How to get yourself to sleep.

Sleep is a very precious thing to me.  I was going to blog more about packing, but what is most on my mind when I woke up today is the need for more sleep.  These are the things I do to help myself sleep---what do you do?

1) Relax in the evening before heading up to bed.  This consists of: watching TV, cleaning up my house (this is relaxing to me :)), doing or putting away laundry, talking to my roommate, or taking a walk.

2) Stop with the caffeine by 3 pm!  This is hard for me, sometimes I push it to 4.  The afternoon "nap time" hour is hard for me and sometimes I run for cover with caffeine in hand

3) Clean up your room.  This starts in the morning by making my bed.  In the evening I try to straighten up so a messy room is not on my mind (it happens!)

4) Lock doors, set alarm, etc (do your routine to put the house to "sleep")

5) Get ready for bed (I don't do night showers because it wakes me up)

6) Read something calm (me: Jane Austen's Mansfield Park)

7) Drink tea.  I usually have the Rest and Relax Sampler by Yogi on hand.  It has a mix of bedtime, calming, Kava stress relief, and other teas that promote relaxation.  My sister swears by the stress relief.

8) Un-clutter your mind and say goodnight.

And trust me, if this doesn't work, don't keep snoozing in the morning.  It doesn't help much, and it could make you late.  Instead, wake up and make yourself a good breakfast (me: omelet with carrots and onions) and get your booty moving anyways.

Again---tips from you??