Can't Sleep? Here's What You Can Do

20 MINUTES If you can't fall back to sleep within 20 minutes, get out of bed. Is insomnia keeping you up, staring at the ceiling? It may surprise you that an underlying health issue can cause it, including chronic pain, sleep apnea or acid reflux. But if your sleeplessness is not related to any health problems, here are expert tips help you back to dreamland: Stop watching the clock. 1. Marking off the minutes only heightens your distress about being awake. A Try relaxing your body to fall asleep. 2. Working from your toes to your forehead, tightly tense each muscle group for five seconds, then relax. If you can't fall back to sleep within 20 minutes, get out of bed. 3. Use your "mind clock," Dr. Walia says, to estimate how long you've been awake. After 20 minutes, get up and leave your bedroom. "Don't spend time in bed trying to fall asleep," she says. "You probably will start worrying about falling asleep and then learn to associate your bedroom with not sleeping well." Find an uninteresting activity. Read something uninteresting. Listen to relaxing music. When you start to feel drowsy, go back to bed. Cleveland Clinic clevelandclinic.org/HealthHub © 2014 Cleveland Clinic