it, but you wouldn't be tired at said bedtime, so you would lie in bed for an hour and only get 7 hours of sleep. Your wake-up time needs to be the same every day except for rare occasions. Weekends are not rare. 4 Subtract 8 hours from the time you wake up . Determine how long it actually takes you to fall asleep. Don't glance at the alarm clock constantly to test this, just think whether you lie in bed for what seems for hours, or does your head barely hit the pillow? If the first one is the case you should subtract one hour from the time you have. If your head barely hits the pillow you only need about five minutes in bed before your -8 hour time. If you're somewhere in between 30 minutes should be a safe amount of time to be in bed before you need to fall asleep. 5 Do something calming before bedtime . The computer may be calming but your brain naturally makes you sleepy when it is dark, so by staring at a screen you are keeping yourself alert and wide-awake for longer than you should. A shower is an excellent thing to do before bed. Make your activity a sort of habit. This helps. 6 Go to bed right when you start feeling tired . The best time to go to bed is when you can't stop yawning and feel the need to just close your eyes and lay