Lying in bed all night while your brain is wired and all you want to do is catch some Zzz’s before your long day tomorrow: that is the worst. First, it’s three o’clock in the morning and you are trying to think of the most boring thing in the world that will hopefully just bore you to sleep. Then it’s four o’clock in the morning and you get up and walk around for a few minutes hoping that your body will remember that it is supposed to be tired at this hour and you can finally sleep. Finally, it’s five o’clock in the morning and you know that the best you will get tonight is a two hour nap before you have to get up and start the day. Some people are mind blown about how you function with such little sleep and you simply say, “Yeah, I ask myself that every day.”

Sometimes it comes to the point where you have to take some sort of sleeping aid or literally anything that might increase your chances of getting a good night’s sleep. Struggling with insomnia myself, I have learned a few tricks to combatting a sleepless life.

First, start by taking at least a half hour before you fall asleep just collect your thoughts. If you get all of your thinking out of the way, hopefully your brain will feel like you covered everything you needed to and won’t bother you with random, ridiculous midnight thoughts on what you ate or accomplished that day.

Second, disconnect from the world. Close out Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, Facebook, and/or whatever else catches your attention from a screen. Anything worth seeing on social media will be there in the morning. By not staring at a screen right before you go to bed, your eyes and mind have a chance to relax and settle down from a fast paced, demanding day. Again, start about at least a half hour before you fall asleep, right around the time you are gathering your thoughts.

Third, drink tea that has natural, relaxing herbs. If you aren’t a tea person, try warm water will a slice or two of lemon. There are certain kinds of tea that you can get just about anywhere that are meant to enhance the feeling of getting sleepy. A few suggestions would be: chamomile, lavender, and lemon balm.

Fourth, read a book. If you are not a bug reader, start with something small. You mind has to work harder to comprehend the story that you are reading which results in tiring it out. I would not recommend a book that is high in suspense or horror, but something light with a simple storyline.

Lastly, if all else fails, do a little meditation. To some, meditation sounds ridiculous and ineffective. It has proven its effectiveness to me in helping me relax from a long day. All you really need to do is sit comfortably, take long breaths, and focus on your breathing without getting distracted from the outside world. This is an incredible way to relax because there is not a thing that you need to worry about for those few relaxing moments.

Not being able to sleep is the worst, especially when it is really consistent. I regularly run on power naps to get through long days, however I have begun sleeping significantly better since I started implementing these nighttime routines. Give these suggestions a shot and see if you can finally catch enough shut-eye to wake up feeling refreshed and ready to conquer the day.