Sleep is vital. You need it to feel your best each day. Whether you want to stay awake through your afternoon meetings, or you just want to feel alert and alive during the day, your sleep matters. The problem is that too many people don’t get enough sleep and it affects them, their health, their work performance, and even how they interact with their loved ones.

Make Sure Your Children Are Sleeping Their Best

Before we move into the adult bedroom, first let’s make sure that any children in the house are getting a good night’s sleep. If you don’t have children, skip to the next step. But if you do, you already know that a restful night’s sleep is totally dependent on how well your children sleep. As a parent, you might want to harness the latest in sleep science by ordering a sleep chronotype test designed for children. This is a DNA test that can tell you how long your child needs to sleep each night, how efficient their sleep is, and other sleep factors. If your children are older, there’s plenty of science to help you, too.

Sleep in the Dark

I’ve heard it’s best to sleep like a caveman. So, imagine what that looks like for you. You’ll need your room to be as dark as possible if you want a restful night’s sleep. Get blackout curtains and remove any ambient light from technology, including night lights. Too many people have their phone lights by their bed as well. If you can’t make the room dark, wear an eye mask to bed to keep out as much light as possible.

Get a Good Mattress

There is nothing worse than sleeping on an old, lumpy mattress. You can get more sleep if you get a better place to sleep. A good mattress is an investment in your health and sanity! Nowadays there are even mattresses that track your sleep patterns and help you discover patterns about your sleep. They can even make you change position without waking you up. These cool mattress features are just some of the ways you can leverage technology and comfort to rest better each night.

Ditch the Caffeine Early

You may enjoy a morning cup of coffee or two, but caffeine later in the day can impact your sleep in negative ways. You can get more sleep if you drink only water in the afternoon and evening. I find that I sleep best when I don’t have coffee or caffeinated drinks after noon. I also make an effort to stop drinking anything two hours before bed so that I don’t get up to use the bathroom in the middle of the night.

Turn off Technology

Some people love to be on their phones until moments before they go to sleep. I’ll admit that I am guilty of this sometimes. Truthfully though, those are the nights when my sleep suffers the most. Experts agree that you should turn off all forms of technology an hour or more before your bedtime to give your body a change to make melatonin. This important hormone is responsible for helping you fall asleep and stay asleep. The blue light from phones, TV’s and tablets disrupt the production of melatonin making it challenging to get to sleep.

Create a Bedtime Routine

Just like you do with your children, create one for yourself. Whether it’s a cup of decaf tea and a good book, or taking a shower with hot water, do what you need to do to help your body know it’s time for sleep.

Keep Paper By Your Bed

Maybe you’re one of those guys who gets random ideas while you’re trying to go to sleep. That’s cool, just write it down real quick so you can remember it later. This little trick is very helpful. Some guys get their best inspiration on the way to snoozeville, so it’s best to get it in writing so you can easily jog your memory the next day.

Stop Snoring

Okay, easy for me to say, but there are tons of products on the market designed to help open nasal passages and help you breathe easier at night. Better nighttime breathing leads to better sleep, which makes your day go so much better. Whether you use a nasal strip on the bridge of your nose, a nose plug style to open things up, or something else, it’s important to snore less. It’ll also help your relationship with your wife if you don’t snore as much. She will get better sleep too.