Tip #1: Limit caffeine intake

A good rule of thumb is to not drink caffeinated beverages later than 6:00 pm. Even if you are used to drinking a lot of caffeine, drinking it too close to bedtime can drastically reduce your ability to fall asleep quickly.

Tip #2: Drown Out Your Thoughts

Sometimes it is hard to get our brains to settle down once we are in bed. Thinking about tomorrow’s to-dos, our financial woes, or analyzing our children’s poor behavior can all keep us from being able to fall asleep. Turning on a familiar movie or cd works for some people. It helps them to tune out their thoughts and just veg out to the background noise. If these methods are too engaging for you, try turning on a fan or humidifier to distract your thoughts. As a final option, it may be helpful to simply keep a notebook by your bed and jot down any thoughts, concerns, or scheduling items before trying to get to sleep.

Tip #3: Exercise

Avoid exercising too close to bedtime as it can get your heart and mind pumping and prevent sleeping. However, getting enough exercise throughout the day helps to prepare your body to be more tired and relaxed and ready to go to sleep at a reasonable hour.

Tip #4: Limit screen time

Having your mind actively engaged in a mentally stimulating activity right before bed can cause some difficulty in falling asleep. For some reason adjusting from computer or television time can be hard for the brain. The best thing to do is pull yourself away from those types of activities as it gets closer to your bedtime. Use some of the suggestions in tip #5 for ideas on better activities to engage in.

Tip #5: Engage in relaxing activities

One of the best ways to get to sleep is to read something BORING. Reading can help you calm down, but if you are too involved in the book (think Harry Potter or Twilight) it can just cause more problems because you might find yourself staying up too late to finish the story. Some people don’t have that problem, but if you do, grab a few non-fiction books to keep on hand for this purpose. Other relaxing activities such as knitting, just sitting and chatting, playing a calm board game, taking a hot bath, etc. are all great ways to calm yourself down right before bed.

Hopefully some of these tips might be useful for you in getting some better sleep. I know I prefer to use natural cold remedies for prevention and cold treatments instead of always pumping over the counter drugs into my body.

Technorati Tags: best cold medicine, cold prevention, cold treatments, natural cold remedies