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Some people fall asleep the minute their head hits their pillow. Others can sleep just about anywhere, from sitting up in an uncomfortable plane seat, to lying on the couch with the TV blaring. I’m neither of those people.
And while I’m not an insomniac—defined as someone who has difficulty falling or staying asleep—there are times when dozing off can be a struggle.
According to the National Sleep Foundation (NSF), about one in three adults have at least mild insomnia at some point in their lives. It can be acute—meaning you don’t sleep well for a brief period of time, usually because of a life event—or chronic, which is a long-term pattern of sleep trouble.
Given that I’m a writer who works a great deal on health copy, it wasn’t lost on me that sleep loss could take a toll on my health. Decades of research have shown that chronic sleep loss puts you at risk of health problems including cardiovascular disease, diabetes and obesity.
So, I challenged myself to sleep seven hours per night for 30 consecutive days. Here are some of the things I tried—and if you have trouble sleeping, maybe they’ll help you, too.
