I'm recently a fan of Yoga Nidra, a mental exercise that lets me get some great sleep... even if science is not sure how it works.

I have a two Science papers to recommend to you: http://www.mindfulness.net.au/uploads/35199/ufiles/pdf-new/psychological-neurophysiological.pdf AND https://www.nmr.mgh.harvard.edu/~lazar/Lazar_Neuroreport_00.pdf I picked them out because they are well done and FREE online.

If you want to pick up a free YN mp3 from the web, a quick search will get you several variations.

I think YN is an interesting Hack because when I take time to do it before falling asleep, I feel quite supercharged the next day.

http://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&q=yoga+nidra+neuro will get you some other interesting studies. So will http://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&q=sleep+neuro

I love that this is a no equipment, low to no cost mental skill that can be practiced, and once you own it, you can teach it to others.

Tim Ferris's new book, the 4 hour body, has a couple chapters on hacking sleep. His suggestions for better sleep:

-Test 67-70deg as your bedroom temp

-Eat a large fat&protein meal 3 hours prior to bedtime

-Tax nervous system with isolated movements

-Take a cold shower/bath prior to bed

-Use an ultrasonic humidifier

-Use Phillips Golite/nightwave pulse light

-Resort to the half military crawl position

I like to foam roll before bed. I have no idea whether it helps sleep or not, but it is relaxing.

There's a plant that's green, been found on 3,000 yr old mummies and fights inflammation and promotes deep rest. It's only legal though for medical patients in a few states.

Rest and repair comes primarily from slow-wave sleep (SWS). REM promotes creativity, and memory consolidation, and Stage 2 sleep increases alertness and motor skills.

We tend to get more REM in late morning, as a function of circadian rhythm, whereas SWS peaks depending on when we go to sleep, not absolute time of day. SWS is more highly prioritized the longer it's been since you slept.

Here is my mise en place for sleep: Go to bed when I feel sleepy. Turn the heat off. Then, all done in as complete darkness as possible, I think happy thoughts, don't eat too close to bedtime but I'm not hungry, I don't drink alcohol too close to bedtime, I have moved my body vigorously and breathed deeply sometime earlier in the day, I wear earplugs, have a comfortable mattress and a good blanket, say a loving word to my partner or myself (sounds corny but I don't care), have a dog (or cat) at my feet, smile in the dark just because, then I take a deep breath, close my eyes, smile again, and go to sleep. Anyway, works great for me every time.

SOmetimes my brain whirls around and around thinking about stupid problems that have no good solutions and then I can't sleep. Once I realize that my sleep is delayed and my brain won't settle down, I find some kind of brain task that will distract me and slowly bore me to sleep. The classic counting sheep thing would be a good example but does not seem to work for me. I think maybe it's just a tad too easy and does not distract me from my other problems. What I do instead is imagine a jumping animal, say a kangaroo, as he jumps over different items, maybe the bed first, then a table, then a fence. But each item is different so my brain is kept busy coming up with new items to jump over. Duplicates are not allowed! I imagine him jumping over all kinds of things world wide, maybe the moon or the Eiffel Tower or whatever. The effort of this brain task is just enough to distract from stresses in life, but also not so much that I can't drift off to sleep. For other people, the same thing might be accomplished via other mind games like math problems or whatever, but it just can't be anything stressful. You need to keep yoru mind occupied on something relaxing. Sometimes when doing this, I will get distracted, forget the jumping animal, and go back to stressing, but if that happens, I just gently remind myself to continue on with the jumping animal. I think this may work similar to meditation in which they sometimes use breathing exercises or various mantras to try to steer the brain away from daily stress. Perhaps this is a variation on the 'think happy thoughts' suggestion, but in my version it is more like don't think bad thoughts! Instead think of boring things that will block out bad thoughts and slowly activate your imagination and let it carry you off to sleep.

3 ideas: magnesium, sex, melatonin.

I've also read about being cooler during sleep as a terrific tactic for falling asleep more quickly, and then having a more restful sleep. See this:

NYT: Really? The Claim - Cold Temperatures Improve Sleep

This is the precise reason why giving babies and toddlers a bath before bedtime is a tried and true strategy; the water lowers their core body temperature just enough to trigger the "bedtime" tripwire in the kiddos' internal clocks.

Since I love feeling super warm under IKEA's level 6 down comforter, I found that wearing no socks - feet poking out at the end, affords me the mostly full body warmth I crave while temp adjusting for more restful sleep with uncovered feet. :)

I am not sure if this is related to the Yoga Nidra post but this is what I do to pass out into a deep sleep: 1. Focus on breathing. Become aware of your breathing and try to make it deeper and slower progressively. 2. Imagine every muscle in your body relaxing progressively. 3. Visualize yourself slowly covered in a blanket of dark heavy sleep.

I also read someone's post on a fitness blog that saying "I'm thankful" for at least 5 things is therapudic mentally. I tried it the past two nights and I slept very well. I think it's due to putting focus on your happy thoughts rather than keeping work/stress in the mind.

And lastly, I tend to sleep better after a big whack of green vegetables like roasted broccoli or brussels (favorite!) I think due to the magnesium content. I don't have access to natural calm.

I also have a very hard time sleeping in warm environments. I second the colder room theory.

Stephen - Here is a neat article re sleep and the stages of it, from Emily Deans website

link text

I'm a fan of those earplugs too but try to avoid them as often as I can because the brain loses the ability to overhear noise in the environment while asleep. And then you finally wake up from the tiniest of sounds without your earplugs, your totally dependent on them. This at least is what I've read on some websites. Sorry, but I don't have any URLs at my hand. And I think that our paleo ancestors haven't had a totally noise-free environment while asleep. I think of bonfires cracking and burning and other people of your community making sounds in the middle of the night, something like that.

Personally I eat a large meal at 6PM, take a magnesium supplement and drink 1L of Rooibos tea. To bed I go usually at 11 - 12PM so my stomach is not very full but I am not hungry either. Then I switch all the radiators and electrical devices off except for one light and read a litte. Eventually when I become drowsier I put the book aside, switch of the last light and have a nice sleep.

I guess my sleep routine has some room for improvments too though ;)

I find that proper D levels coupled with a completely dark room, ear plugs and a 3" memory foam mattress cover makes sleep in general nearly instant.

good tips, i've been having a really hard time sleeping lately

Cara

I think the only thing that would work for me is:

1.) A hard day of hunting and/or gathering.

2.) Out in the wilderness, Laying safely next to a ledge, fireside, sounds of a creek nearby with my loved ones.

awwww, just like camping, without all my electronic stimuli, lights, or distractions of real life.

Ever since I switched to paleo I've been having I wouldn't say a more restful sleep but a deeper sleep. And a bit longer. Maybe it will become more restful once my body goes and adjusts to a ketogenic state. From my understanding sleep is crucial in the paleo lifestyle. You have to make your room as black as possible. Avoid the tv, the computer, and bright lights an hour before you go to bed. Don't exercise 4 hours before you sleep. Turn off ALL lights including LED lights.

For me I personally meditate (Vipisanna) for 30 minutes in the dark before I sleep. My body becomes like a ragdoll and any tension really disappears. There's a good summary of clinical research done of the effects of mindfulness meditation somewhere. I don't recall the site at the moment. But the go to book is mindfulness in plain english which is free online.

I especially have a problem with dwelling in the problems of the day and of the past but vipisanna meditation really makes it easy to brush aside.