Another post that isn’t really technical but it does have its place. Your brain needs rest, and there is excellent science that says 8 hours of sleep is roughly what is needed. So if you must get 8 hours of sleep you might as well make the most of the 8 hours so you can get the most from the other 16. Here are a few items to consider:

• Kill all lights. I mean every source of light needs to be blocked outed, turn off lights, get black out curtains, put all of the gadgets in another room. You want your sleeping spot to effectively be in a deep dark cave.
• The bed is for sleeping. Don’t watch TV in bed, don’t sit in bed working on the laptop. When it’s time for sleep get in bed, if you’re not sleeping get out of bed.
• If it takes more than 15 minutes to fall asleep: get out of bed do something else and try again when you’re ready.
• Chill the room, I keep my house at 70F. I don’t mind it being cooler at night when I’m sleeping (ie 68F) but the rest of the family complains and its also harder for me to get back out of bed so 70 to 72F is where the temperature stays.
• Take a hot shower before bed. I’m unclear on the details but basically the cooling effect when you get out of the shower is supposed to help you fall asleep.
• I use nature sounds to help me sleep. Specifically I have a play list of thunderstorms that I will play when I go to bed. The blue tooth speakers I use have LEDs on several of the buttons: I have put electrical tape over the buttons so no light escapes. My wife has commented that she sleeps better with the storms going too
• There are various nighttime teas that you can try if you have trouble falling asleep. They seem to work for my wife. I have no idea because I can make myself sleep inside 3 minutes.
• Keep your wakeup time constant (I get up at 5am). If you want to sleep in: go to bed earlier.
• Spend money on your bed. I have no idea what we were thinking but we bought one of those stupid tempur-pedic matresses. It’s been worth the money. It is very comfortable.
• I sleep with one foot outside the blankets. No idea why this helps but it does. I’m tall enough that I can reach the bottom of the bed and kind of work the sheets out of the way so my foot is outside where it is cooler (I like to sleep under a lot of blankets and dogs).

If you have any tricks that work for you: please share them.