Although we may not like to admit it, many of the sleep problems we experience are the result of bad habits and behaviors. We stay up late or sleep in late. We eat foods that disagree with us or enjoy a drink late at night, oblivious to their disruptive impact on our sleep rhythms. Over time, we teach our bodies not to sleep. For relief, we often turn to sleeping pills, which mask, rather than solve, the problem and can lead to addiction. Ultimately for real success, with insomnia as with any chronic problem, one must look for the underlying imbalances and root causes and address those.

Mistake #1: Not keeping a consistent sleep schedule.
We often think we can compensate for lost sleep by going to bed extra early another night, but the body clock’s ability to regulate healthy sleep patterns depends on consistency. We stay up late on weekends, expecting to catch up on sleep later or use the weekend to make up for lost sleep during the week. Both practices disrupt bodily rhythms, and late-night weekends in particular can cause insomnia during the workweek.

Solution: Create a routine and stick to it.
Getting up and going to bed around the same time, even on weekends, is the most important thing you can do to establish good sleep habits. Our bodies thrive on regularity and a consistent sleep schedule is the best reinforcement for the body’s internal clock. Waking and sleeping at set times reinforces a consistent sleep rhythm and reminds the brain when to release sleep and wake hormones, and more importantly, when not to.

Mistake #2: Using long naps to counter sleep loss.
Long naps during the day—especially after 4 p.m. or even brief nods in the evening while watching TV—can damage a good sleep rhythm and keep you from enjoying a full sleep at night.

Solution: Nap for no more than thirty minutes.
If naps are absolutely necessary, make sure you only nap once a day and keep it under a half hour and before 4 p.m. In general, short naps may not hurt sleep; in fact, a short siesta for half an hour after lunch or a twenty-minute power nap before 4 p.m. works well for many people.

Mistake #3: Not preparing for sleep.
Expecting the body to go from full speed to a standstill without slowing down first is unrealistic. Our bodies need time to produce enough sleep neurotransmitters to send feedback signals to the brain’s sleep center, which will result in the release of sleep hormones to allow you to doze off.

Solution: Take the time to shift slowly into sleep.
Create an electronic sundown. By 10 p.m., stop sitting in front of a computer screen (or TV screen) and switch off all electronic devices. They’re too stimulating to the brain and will cause you to stay awake longer. Also, prepare for bed. Dim the lights an hour or more before going to bed, take a warm bath, listen to calming music or soothing sounds, do some restorative yoga or relaxation exercises. Getting your mind and body ready for sleep is essential. Remove any distractions (mentally and physically) that will prevent you from sleeping.

Mistake #4: Not giving your body the right sleep signals.
Our bodies depend on signals to tell them when to fall asleep and when to wake up, the two most fundamental ones being darkness and light. But we live and work in artificially lit environments and often miss out on the strongest regulatory signal of all: natural sunlight. When we do go to sleep, our bodies need complete darkness for production of the important sleep hormone, melatonin. Often our bedrooms are not pitch dark, thereby interfering with this key process.

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