Well, getting a bad night's sleep can really cause problems in your daily life not to mention cause health issues.

After a bad nights sleep, many of us feel unrested, tired, lethargic and listless. Lack of sleep can really put a damper on your ambition and make you feel terrible.

Imagine days, weeks or even months of of poor quality sleep or sleepless nights. Insomnia is one of those sleep disorders that really can cause serious issues in one's life.

For myself, sleepless nights cause many issues for me. It seems that when I don't get a good night's sleep I find my whole day is thrown into a frenzy. My body is tired and lethargic, my mind is tired and often my mind spins wildly out of control.

I often feel like my 'mental guard' is down and I am not in control of my mind and its ridiculous reasonings. This usually occurs when I have had poor sleep for more than a night or two.

So What Can You Do To Get A BetterSleep?

My wife tells me this ALL the time! If you want to get a better quality sleep you have to plan or prepare for it. You have to get yourself in a routine every night! You need to stick to your routine and it should involve you going to bed at the same time every night and waking up at the same time every morning.

Also, you need to learn to try to 'shut off' your mind and all those 'thoughts' that seem to race through your mind every night when you should be trying to sleep.

In the next section, we will discuss some good ideas you should start practicing in order to get you to well on your way to a better quality of sleep..faster!

Ok, if you want to sleep better or even get to sleep, you have to change a few things and avoid the following 'sleep stealing practices & bad habits'.

1. Keep active during the day, get outside in the sun, go for a walk or exercise regularily to make you more tired during the night time.
2. DO NOT exercise to close to bedtime. Your exercise will release adrenaline which will most time stimulate most people and make you alert and feel wired with a new rush of energy. You do not want to exercise within 3 hours or so of your planned bed time.
3. Set up a bedtime routine. A time when you will goto bed EVERY night and a time when you will wake up EVERY morning. Stick to the plan to get your body in a NEW routine of sleep.
4. DO NOT eat too late at night. Do not eat heavy meals or stimulating foods (chocolate, chocolate cake etc.) too close to your bedtime. When you eat late, your body has to work hard to digest the food. This can cause your heart rate to speed up, keep you tossing and turning-all night!
5. DO NOT drink stimulating drinks too close to bedtime. If you know caffeine is a stimulant for you and will keep you up, don't drink it within 4 hours or so of going to bed. Keep in mind, lots of things have caffeine, hot chocolate, tea, lots of sodas, coffee etc. If you have any doubts, you better stick to drinking some water or something you KNOW does not contain caffeine.
6. Avoid over stimulation. Avoid watching exciting movies or TV shows that get your adrenaline pumping too close to bedtime. TV in a bedroom that is on late at night can cause over stimulation. Going on, and spending time on the computer late at night can cause over stimulation-this WILL NOT help you to sleep. SUT OFF THE bedroom TV set and get to bed at the same time every night as discussed above.
7. DO NOT play video games close to bed time. Again, similar to our last recommendation above. This will cause over stimulation.
8. If you have things that race or run through your mind and they keep you tossing and turning, write them down on a piece of papper or in a notebook. Doing this will help keep your mind settled and you can deal with that 'thought' the next day.
9. Sometimes opening a window while you prepare to sleep can help you to sleep deeper and faster. In my particular case, if it is too hot in the bedroom or too stuffy, I can not sleep. Opening the window slightly, creates a nice cool bit of fresh air that works wonders for me. I usually sleep much better when my bedroom is cooler at night.
10. EAT foods and supplements that are going to help promote sleep if you have a sleep issue. You would be surprised to learn of some of the foods and fruits that can help promote sleep. Bananas are known to help promote sleep, a cup of warm milk works for other people (blah--I don't like warm milk..) turkey can help make you sleepy, and certain vitamins also help to promote sleep naturally and may provide additional benefits to your health.
11. AVOID alcohol. If you are having problems sleeping. Avoid drinking excessive amounts of alcohol. While a glass of red wine might be soothing and calming, too much can act as a stimulant, not to mention the other obvious health issues associated with too much alcohol.

Well, there you have it. If you want a better night's sleep and want to sleep right, you can put these things in to practice and see if it works for you. Many times, we simply get caught up in bad habits and practices that rob us of sleep when we really need it.

Lack of sleep can really wreak havoc on your mind and thought process, trust me..I know!

When you sleep better and get quality sleep it helps your mind to get the rest it needs to have you thinking clearer and more reasonably.

Go ahead, get some good quality sleep now!