Sleep is something that I have never really needed much of to feel perfectly normal the next day. Since I was a child I was able to sleep for 5 hours and still be perfectly rested for the next day. In middle school I was on a strict schedule of going to bed at 10-11 and waking up at 5. Since I've started staying up until 1-2 in the morning, I, naturally, have started waking up later.

However, not only do I not enjoy waking up late, If at any point in the early morning do I wake up, I force myself to stay awake because I know that if I let myself fall back asleep I will be sleeping until noon. Eventually, I figured out a routine for myself that allowed me to fall asleep faster, and stay asleep the entire night so that I didn't have to worry about sleeping in too late. Today, I am going to share this routine with you in the hopes that if you have trouble falling asleep at night and staying asleep, you will try out some of these steps to see if they can help you out.

1. Brush your teeth

This probably seems like a silly first step but trust me, if you get all ready to go to bed and then you have to get back up, go into the bathroom and brush your teeth, that will already disturb the calm state that you were in and make it harder for you to sleep.

Brush your teeth before you even go into your room at night (unless your bathroom is in your room. Don't try to climb in through your bathroom window just to avoid stepping into your room.) Once this step is done, you won't even have to leave the comfort of your room and this will help your body calm down and get ready to sleep. Along with brushing your teeth, make sure to take off all of your make-up and any other self-pampering that you like to do at night.

2. Put on your jammies!

Whatever you will be wearing to bed that night, put on. Take off whatever uncomfortable attire you were forced to wear all day and slip into some over-sized sweatpants, a nightgown, shorts and a tank top, or a matching silk PJ set— whatever you want! You could honestly do this before you brush your teeth as well if you wanted. Just don't wait until the second you want to actually fall asleep to change, that will not help you fall asleep.

3. Blogilates!

Blogilates is something that I started doing every night before I went to bed about a year ago. If you are unfamiliar with Blogilates, check it out on youtube and it will change your life! Not only is Cassey Hoe the BEST fitness instructor on the planet, but her videos are super relaxing and fun to do! It will also help you get in better shape (don't worry, I'm not saying that you aren't already in the best shape ever.)

You can do one of her super relaxing stretching videos or tire yourself out with a "Quick Burn" or even a "PIIT" workout. Remember, the harder you work yourself, the more tired you will be. Tired= sleep. Something that I do is I start with a leg workout, then move to arms. If I'm still feeling energized after that then I will move to a cardio workout and then finish up with some stretching. Don't be intimidated either, each video is fairly short in length and with Cassey talking to you through the whole thing it flies by!

4. Strech

Now, this step can be a part of the third step if you decided to do one of Cassey's stretching videos. If not, however, it is always a good idea to stretch out your muscles at the end of each day.

Already in bed? Don't worry! You can stretch on the comfort of your mattress, you could even stretch under the covers if you wanted. Stretching is crucial to help relieve stress, calm your body, and release tension. All of these things will help you fall into a more comfortable sleep and wake up feeling just a little bit better.

5. Grab a book

Grab ANY book. It can be a dense chapter book, a search and find, a coloring book, children's book, cookbook, it doesn't matter! Anything that you want to read or look at will help tire out your eyes.

Also, sitting in silence will be yet another way to calm down your mind and body. Personally, I love reading fiction right before bed (the only problem with this is that sometimes I get so interested in the book that I don't want to go to sleep, proving itself to be counter-productive on occasion.)

6. Go to sleep

When I say go to sleep, I mean go to sleep. Don't just lay down on your bed and stare at your phone for the next two hours. The light from your phone will wake up back up, undoing all the work you've just done. Don't get back out of bed unless you need to and don't listen to anything. Something that I always thought helped me fall asleep was listening to soft music or sounds but in the end, I only ended up waking up in the middle of the night because it got tangled up in the headphones.

Just get in a comfortable position— for me, that's flat on my back with my hands on my stomach—and close your eyes. Now it's important that you actually close your eyes. Let your mind know that it is time to sleep. Try not to give into impulses like scratching an itch, readjusting your socks, or whatever other weird things your body tells you that you need to do.

And honestly, if you are having trouble falling asleep still, don't be afraid to start counting. Counting is boring, being bored will make you want to sleep. Count until your little heart can't count anymore. However, if you find counting to be a thrilling pastime, don't count. Just do something boring. Think about grass growing, or about how many plastic bags you've gotten in your life. Believe me, it will make you want to sleep, if only to just stop thinking about it.