It’s on every list of instructions you take home from the doctors office, because it’s the first line of defense you can give your body–get plenty of rest. Sleep is when your body heals itself, grows, and does an astonishing amount of psychological re-balancing. Poor sleep has an especially strong correlation with childhood obesity. As little as fifteen minutes more of sleep per night has also been associated with a noticeable increase in SAT scores for high school students. Getting good sleep is essential for health and can be helpful in treating (or compensating for) any number of disorders.

There are many factors that impact the quality and quantity of your sleep. The body can be trained to accept a sleep schedule that falls anywhere in the twenty-four hour day, but if you have enough flexibility in your schedule, it’s probably healthiest to experiment with timing to find what works best for you. Timing and routine can have a huge impact. Make sure you are spending enough time in bed trying to sleep. Your want to wake up refreshed and rested every single day. If you are not meeting that goal, try going to sleep fifteen minutes earlier, or setting your alarm to go off fifteen minutes later in the morning. When you’re trying to create a routine around a specific time, be aware that your body sets its natural sleep clock around the time you wake up, not the time you go to bed, so if you are not able to stick to any other part of the schedule you are creating for yourself, keep your wake up time!

True sleep disorders are rare, and people who have trouble sleeping often over-report their symptoms. This is probably because the effects of sleep disturbance have such a big impact on their lives, they are often afraid of not being taken seriously enough to get the help that they need. Usually they’re unaware that most insomnia can be overcome by dedication to a nightly routine, a sleeping schedule, and a few other non-pharmaceutical support measures, with no complex medical interventions involved.