daytime.
- Sleep on the couch when you are keeping your partner awake.
(extracted from Beyond Soap, Water and Comb, by Ed Marquand)
