If you are having sleep problems, or you simply want to improve the quality and quantity of your sleep, there are many things you can do, including:

* Go to bed around the same time each night, ideally around 10 PM.
* Avoid snacking just before bedtime, particularly grains and sugars.
* Keep the temperature in your bedroom no higher than 70 degrees F (ideally between 60-68 degrees F.
* Eat a high-protein snack several hours before bed. This can provide the amino acid L-tryptophan, a precursor to melatonin and serotonin.
* Avoid caffeine as much as possible, especially in the PM.
* Make sure you exercise regularly, but not near bedtime.

There is one more thing however, that has been shown in scientific studies to improve your sleep. Wool has been proven to outperform both synthetics and down. Dramatic results demonstrated that wool bedding such as comforters and pillows:

* Breathes more naturally than any comparable synthetics, so you reduce the thermal stress on your body AND avoid creating a hospitable environment for dust mites.
* Increases the length of your REM sleep meaning you benefit more deeply from this vitally important stage of sleep every night.
* Helps create the most optimal body temperature the body gets to a comfortable sleeping temperature more quickly and stays there longer.

And, if that weren’t enough, recent studies have shown that the resting heart rate of people who sleep under wool versus those who use synthetics is 20 beats per minute less creating a more restorative sleep experience from beginning to end.

Mercola.com

Her team studied more than 8,000 people, aged 35 to 55, who were followed for a number of years.

Among participants who slept six, seven or eight hours a night at the start of the study, a decrease in nightly sleep duration was associated with a 110 percent excess risk of cardiovascular-related death.

Similarly, among those who slept seven or eight hours per night at the start of the study, an increase in nightly sleep duration was associated with a 110 percent excess risk of non-cardiovascular death.

The study appears in the Dec. 1 issue of Sleep.

On average, most adults need seven to eight hours of sleep per night to feel well-rested and alert, according to the American Academy of Sleep Medicine.