So… what do you do when you’re went to bed at 11pm but you’re  still awake at 1 am and you have to be up at 6:30?

• Try harder to fall asleep? No, we saw already what a bad idea this is.

• Stay in bed and hope for the best? No, no.

• Here’s what you do instead:
  you use what has been called the “Sleep Reduction Technique”. In summary to get to sleep more easily and stay asleep through the night, you need to temporarily reduce the time you spend in bed.

Yes, this is totally counter intuitive but has been scientifically proven to work.

It cuts down the time spent awake in bed and time spent in poor quality sleep.
Her’s how it works

• Have trouble falling asleep?

There is a phenomenon called “sleep pressure”. For every hour you stay awake, this pressure builds.
So to use this the rule is simple: don’t go to bed until you feel REALLY sleepy.

• Still awake? Get up!

If you’re still awake 30 minutes after trying to go to sleep, don’t just stay there — get up!
Don’t worry about the fact that this might ruin your following day. Trust that this is training
you to sleep on command. For that to happen your body needs to associate your bed with irresistible
sleep…
So don’t stay in bed if you can’t sleep!

Go downstairs and listen to some relaxing music or do something boring that won’t arouse you too much.

Doing some light yoga poses or stretches is also a good idea.

Try some meditation if you’re into that OR, better yet… if you have the SleepTracks Sleep Optimization Program
Sit up straight in a chair in your living room, close your eyes and listen to the Insomnia Buster track or the Fall
Asleep track (both included with the program), or even the Healing track that you get 7 days after your
purchase… and resist falling asleep!

That’s right. Resist falling asleep. Just put your awareness on the pulses and let your body relax.
This “mind trick” will make it harder and harder for you to not sleep. You’ll soon feel so drowsy you’ll really
long for your bed. Then — and only then! — is it a good idea to give in to the urge and go back to bed.