Can’t sleep? You’re not alone. Whether you experience difficulty falling asleep (onset insomnia), or wake several times during the early morning hours (early morning insomnia), these simple behavioural interventions can assist in developing good nighttime routines.

It can be helpful before you start implementing these interventions to track information about your sleep as it currently is. For example, make a note of your bedtime, your wake time, the number of hours that you sleep each night, and the number of times you wake.

Develop regular sleep times

Go to bed and get out of bed at the same time every day, regardless of how tired you are. It’s hard to start with - you might feel like the walking dead if you haven’t slept - but it's important to teach your body this routine.

Use your bed only for sleep and sex

Insomnia can be the result of increased arousal in the hours before bedtime or while lying awake in bed. If you read, talk on the phone, watch TV, or try to solve tomorrow’s problems in bed, it becomes associated with arousal. Do these activities in another room.

Have a wind down routine

Some people do challenging tasks before bed, which can be difficult to switch off from.  Instead, try and leave the half hour before you go to bed engaged in quiet activities, like having a bath, preparing your clothes for the next day or tidying up (if this won’t irritate you). Leave that difficult discussion for tomorrow.

Avoid caffeine

The stimulating effects of caffeine in coffee, energy drinks, teas, and chocolate can take as long as eight hours to wear off fully. If possible, stop caffeine intake by 3pm.

Curb food and beverages before bed

Sleep can be interrupted by urinary urgency. Reduce your liquid intake several hours before bedtime to avoid the midnight, 2am, 5am wake-up calls. Avoid large meals prior to bed as these can cause indigestion that interferes with sleep, too.

Relax

Remind yourself that it is not a catastrophe if you don’t sleep. Research tells us that we get 80 per cent of the rest we need just by lying there relaxing.  

Avoid saying (or thinking about) the following statements:

“I’ll never get to sleep.”

“If I don’t get enough sleep, I won’t be able to function.”

“I need to get to sleep immediately.”  

The most common consequence of not getting enough sleep is that you will feel tired and irritable. Although this is uncomfortable, it usually won’t result in the things you fear.

Do not try to fall asleep

Paradoxically, an effective way of increasing sleep is to practice giving up trying to fall asleep. Instead, concentrate on the warmth of the bed and the relaxation in your body.  

Breathe

Use diaphragmatic breathing and/or progressive muscle relaxation which will enhance your relaxation.

Get your visuals right

Visualise a relaxing scene, such as lying on the beach on a summers day, hearing the waves and knowing you don’t have to do anything.

Lower your expectations

Do not expect immediate results. Like most new skills in life, these techniques take practice and you will need to try them for longer than a few nights.