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Adjust the temperature. The temperature in the room should be slightly coolerthan what's comfortable for you. A slight drop in temperature induces sleep. This will help a lot. ^[1] But don't let yourself get too cold, especially your feet; cold feet can be disruptive to sleep, so put on some socks. You may wake up and have to take off those socks in the middle of the night, but that's better than letting those cold feet keep you awake.

• It can take several hours for your body temperature to cool down after exercise or exposure to excessive heat, so make sure your body is at normal temperature when you get ready for sleep.

Adjust the lighting. If you prefer a completely dark room, cover all lights such as digital alarm clocks, or any other electronic device in your bedroom that has a light on it. If you prefer to sleep with dim lighting, wear an eye mask or lower your lights until you are comfortable enough to sleep. Do not sleep with your lights on, as this disrupts sleep and makes it hard to become tired and relaxed.^[2]

Adjust the sound level. Consider putting on some white noise (sound machine, fan blowing etc.), which has been shown to make people fall asleep more quickly. Also, people find the ticking of a watch or clock soothing. ^[3] If you prefer everything quiet, turn off anything that causes noise.

• You can also consider wearing earplugs before you go to bed. It can take some time to get used to them, but they can help block out sounds you didn't even know were keeping you from sleeping. They can also be particularly useful if you share a bed with a partner who can wake you up.

Get some exercise at least three hours before bed. Go for a run, hit up the gym, take a long walk, or do some stretches to help you get your heart rate going before you ease into bed. This will work out your body and will make you more tired; doing this at least three hours before bed will keep your adrenalin from pumping right before bedtime and keeping you awake. If you work out shortly before bed, then you will feel more awake than ever.^[4]

Avoid alcohol or caffeine right before bed. Though a glass of wine may initially make you feel drowsy, if you consume alcohol right before bed, it will disrupt your sleep cycle and make you fall into a less deep sleep. If you do like to have a nightcap, just have it 2-3 hours before bed so it doesn't keep you up. As for caffeine, you should avoid caffeine after 2-3 pm, or ideally even after noon, because it can take up to eight hours for the caffeine to fully leave your system, which can definitely make you feel not so tired even when you want to fall asleep.^[5]

Drink cherry juice. Or snack on a variety of other foods that are rich in melatonin, which are known to help you feel sleepier and to help you drift off faster. Though you should avoid eating right before bed or you may be up with indigestion or general discomfort, eating some of these foods a few hours before bed can help you drift off:^[6][7]

• Barley
• Tomatoes
• Rice
• Sweet corn
• Oats
• Oranges
• Bananas

Curl your toes. When you get in bed, curl your toes upward for a few seconds, relax them, and then repeat the gesture. This can help you relax your mind and your body, so performing a series of ten of these if you are feeling way too alert for your own good can help you fall asleep when you're not tired.^[8]

Eat a healthy, lighter dinner. Get a healthy dose of carbs, proteins, and fruits or veggies with your daily dinner. Avoid spicy or overly heavy meals that are rich in fat or sugars, or your body will be more alert and uncomfortable throughout the night. Just a healthy, balanced dinner will do the trick in making you feel more tired. Make sure to eat it at least three hours before bedtime so your body has time to digest the food. Here are some great dinner options that can help you feel tired while still feeling healthy:^[9]

• Lighter pasta with cheese
• Tofu with couscous
• A glass of warm milk with oatmeal
• A kale salad, salmon, and rice noodles

Recreate boredom. This varies from person to person, but whatever that activity is, it should lull your brain, not engage it. Slow, calming music lends itself well to this. Reading something that is completely uninteresting to you is good as well. Some types of puzzles or games may work as well, such as Sudoku or Solitaire. Listen to a very dry podcast. Play tic-tac-toe with yourself. Organize that stack of paper on your desk. Do whatever you think is the most boring thing possible.

Perform breathing exercises. Try abdominal breathing, yogic pranayam, or aone-minute breathing exercise. Close your eyes and focus on the breath falling in and out of your body. As you do this, picture each part of your body relaxing, one at a time. Focusing on your body will keep you from thinking about anything else from the outside world.

Visualize something relaxing and repetitive. For example, think of small, warm waves washing over your body at regular intervals to coincide with your breathing.Meditate to calm yourself and clear your head. Don't pick anything too exciting or thrilling, or you will start to work yourself up. Picture a calming beach, a gorgeous, lush forest, or a beautiful rose garden. Imagine yourself walking through it all.

• Think of one of the most beautiful and calming places you have ever been to (a clear stream of running water in a field of wildflowers in the mountains, a peaceful lake, a beautiful beach with a slight breeze in the air). This should help you relax.

Read. Reading can help calm your mind and take your thoughts off of anything that might have been troubling you that day. Read something light and not too gripping, such as the local news, a paperback, or a piece of historical non-fiction. If you read a gripping thriller or an emotionally disturbing news story, that will keep you up even longer, and will make you feel even more awake if you just can't stop reading.

• Challenge yourself and read the most boring thing you can find, from your old chemistry textbooks to a dry report about the state of another country's economy.

Turn off all visual stimuli at least an hour before bed. Put away the iPad, phone, computer with Netflix all queued up, and turn off that television. Your eyes should begin to start to rest and to stop seeing all of the images that will make you feel more awake, jumpy, and less able to focus. Stop being the person who drifts off while watching television or with a cell phone in her hand and get rid of all of those high-sensory distractions, which are guaranteed to make your mind feel more alert when it's time for bed.^[10]

Stick to the fifteen-minute rule. This rule is simple: if you've been lying in bed for more than fifteen minutes and are unable to fall asleep because you're not tired, then try something else. If you continue to lie there, your mind will continue churning, and you may even work yourself up and feel even more awake than you did when you first closed your eyes. Once fifteen minutes have passed and you're no closer to catching those z's, do something else that is not very taxing. Read a magazine. Pace around your room. Drink some herbal tea. Hum to yourself. Sit up and stare at your hands. Do something new and you will start to drift off.

• Whatever you do, though, make sure to keep the lights dim - even reasonably dim if you're reading.

Avoid intense conversations before bed. Five minutes before bedtime is not the time to get into a big fight with your significant other or to call up your best friend and complain about all of the stress you're facing at work in great detail. If you live with someone and have to talk right before bed, make sure you don't bring up anything more intense than the type of herbal tea you're going to buy at the store tomorrow. Otherwise, the conversation will make you feel even more alert and awake, and it will take you even longer to fall asleep.

• If you live with someone who loves intense conversations right before bed, reschedule them for two to three hours before bed instead, if you can.

Think about everything you did that day. Another way to calm your mind is to go through everything you did that day, up to the most boring little detail. Start with how many blackberries you placed in your morning oatmeal and end with which quadrant of your teeth you decided to brush last. Try to break it down hour by hour and see how specific you can get and how many things you can end up remembering. Unless you're a superhero or an ER doctor for a living, chances are that this alone will be boring enough to put you to sleep.

• If you've gone through your whole day and still feel wide awake, try going through your entire week. Surely that should be boring enough to make you drift off.

Find your sleepy time routine. If you want to feel tired when you want to go to bed, then you have to find a routine that helps you decompress and fall right into bed that starts at least half an hour before it's time to get some shut eye. This can include some light reading, listening to classical music, reading the newspaper, or doing whatever light, low-intensity activities that may help you forget your problems and start to recognize that your body needs rest.^[11]

• Once you find this routine, stick to it, and if you know you have to get to bed a little earlier one night though you're not tired, start the routine earlier and you can trick your mind into feeling tired a bit faster.

Only use your bed for sleeping If you want to regularly be able to fall asleep, even if you're not tired, then you can't watch TV in bed, do your homework in bed, talk to friends on the phone in bed, or do anything in your bed then it'll be easier for you to drift off when you close your eyes, instead of getting all worked up about the weird phone call you just got from your best friend or about all of the homework you still have to do.

• Find a space in your home or room that is designated for "work only." This will help you save the relaxing stuff for your bed.

Get out in the sunlight as soon as you wake up. Once you roll out of bed, head for the window or the balcony as soon as you can. The bright light from the sun will tell your body's biological clock that it's wakey-wakey time, and this same clock will help you get to bed in about 14-16 hours, helping you stabilize your waking up and going to bed routine.^[12]

Set aside a "worry time" for earlier in the day. If one of the reasons you don't feel tired when you go to bed is because you stay up for two hours worrying about your relationship, your health, your status at work, etc, then you need to work on setting aside a "worry time" earlier in the day so that there's nothing on your mind by the time you're ready to hit the hay. It may sound silly, but if you say, "I'm going to worry from 5-5:30 PM every day" and do nothing but worry, write down your worries, or say them aloud during that time, then you'll get them off your chest.

• If you wait until bedtime to slow down and really think about your troubles, then yeah, you're bound to feel wide awake for a long time.

Try taking a warm bath or shower before bed. Either of these will raise your body's core temperature some. After your shower or bath, move to your cooler bedroom. This will cause you temperature to drop, which is the cue that tells your body it is time to sleep.^[13]