Are you feeling grumpy and crabby each time you get up in the morning? Or perhaps you simply wake up tired all the time and no matter what you do nothing seems to change? This can be quite frustrating and lead to a series of other issues such as not being productive during the day, not being able to feel rested, falling behind on work etc.

If you have this problem, you know what I’m talking about. So what can you do to fix it? There are some quick fixes that might work for a day or two, but ultimately won’t help you permanently deal with this issue. By working on your sleeping habits over a period of time you will be able to create healthy sleeping patterns and once again sleep like you did when you were a kid; If you suffer from sleep apnea check out the Valley Sleep Center.

So here is what you need to do.

1. Create a tight sleep schedule

Try to get up and go to bed at the same time. You should do this every day, no matter if we’re talking about weekends, days off or holidays. When you are consistent like this you will passively create a sleep and wake cycle for your body and this is how you will never have problems getting to sleep or waking up at the certain time.

However, you cannot expect to make a drastic change straight away. For example, if you want to go to bed at 10 PM, but your body is currently used to falling asleep at 2 AM, chances are that you won’t be able to make such a big change so quickly.

Changing your sleep pattern takes time and you should change the time you go to bed by 30 minutes each day until you have created a solid sleeping habit.

2. Take care of your diet

You should never go to bed on an empty stomach. This can keep you up for hours. You should also pay attention to how much you drink before calling it a day in order to stop yourself from waking up in the middle of the night because you have to go to the bathroom. For people who have a tough time going to sleep again after they’ve been woken up, this can present a great problem.

Additionally, substances such as alcohol, nicotine, and caffeine can also have a negative effect. Both caffeine and nicotine have stimulating effects that need quite some time to wear off. Although alcohol might help you fall asleep more easily, it can disrupt your sleep during the night. On the other hand, there are foods that can help you sleep better, such as eggs or kale, but still you shouldn’t get stuffed before going to bed.

3. Control your daytime naps

If you take long daytime naps, you will disrupt your whole nighttime sleep pattern. This is especially true if you have problems with poor quality of sleep or insomnia. If you are going to nap, you should make your naps no longer than 30 minutes and take naps in midafternoon.

In case you work during the night, you will have to make an exception to these rules I just shared with you and sleep longer during the day. If this is the case, you should make sure that you keep your bedroom in the dark while you sleep, so that the sunlight doesn’t disrupt your internal clock, which could make it hard for you to sleep.

4. Create a ritual

Each time before you go to bed, you should do the same activities to send clear signals to your body that you are going to sleep soon. These rituals might be taking a warm shower, listening to music, reading a book, playing video games etc. You should do all of these things with dimmed lights if possible. With such relaxing activities, you can easily create a transition between your alert state into a sleeping state.

5. Make yourself comfortable

Make your room all about sleeping. Make it cool, quiet and dark. Buy shades for darkening your room, get earplugs, or some other devices that can help you create an ideal sleeping environment. The two most important things for a good night’s sleep are your mattress and your pillow. If they are bad, you will always wake up tired and broken.

Make sure to pay attention to these things and see whether or not they suit you. If not, change them as soon as possible.

Keep in mind the points I have mentioned today and focus on improving them in order to improve your sleep. Additionally, make sure that you have regular physical activity every day. If you tire your body, you will sleep much better during the night.