Getting a good night's sleep is important. Why is it, do you suppose, that the night before an important event that we need to be our best for, is the very night that insomnia sneaks up and strikes? Maybe it is for the very reason that the next day holds something stressful or exciting for us. Insomnia on those nights is almost inevitable. There are those, however, who find going to sleep to be a difficult problem every night whether there is excitement in the air or not.

The following five steps to help overcome insomnia are not guaranteed to succeed on those "nights before," but they will help on a nightly basis to prevent insomnia:

1. Take a walk after dinner. Walk for approximately a half hour. This walk should take place about four hours before bedtime.

2. Do not take a shower at night. Showers are stimulating. If you must bathe, then take a bath and add some lavender essential oil to the water. Do not take a hot bath…warm is more relaxing.

3. Read something that is not a page-turner or hair-raising mystery or listen to music (not hard rock) for approximately one hour before your bedtime.

4. Do not eat or drink anything within two hours of your bedtime. You will go to sleep easier if your body is not having to process food or drink.

5. Establish a routine for preparing to go to bed. Do things is exactly the same order every night. Brush you teeth, wash your face, get into your jammies, get into bed, turn off your light -- and don't vary the order. You will be training your brain to prepare for sleep.

These steps will help to establish a routine for sleep. Your brain will receive and process the information, and if you do the same things each night, you will find that you are almost nodding off before you turn out the light.