If you’re not tired, don’t force it. Tossing and turning will only cause sleep anxiety. “I always tell my patients, if you have rolled over three times and stared at the ceiling three times, that’s too much,” says Dr. Kumar.
According to a 2008 study published in the online journal BMC Physiology, the transition into Daylight Saving Time can enhance restlessness at night:
The transition into DST affected more those with the preference to evening activities. This may have been due to the longer exposure to light in the evening which is known to delay the phase position of the circadian rhythms and their subsidiary rest-activity cycles.
If you’re a natural night owl, try unwinding at night by darkening the house and reading a book or listening to calm music — but don’t do it in bed. “Use your bed only for sleeping. If you can’t sleep, go do something else then come back,” says Dr. Twery. When we hop in bed with a book, our brain starts associating our bedroom with activities that keep us alert. “Once it becomes a habit, it can be hard to quit,” says Dr. Twery. “We want our brain to know that when we get in bed we want to go to sleep, and not do anything else.”