When I say religiously I mean it. It does not mean from Monday to Friday, and then wild nights on Saturday and Sunday. Maybe once in a month you can have a wild night but if you want to break this routine every week it is not going to help.

• Go to be early.

Now, that is a tough one. I?m sure that most of my readers are very late sleepers. And when I say go to bed early they will probably think that I sound like a fussy old parent. Well, I think it is good if I do sound like a fussy old parent because our parents knew what was good for us. Now coming to the reason why I suggested that you go to bed early.

Most of us are working people right? So our work demands that we get to our offices at fixed times. That of course deprives us of those couple of extra winks that we hope to get in the mornings. So it becomes going to bed late and getting up early. When we should wake up is decided by our work.

So the only thing that we have the freedom to decide is the time we crawl into bed. So the ideal condition would be to go to bed by 10 or 11. If your wake up time is 8 in the morning, this can be extended up to 12 or even 1 in the morning.

In any case, let your wake up time decide your bedtime, work backwards so that in any case you give yourself those blessed 8 hours of sleep.

• Don't eat two hours before bed time

It is difficult to get a decent sleep with your tummy full. So try to have supper at least two hours before your bed time. And keep supper as light as possible. If you have a heavy meal there is a greater chance for you to have disturbing dreams and even nightmares? oooooh!

• Have a glass of warm milk at least 30 minutes before going to bed

Milk is the best sedative that nature has to offer so go for it by all means. In order to really make your eyelids droop, just before boiling add a pinch of ground ginger, pinch of cinnamon and 1 clove. But remember; drink it warm, not hot. A date along with the glass of milk is the classic sedative that has stood the test of time.

• Wash your feet and calves up to the knees in warm water.

And also wash your hands and forearms. It really works!

• Gently massage feet and calves, hands and forearms for few minutes preferably with some moisturizer or baby oil
• Diffuse some lavender essential oil in the room 30 minutes before bed time. This will help tremendously.
• No reading in bed and absolutely NO T.V.
• If you are a light sleeper shut off all disturbances like a loud clock, a dripping faucet, a telephone that might ring or even a creaky bed.

If you wake up and can't go back to sleep:

• Have a jar filled with dry rose petals by your bed. When you wake up, inhale the rose scent for minute or two. You'll be back to sleep in no-time at all!
• But my strongest advice is to steer clear of sleeping pills of any kind. Let nature and your natural body cycles do the job for you. If you need external intervention, then realize that everything has been thrown hay wire and you are not on a safe track.