We suggest that you work on improving your sleep habits and environment. Try the following, but remember you should not be impatient. Stick to the routine for at least a month to see benefits.

1. Do not brood about what seems to be insomnia. This will keep you awake more than any other factor. Remember no one ever died of insomnia.

2. Set a regular bedtime. Delay it if necessary so you can go to bed only when you are tired and overwhelmed by the need to sleep.

3. Make your sleep area more conducive to sleep. Draw the curtains. Change/dim the lighting. Try to use the area exclusively for sleeping, make it a haven that induces a state of relaxation as you enter it. Make sure that your mattress is firm enough to support you without too much 'give'; natural fibres are preferable. If you are too hot or too cold, you won't have a peaceful night.

4. Take a warm shower before going to bed. Let the water hit your neck and shoulders for a five-minute period of time. During these five minutes, breath in and out deeply and slowly. Visualize all the tension leaving your body as black clouds of exhalations, and fresh golden oxygenated air coming to replace it. (This is a relaxation technique that can also be used at other times of the day to deal with stress).

5. Repeat the above breathing exercise in bed, before going to sleep. Concentrate on the flow of air i. e., bad air flowing out and good air coming in, with accompanying feelings of warmth and relaxation.

6. Use essential oils and aroma-therapy principles to relax yourself. Apply a dab of lavender oil on your pillow, or keep a pot pourri in your bed-room.

7. Count backwards from 100 to 1. Try it if you wake-up at night, and cannot get back to sleep. You should fall asleep long before you reach 1. Do NOT watch TV in bed.

8. Cut down on alcohol, smoking, chocolate, coffee and caffeinated drinks. Avoid them in the afternoon and evening or, better still, eliminate them from your diet. However, a daily glass of red wine is good for you!

9. Writing about a problem purges your system: If you are really angry or depressed or stressed out over something, make time before bed to write down your worries or concerns and what you can do about them. This has a cathartic effect and will help you get it all off your chest.

10. Avoid heavy meals too close to bedtime. Monitoring what you eat during the day is also important.

11. Daily exercise is a MUST! Keep physically active everyday, and specially the day after a sleepless night. Daytime naps should be short ones. Make the Tibetan Technique part of your daily anti aging and good health ritual, as we have.

12. Always maintain your normal timings of sleep and awakening. Regularity is what your body craves.

13. Practice Meditation: If, for whatever reason, certain disturbing thoughts consistently run through your mind, try the following meditation technique to interrupt these thoughts: concentrate your focus on 'seeing the inside wall of your forehead'. Then ask each body part to go to sleep. Start with your toes and work up, "left big toe, relax.... go to sleep. Left index toe, relax... go to sleep...... and so on....."

14. Read yourself to sleep: In the same way as parents read to children till they fall asleep, you too can listen to a digital audio book till you drift off. Only be careful that you don't choose a subject that is disturbing to you.

15. Check your medication : It is important that you determine whether any medical condition or prescription medications are keeping you awake. All these can have an effect on your sleep patterns. Consult your doctor for advice.

16. Control Sleep Apnea or heavy snoring through natural means or breathing exercises.

A popular solution that we strongly disfavour:
A favorite quick-fix for insomnia is the use of alcohol. Alcohol in moderate amounts initially promotes sleep, but in the long run it disrupts and fragments sleep. This may be the result of partial body tolerance of alcohol, withdrawal symptoms during the night, or consequences of drinking i.e. gastric irritation, headache. Alcohol has, in addition, been known to increase sleep-related breathing disorders by increasing muscle atonia in the upper airways, resulting in airway obstruction, hypoxemia and fragmented sleep.