Introduction

For those who live an active life and believe in the unrealistic paradigm of "I'll sleep when I'm dead" (Bon Jovi style), it's time to "wake up" and smell the coffee. Kudos to you if you have so much to do that you can't clock in about seven to eight hours that will eventually lead to a breakdown slowly and surely!

The bottom line is that getting in a good night's sleep is vital to anyone who would like to motor on with their daily activity. After all, every living organism needs to rest, and we're no human… no matter what developments in science manages to conjure in the near future.

However, there's another angle to this: the posture with which one sleeps is also just as important. And for most of you who have had one of those 'wild nights' and wondered why you woke the next morning not knowing why you have that pain in your neck or your back and to the extent of muscle cramps and strains will probably have figured that by now.

Introduction to Sleeping Postures

There are several postures that one usually sleeps in. Not all of them are good for your spinal cord because the posture that you sleep in affects the this part of the body most.

Since the spinal cord in our body is straight, it is therefore not a good idea to sleep in postures that are curved but straight… or else all sorts of issues will crop up due to the misaligned spinal cord which can be attributed to the strain placed on the back due to these faulty postures.

Types of Sleeping Postures

Now there are three types of postures that anyone is used to sleeping in (not unless you're up to to crazy nocturnal stuff that some folks do):

1) On your stomach

2) On your back

3) On your sides

For those who are used to (1) would also notice that their stiffness and pain of the neck is often involved, and the ideal position of sleeping with a straight back is not achieved as well.

If you can't stop sleeping this way, it is often suggested that one places the pillow under one's stomach instead of the neck so as to relieve the pressure on the back and the neck while increases the chances of damaging you nervous system and the spine as the head is turned in extreme rotation putting it extension, thus stopping the flow of blood and oxygen to your brain. This is apparently the worst posture to sleep in, according to chiropractors and those in the medical community.

However, for those who are used to either (2) or (3), it is disputed that some either of these positions serve the purpose of keeping one's spine straight which of course, depends on a few factors.

Tips for sleeping in the right posture(s)

1) On your back

Keep your neck supported while also keeping your knees elevated as well using an old pillow.

2) On your sides

There should be enough pillow between your ear and the bed so that your head isn't forced in any particular direction. Also remember to place an old pillow between your knees which will prevent one from twisting their pelvis which is not good.

In Closing

And it would be useless for me to even bring up how lousy it is for one to sleep in a seated position.

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If you are amongst those who suffer from breathing problems while sleeping then do not take this syndrome as a usual disorder. Many people who suffer from sleep apnea are not aware of it, but there are many sleep apnea treatments available to you. Generally people who have breathing problems while sleeping don't even know that they spend moments at night when they are still and not breathing.

These time slots are termed as 'apnea' and can last for more than 10 seconds throughout the sleeping period. In case you, or someone you know has trouble breathing while sleeping, and along with that suffers from day time fatigue due to lack of proper sleep, then it is most likely that the person is a patient of sleep apnea.

There are two types of sleep apnea conditions:

1. Obstructive Sleep Apnea: This is characterized by a collapse of the lung, while in a state of slumber, causing a barricade for the flow of air to your lungs.
2. Central Sleep Apnea: This is characterized by the delay in the brain to signal the body to breathe, and is basically a central nervous disorder that delays the breathing process and causes distortion in breathing.

Sleep Apnea Treatments

There are different approaches that can be adopted to cure sleep apnea. The four different techniques to cure sleep apnea are :

1. Altering the lifestyle: doctors have observed that people who are obese or over weight are most likely to be suffering from sleep apnea. Therefore it is advised that those suffering from milk sleep apnea and are over weight should work towards shedding off some of those extra pounds. In addition to that, altering the life style to cure sleep apnea also includes surrendering the habit of smoking and alcohol. Sleeping positions should be switched to sleeping on a side rather than on the back and special medicines to keep the nasal pathways open could be taken as well to maintain oxygen flow.
2. Using a mouthpiece while sleeping: these equipments can be designed by a dentist or an orthodontist and can be used to adjust the tongue and the lower jaw while sleeping so that the airways can be kept open. This method is primarily for those suffering from mild sleep apnea
3. Making use of breathing devices: for those undergoing a harsher form of sleep apnea, breathing devices are the cure. A continuous positive air pressure machine is one such device that can easily fit over the mouth and the nose and softly pushes air in to the throat. This way the width of the air pathways can be maintained to allow safe flow of air in to the lungs.
4. Surgery: those who suffer from acute sleep apnea, are advised to undergo this minor surgery of readjustment of the jaw, removing stiffening or shrinking excess tissue or a surgery can be done to remove tonsils that block air pathways too.

This is a condition can easily be overlooked by a lot of people – I'd strongly suggest that if you think you have these symptoms then get yourself checked. Although on the face of it, it seems like a low-risk problem, it is a serious disorder that can impact other aspects of your health and life.

We all deserve a sound sleep!

Do you suffer from this disorder? Do you have any tips or tricks for sleep apnea treatments that you use to help overcome this?

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When many people think of meditation, they think of some bald guy sitting in a candle-lit temple with his legs crossed in a way that no average mortal could ever twist or bend (and possibly hovering while doing all of the above). Well, the truth is, there are many forms of meditation — all the way from the flying zen master technique above to a much simpler and more practical way to release stress without worrying about floating away.

The key to meditation is simply slowing your heart rate and allowing your mind to focus on your breathing and nothing else. Here is a simple meditation method you can practice anywhere at anytime throughout your day. Try using this at least once a day while sitting at your desk or while in bed before sleeping and/or after waking.

5 Simple and Effective Steps to Relax Your Body and Calm Your Nerves

1. Close your eyes, and sit up straight in your chair (office) or lie flat on your back (bed)

2. Place one or both hands on your stomach right above your belly button

3. Breath in through your nose slowly and deeply so you can feel your stomach rising with your hand

4. Hold for a split second, then slowly exhale through your nose and feel your stomach go back down

5. Repeat for about 3-5 minutes or as much time as you can spare

Additional Notes

The reason for putting your hand on your stomach is to ensure that you are breathing deeply. As babies, we were all much more efficient breathers, because we started out breathing deeply through our diaphragms. If you ever see a baby sleeping, watch their stomach, and you will see it rise and fall as they inhale and exhale. Somewhere along the way, many of us develop the bad habit of taking more shallow breaths that only fill our lungs and don't reach deep down to our diaphragms. By focusing on your breathing and stomach during this exercise, you will ensure that you are taking deep, full breaths that you can feel throughout your entire body.

Also, while breathing through your nose, it helps if you count on each inhale and exhale. This helps you focus entirely on your breathing, keeping your racing mind and wandering thoughts at bay for a few minutes. Personally, I do a 7 second count on the inhale, then a two second pause, and a 14 second count on the exhale. That's 23 seconds for one breath, which comes out to only about 3 per minute. The reason my exhale is twice as long as my inhale is to make sure I let out as much oxygen as possible to make room for the new oxygen coming in on the next inhale. You want to feel like you are squeezing the last few drops out of a sponge on the exhale, but don't use too much force.

You may start out with smaller or larger second counts depending on your current breathing habits. Just make sure your exhale is slightly longer than your inhale, and you can experiment with different techniques that you feel work best for your body. If you stop and take a few minutes to incorporate this exercise into your daily routine, you will feel a big difference right away. Your mind will be clearer, your body will be more efficient and alert, and you will have more patience with your demanding boss who's asking, "Why are you sitting at your desk with your eyes closed?!".

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Sleep is one of the most underrated and underutilized cures to virtually any ailment known to man. Even if getting enough zzz's doesn't completely cure what's bothering you, you can be sure that it will at least help improve your situation. With our busy lives and deadline-driven lifestyles, many of us take sleep for granted. We think that those 8 hours could be spent doing something a lot more productive. The problem is, the less you allow your body to rest and recover, the LESS productive you will become.

Almost everyone has had or is currently having trouble sleeping. The first key to making sure you and your counting sheep get along as well as possible is to identify what's causing you to toss and turn in the first place. Below are four of the most common causes of insomnia straight from the "sheep's mouth" (aka the National Sleep Foundation) along with advice on how to solve them.

1. Stress, depression, or problems in work or personal life

This one, unfortunately, is probably the most common, and, as fate would have it, probably the hardest to solve as well. Your boss or your spouse or your friends are always causing problems and literally making you lose sleep, right? Wrong! To overcome the problems of depression and stress is far beyond the scope of this article, but there are a few simple things you can try to remember. The first thing you have to realize is that YOU are the one in control of solving any problem you face, no matter how severe or unbeatable it may seem. Even the richest, most good-looking, most popular people in the world face problems every day of their life. The difference lies in how they view these obstacles. Someone who is usually depressed and stressed out may see an obstacle and say, "No! Another problem! Nothing ever goes my way! The world is against me, and I give up!". The successful and controlled person could see the same obstacle and say, "This is blocking me from getting where I want to go. How do I get past this, over this, or through this to reach my goal on the other side?". You see the difference in these two ways of thinking? One person focuses on the problem itself and all the negative baggage that comes with it. The other focuses on the SOLUTION and the destination that lies on the other side of this minor inconvenience. In other words, change the way you see your problems, and, in time, you will change the way you handle them. Believe me, life looks much better from this side, and you need to make the decision right now to come join us!

2. Drinking alcohol or caffeine late in the day

This one is easy, and no life-changing, mind-altering adjustments are required. Simply don't drink alcohol or caffeine anytime within about 3-5 hours of going to sleep. Not to mention the myriad of other reasons why alcohol is not the healthiest choice at anytime, but when drinking late at night, your body is so busy working and trying to flush this stuff out of your system that sleeping takes a backseat on the to-do list. And as for caffeine, you should have already known about this one since you were five years old, and your Mom kept telling you, "No soda before bed!".

3. Exercising too close to bedtime

It's hard for me to advise anyone to NOT exercise, but, finally, this is one example when you might actually have a valid excuse not to hit the gym (but you still have no excuse for why you skipped your workout EARLIER in the day!). When you do any type of exercise, be it slow and steady walking or hardcore and intense weight training, you are putting greater demands on your body. Normally, this is a good thing — a great thing, in fact. Exercising raises your metabolism, meaning your body is working faster, harder, and more efficiently, all while burning unhealthy fat. However, this process continues for hours even after you stop working out, which, again, is great news, UNLESS you are trying to put your body into sleep mode. Obviously, exercise mode and sleep mode are polar opposites, and one is going to interfere with the other. So, make sure you do your exercise as early in the day as possible. If you can't find time in your schedule, try going to sleep earlier and waking up earlier, so you can make exercising the FIRST thing you do before your morning shower. Not only will you raise your metabolism for the rest of the day and be effortlessly burning fat, but you will be more awake and alert for the rest of the day as well.

4. A distracting sleep environment — one that's too bright or loud

I can personally attest to this one. I have my computer and various computer accessories in my bedroom, which used to stay on all the time. All of these snazzy electronics come fully equipped with those oh-so-important blinking lights — green ones, blue ones, red ones. After learning that even the smallest sources of light could affect our body's sleeping patterns, I started turning all of my gadgets off before hitting the sack. In doing so, this also eliminated the faint buzzing sounds caused by the same electronics. I was amazed at what a difference this made. My room is now completely pitch black and silent when it's time to go to bed, and yours should be too.

Starting tonight, try using as many of these tips as possible, and you will begin seeing results immediately. In the morning, when you wake up, you should feel more rested and more eager to start the day.

I'll see you in dreamland, and drinks are on me (water of course, alcohol and caffeine will send you right back to the real world!).

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If you're like me, then you're not much of a morning person.  When you wake up, it's easy to just reluctantly sleepwalk through your morning chores.  First, your arm, with a mind of it's own, rises in the air and comes crashing down, defeating the evil alarm clock.  However, the alarm has already inflicted mortal wounds in your sleeping.  So, grudgingly, you stumble to the bathroom to brush your teeth (don't turn on the light! it's too bright!).  Then, you silently continue your personal morning routine, before heading out the door like a zombie on the way to work.

The problem with this is, you haven't really given your brain a chance to rev up, and through repetition, it's probably learned that it gets to sleep in a little bit longer than you.  Besides being dangerous (see how many accidents there are on the way to work?), it also makes you less efficient for the rest of the day.  It's important to kick start your brain in the morning, so that when you actually need it, it's already up and running at optimal speed.

If you haven't already heard, breakfast is the most important meal of the day.  The reason being, when you wake up, your body has just been laying there for about 8 hours.  That's eight hours of not eating, not drinking, and not moving (at least not much, "Jimmy Legs").  During this "fast", your body has still been working: digesting that midnight snack you had, repairing those muscles you worked out, and tons of other little jobs that you take for granted.  But your metabolism has slowed to a crawl, compared to your active hours, and the same goes for your brain.

Keeping with the breakfast analogy, you want to eat within the first hour of waking up, preferrably the first 30 minutes.  The sooner you eat, the sooner you get your metabolism up and running, and this means the sooner your body starts burning unnecessary fat.  You should apply the same concept to your brain.  Try to do something challenging and engaging that makes you think and tells your brain, "Hey I'm awake, now you wake up too!".

I do this a few different ways.  The first thing I do in the morning before anything else is solve a quick Sudoku puzzle. Sudoku is basically just a crossword puzzle except with numbers instead of words.  I've gotten good enough now, where I can solve one in about 2 minutes.  That's only two precious minutes that I've lost out of my morning rush, but just like breakfast, that small amount will pay off for the rest of the day.  Even when first starting out, you can usually solve the "Easy" puzzles in about 5-6 minutes.  You can learn more about how to play, and unlimited free puzzles at WebSudoku.com.

Another way I start my mental engines in the morning is to watch Jeopardy while I get dressed (of course Tivo'd from the day before).   I just listen to Mr. Trebek in the background and chime in (very rarely!) when I know an answer (uhh…I mean question?).  Either way, it doesn't matter how you do it, but just do something to make yourself less of a brainless zombie.  You will notice a difference for the entire day, and be more efficient during those first few groggy hours in the office.  Your brain needs a good workout just like those pecs, lats, and biceps of yours!

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Let me start off by saying, I promise you this isn't some paid-off dishonest review just to get you to try a product. I am not receiving any compensation from the company or any other benefits, and this is my complete honest review based on my 30 day personal use of the product.

Now that we've got that out of the way, what is this "product" that I'm talking about. Well, it's too cool of a secret, so I'm not going to tell you. Oh, right, this is a blog and I came on here just to tell you about it… OK, fine.

Thirty days ago, I was searching for "sleep tips" on Google. It's not that I have any real sleeping problems per se, but I'm always looking for ways to enhance and improve every aspect of my life, hence the title of this site, "FitBuff.com – Total Mind and Body Fitness". So, after combing through a few different sites with some reasonable tips like, "don't exercise at night", "make sure your room is as dark and quiet as possible", and disregarding the millions of sleeping drugs and pills in between, I finally stumbled across a site advertising something called a Sleeptracker Wake Up Monitor.

It showed a picture of a normal looking watch, so curiously, I clicked it to see what this was all about. I spent the next hour or so reading over all the information on their official site, as well as a number of reviews, which surprisingly were overwhelmingly positive. Sure there were a fair share of critics, but even most of them only had gripes with a few technical aspects of the watch, such as size or volume, etc.

After some more searching and reading (I know, I know, but I tend to overanalyze things and make sure I'm absolutely sure before making any kind of purchase), I became increasingly more intrigued. First, a brief description of what the watch does. Basically the watch tracks your sleeping patterns and wakes you up during an ideal sleeping stage (hence the brilliant product name: "Sleeptracker Wake Up Monitor"). You put the watch on at night before you go to sleep. You can wear it all the time as it functions just like a normal watch, and is even water resistant (in case you ever fall asleep underwater…), but I personally don't wear a watch at all, so I just put it on before bed.

ALERT: Before you continue, I will tell you that the Sleeptracker costs $150. If you wouldn't be caught dead paying that much for a "little old watch", then this might not be for you. I am certainly no big spender, and I was hesitant to dish out that kind of cash at first, but my research on the product gave me confidence that it was worth it. As you'll read about in my experience below, I am fully satisfied and would gladly pay the same amount again. If you're still on the fence after reading this article, you can always try it out for 30 days, and if you don't feel it was worth your hard-earned dough, they will send you a full refund.

OK, now for how the watch works. First, you set the "Alarm Time" as you would with any other alarm. Say you set the "Alarm Time" for 7:00AM. Now you can set the "Alarm Window" from anywhere between 10 minutes to 60 minutes. For example, say you set the "Alarm Time" for 7:00AM and the "Alarm Window" for 30 minutes. This means that the alarm will go off at 6:30AM at the earliest and 7:00AM at the latest. Now, what determines when the alarm goes off in that "Alarm Window"? Well, as you sleep, the watch detects subtle movements in your body that indicate that you are having an "almost awake" moment. This doesn't mean that you actually wake up, but many times during the night, the average person goes through different levels and stages of sleep, from very deep (dreaming type sleep) to very light ("almost awake").

The watch records ALL of your almost awake moments during the night. From my personal experience, I usually have about 20 or so per night. It sounded high to me at first, but according to other Sleep Tracker users, this number is about average. Just for the purpose of making the example easier to understand, let's say you are a DEEP sleeper and only had 5 "almost awake" moments. You had one at 12:06AM, 2:13AM, 3:38AM, 5:19AM, and 6:41AM. Now, from the example above with your alarm window being between 6:30AM and 7:00AM, the watch would set off the alarm and wake you at 6:41AM (your "almost awake" moment during your "Alarm Window"). A little confusing I know, but it's actually quite simple when you just do it. Maybe they can explain it a little better for you, here's a quick overview from their site:

What if I don't have an "almost awake" moment during the "Alarm Window" I set? IF that happens, then the alarm will just go off at the regular alarm time you set (7:00AM for the example above), but like I said, the average person has around 20 "almost awake" moments per night, and in my 30 day experience, I have had an "almost awake" moment EVERY single time within my "Alarm Window" (sometimes with a window as small as 20 minutes).

The advantage of all this mumbo jumbo is that the Sleeptracker wakes you up from a light sleep rather than jarring you out of a deep sleep. Ever notice how sometimes when you wake up, all you want to do is hit the snooze button and go back to sleep, and some mornings you feel refreshed and ready to start the day? That's because with a regular alarm clock, it's a crap shoot. That alarm is going off exactly at the time you set, and it doesn't care if you're "almost awake" or if you're knocked out like Sleeping Beauty.

Now this isn't to say that the Sleep Tracker is perfect. There are times when it goes off, and I just want to roll over and go back to sleep, but in my experience, it really does make a positive difference in about 21-23 of the 30 days I tried it. I mean an actual real tangible difference, not just a subtle change. Those odds are high enough for me to continue using the watch. It's truly one of the coolest and most useful "gadgets" I've ever had (right above TiVo and my Automatic Trash Can).

Almost as useful as the "wake you up from light sleep" thing, I love just looking through my "almost awake" moments the next morning. It records all of them and lets you scroll through them to see what was going on while you were asleep. Then once you scroll through to the last "almost awake" moment, it even shows you the average time between your "almost awake" moments. Mine is usually about 20-25 minutes, which is also around the average according to other users. That doesn't sound like a lot, but it's just an average, meaning during the first few of hours of sleep they are as close as 10-15 minutes apart, then during the middle of the night (deepest sleep), they are 60-90 minutes apart, then again during the last hour or so of sleep, my body starts waking up and the "almost awake" moments get closer together again.

The kicker that really made me believe in the watch was when one night someone called my cell phone at 4:22AM. At the time, I never physically woke up nor was even aware that my phone had rung. Then, the next morning I see that I had a missed call at 4:22AM. So, I go to the SleepTracker and scroll through my "almost awake" moments from the night before, and sure enough, one of them was at exactly 4:22AM!

Finally, in conclusion, everyone's sleeping patterns and experiences will be different, and I know $150 is a lot to spend for a watch, but I really believe it's worth at least the 30 Day Trial. If nothing else, it's interesting just to see how your personal sleeping patterns work, and then you can return it for a full refund if you're not satisfied. I'll be keeping mine, and I even turned a few family and friends on to the Sleep Tracker.

If anyone reading this tries it, or has tried it, I'd love to hear your experiences with it too.

Amazon has the Sleeptracker Wake Up Monitor for $144 (a whopping 3% or $6 off the retail price!). Sweet Dreams!

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It is well to be up before daybreak, for such habits contribute to health, wealth, and wisdom.

- Aristotle

Are morning people born or made? In my case it was definitely made. In my early 20s, I rarely went to bed before midnight, and I’d almost always sleep in late. I usually didn’t start hitting my stride each day until late afternoon.

But after a while I couldn’t ignore the high correlation between success and rising early, even in my own life. On those rare occasions where I did get up early, I noticed that my productivity was almost always higher, not just in the morning but all throughout the day. And I also noticed a significant feeling of well-being. So being the proactive goal-achiever I was, I set out to become a habitual early riser. I promptly set my alarm clock for 5AM…

… and the next morning, I got up just before noon.

Hmmm…

I tried again many more times, each time not getting very far with it. I figured I must have been born without the early riser gene. Whenever my alarm went off, my first thought was always to stop that blasted noise and go back to sleep. I tabled this habit for a number of years, but eventually I came across some sleep research that showed me that I was going about this problem the wrong way. Once I applied those ideas, I was able to become an early riser consistently.

It’s hard to become an early riser using the wrong strategy. But with the right strategy, it’s relatively easy.

The most common wrong strategy is this: You assume that if you’re going to get up earlier, you’d better go to bed earlier. So you figure out how much sleep you’re getting now, and then just shift everything back a few hours. If you now sleep from midnight to 8am, you figure you’ll go to bed at 10pm and get up at 6am instead. Sounds very reasonable, but it will usually fail.

It seems there are two main schools of thought about sleep patterns. One is that you should go to bed and get up at the same times every day. It’s like having an alarm clock on both ends — you try to sleep the same hours each night. This seems practical for living in modern society. We need predictability in our schedules. And we need to ensure adequate rest.

The second school says you should listen to your body’s needs and go to bed when you’re tired and get up when you naturally wake up. This approach is rooted in biology. Our bodies should know how much rest we need, so we should listen to them.

Through trial and error, I found out for myself that both of these schools are suboptimal sleep patterns. Both of them are wrong if you care about productivity. Here’s why:

If you sleep set hours, you’ll sometimes go to bed when you aren’t sleepy enough. If it’s taking you more than five minutes to fall asleep each night, you aren’t sleepy enough. You’re wasting time lying in bed awake and not being asleep. Another problem is that you’re assuming you need the same number of hours of sleep every night, which is a false assumption. Your sleep needs vary from day to day.

If you sleep based on what your body tells you, you’ll probably be sleeping more than you need — in many cases a lot more, like 10-15 hours more per week (the equivalent of a full waking day). A lot of people who sleep this way get 8+ hours of sleep per night, which is usually too much. Also, your mornings may be less predictable if you’re getting up at different times. And because our natural rhythms are sometimes out of tune with the 24-hour clock, you may find that your sleep times begin to drift.

The optimal solution for me has been to combine both approaches. It’s very simple, and many early risers do this without even thinking about it, but it was a mental breakthrough for me nonetheless. The solution was to go to bed when I’m sleepy (and only when I’m sleepy) and get up with an alarm clock at a fixed time (7 days per week). So I always get up at the same time (in my case 5am), but I go to bed at different times every night.

I go to bed when I’m too sleepy to stay up. My sleepiness test is that if I couldn’t read a book for more than a page or two without drifting off, I’m ready for bed. Most of the time when I go to bed, I’m asleep within three minutes. I lie down, get comfortable, and immediately I’m drifting off. Sometimes I go to bed at 9:30pm; other times I stay up until midnight. Most of the time I go to bed between 10-11pm. If I’m not sleepy, I stay up until I can’t keep my eyes open any longer. Reading is an excellent activity to do during this time, since it becomes obvious when I’m too sleepy to read.

When my alarm goes off every morning, I turn it off, stretch for a couple seconds, and sit up. I don’t think about it. I’ve learned that the longer it takes me to get up, the more likely I am to try to sleep in. So I don’t allow myself to have conversations in my head about the benefits of sleeping in once the alarm goes off. Even if I want to sleep in, I always get up right away.

After a few days of using this approach, I found that my sleep patterns settled into a natural rhythm. If I got too little sleep one night, I’d automatically be sleepier earlier and get more sleep the next night. And if I had lots of energy and wasn’t tired, I’d sleep less. My body learned when to knock me out because it knew I would always get up at the same time and that my wake-up time wasn’t negotiable.

A side effect was that on average, I slept about 90 minutes less per night, but I actually felt more well-rested. I was sleeping almost the entire time I was in bed.

I read that most insomniacs are people who go to bed when they aren’t sleepy. If you aren’t sleepy and find yourself unable to fall asleep quickly, get up and stay awake for a while. Resist sleep until your body begins to release the hormones that rob you of consciousness. If you simply go to bed when you’re sleepy and then get up at a fixed time, you’ll cure your insomnia. The first night you’ll stay up late, but you’ll fall asleep right away. You may be tired that first day from getting up too early and getting only a few hours of sleep the whole night, but you’ll slog through the day and will want to go to bed earlier that second night. After a few days, you’ll settle into a pattern of going to bed at roughly the same time and falling asleep right away.

So if you want to become an early riser (or just exert more control over your sleep patterns), then try this: Go to bed only when you’re too sleepy to stay up, and get up at a fixed time every morning.

This article is copyright © by Steve Pavlina and is reprinted with permission. For more personal development articles, visit Steve Pavlina's Personal Development for Smart People.

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