Last week, 8 Days featured a book on how to sleep. It's entitled "I Can Make You Sleep" by British self-help guru Paul McKenna (McKenna?! Lol. He would always kenna teased here if he lived in Singapore!).
His book includes a 21-min hypnosis CD that can help to relax you.
I hope that hypnosis CD is not of him reading some weird chants.

Anyway, here are the 14 Golden Rules of Sleep that he suggested. Let me, the ocassional insomniac, evaluate some of his methods for sleeping.

1) Get up regularly half an hour earlier than usual.
My say: I find it difficult.

2) Go to bed only when you are sleepy.
My say: Duh~!

3) Don't take any naps during the day.
My say: Okay... what happened to the strong advocates for short power naps? I think it's okay to take short naps still. He probably means "Don't take any 3-hour naps during the day".

4) At least three times a week, exercise for at least 20 minutes.
My say: I will feel very tired, definitely.

5) Stop eating at least three hours before bedtime.
My say: Not true. I myself feel the most drowsy after I eat.

6) Don't have any caffeine after 2pm.
My say: I don't have the habit of taking coffee, tea or Coke anyway.

7) Cut out on alcohol
My say: I don't drink frequently.

8) Switch off the TV one hour before you go to bed
My say: I do it! Yea, it helps.

9) Do only three things in bed: Sleep, make love or use this book or CD.
My say: I eat, read, play my laptop and use my handphone on my bed. But I still can sleep!

10) If you are awake in bed for more than 20 minutes, get up and do something boring.
My say: There was one night I did just that because I can't get to sleep at all! I sat up and read the newspapers and got even more energetic (-_-") Maybe reading the newspaper is not boring enough for me.

11) Keep your bedroom dark at night
My say: This really helps! When it's near bedtime, I would switch my room's lights to a dim orange glow, and I would really feel sleepier! Apparently it's biological. Lights can simulate daytime/nightime which would send signals to our body whether to rest or get up.

12) Have a warm, comfortable bed in a room that is not too hot.
My say: Doesn't apply to hot and humid Singapore!

13) Don't watch the clock.

14) Use the CD.
My say: Tsk tsk tsk. Blatant marketing.

Okay. He has some good ideas.
For myself, I do some other things to get myself to sleep...

1) I would read and read, until my eyes get very tired and dry. So I just close them and sleep.
2) I would pick a particular part of my teddy bear's butt and poke it until I feel relaxed to sleep.
3) I would pray desperately to God.
4) I would try to empty my mind of cluttered thoughts and think of a big, blank, white canvas.

Having said that, sometimes, these things that I do also do not guarantee me sleep. Human efforts are often futile.

So ultimately, the solution to this problem would be this.
In vain you rise early
and stay up late,
toiling for food to eat—
for he (our Lord) grants sleep to those he loves.
Psalm 127:2