Can't sleep at night.... I've got the cure..ZzZzz

Every day millions of internet users ask Google some of life’s most difficult questions, big and small. Our writers answer some of the most common queries We all have different sleep patterns, and almost anyone can improve theirs. So let’s begin with the three keys to better sleep which might work for an “average” person. The first is a healthy life style. You’re more likely to sleep well if you eat healthily, exercise, and have time for a good social and/or family life. Good nutrition and food habits benefit all bodily functions, including sleep and health; exercise helps reduce stress; and good relationships do the same – while also improving mood, and enabling relaxation before sleep. The second key is the length of time you sleep, with about eight hours a night being a good amount for the average person. Don’t be surprised if you sleep less though. Most working people in modern society are sleep deprived by an hour or two each day. But six hours of sleep is too little. Sleepmatters more than we realise, so making time to sleep for about eight hours is good advice for almost everyone. The third key is the time you try to go to sleep (if you think of shift work and the problems this causes people, it’s obvious that this is important). Most people have two different time patterns – one during the working week, the other for weekends and holidays. It’s no surprise that holiday timing is better for sleep. As a rule of thumb, waking at 8am and going to sleep at midnight is about right for the average person. You may need to adjust these timings if you’re different from the norm. Some of us are morning types (naturally getting up and going to sleep earlier) and others are evening types (naturally getting up and going to sleep later). These types are formally known as chronotypes. To find out if you are a morning type (“lark”) or evening type (“owl”) it’s worth looking up the MCTQ short questionnaire. This is probably the best way for a morning person to find out accurately if they are an extreme early, very early, early, slightly early or normal type – and find appropriate sleep timings (the same applies for evening types). These timings are given in the MCTQ results: the average person wakes at 8-9am and goes to sleep at midnight to 1am. In contrast, some extreme early types wake at 5am and go to sleep at 9pm. This shows the huge difference between chronotypes that occur naturally in a large population. These differences can affect many people. For example, some moderate late types would wake up at 11am and go to sleep at 3am, if allowed to adhere to their natural rhythms, and this group makes up more than 5% of the population. Of course, these MCTQ timings are not rigid rules, only a rough measure of times to guide you to understanding your own sleep better. They might also help you understand people in your family. This is particularly true for teenagers and young adults whose sleep patterns can alter