Better Sleep On A Budget

Getting a good night's sleep is a challenge for most of us. Most of us have one or more of the following issues--tossing and turning for more than 20 minutes before falling asleep, waking up at least once each night, getting less than 7 hours of sleep.

Here are a few of his tips from Ronald Kotler's best-selling book, 365 Ways to Get a Good Night's Sleep:

• Prepare for the next day before going to bed. Have clothes, purses, bags, and lunches lined up and ready to go.

• Use your weekends to catch up on your sleep, especially if you had a week of five-hour nights.

• Make lists in your head of all the shoes in your closet, names of your elementary school teachers, or anything else of a mundane nature.

• Make sure you have a good mattress. Check for lumps, tears, sags, or smells.

• If you snore, have it checked. You could be suffering from sleep apnea.

• Gently stretch before going to bed.

• Get your B12 levels checked. A deficiency in this vitamin is associated with depression, bad temper, apathy, and a number of psychiatric disturbances.