Sleep Smarter: 21 Essential Strategies to Sleep Your Way to a Better Body, Better Health, and Bigger Success

by Shawn Stevenson

pleiotropic solution—an approach that addresses nutrition, exercise, stress response, relationships, and self-care.

Melatonin isn’t really the “sleep hormone” because it doesn’t directly put you to sleep. But it can definitely be considered the “get good sleep hormone” because it improves your sleep quality by helping to create the optimal conditions in your body for getting amazing sleep.

Studies have found that the optimal room temperature for sleep is really quite cool at around 60° to 68°F. Anything too far above or below this range will likely cause some difficulty sleeping.

Another great plant for your sleep sanctuary is the perennial snake plant. It doesn’t require much light or water to thrive.

Take the viney plant jasmine, for example. According to a study by the Wheeling Jesuit University in West Virginia, jasmine has a positive effect on the quality of sleep one gets, decreasing anxiety and improving the attitude one has after waking up.

Starting the day checking e-mails and messages on your phone immediately puts other people’s priorities ahead of yours.