Secrets of a Good Night's Sleep

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Keep your bedroom as cool as is comfortable for you. Remember that your body's temperature needs to fall in order for you to go to sleep, so you don't want to get overheated. Be sure not to have so many blankets that you sweat, a sign you are too hot for sound sleep.

Reserve your bed (and bedroom, if possible) for sleep and sex only. When you see your bed, you want to have this association in your mind: "This is where I sleep soundly!" If you want to watch television, read, pay bills, work at your computer, chat with your spouse, or use the telephone, do it in another room or at least sitting up in a chair. Wait to head for bed until you feel a little sleepy at bedtime. If you don't fall asleep in 20 or 30 minutes, get up and read until you feel sleepy again. If you awaken in the night and are awake for more than 10 minutes, get up and do something quiet until you feel sleepy.

While sleep medications are a booming business, doctors have long known the positive effects that relaxation, attitude, habit changes, and stretching techniques can have on a host of medical issues, including sleep problems. Often, modifying attitudes about sleep and learning good sleep habits have produced better long-term outcomes than medication. So the great news is that most people can easily learn the simple routines outlined here and achieve a lifetime of better, sounder sleep.

Dr. Peter Van Houten has been practicing medicine at an integrative clinic in the foothills of the Sierra Nevadas since 1982. Gyandev Rich McCord is a world-renowned yoga instructor and co-founder of the Yoga Alliance, the organization that sets standards for yoga teachers in the United States. This article was adapted from their new book Yoga Therapy for Overcoming Insomnia (Crystal Clarity Publishers), the latest in the Yoga Therapy series.

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