It's commonly known that, on average, people need at least seven hours of sleep per day. For me, no matter how long you sleep as long as you could rest your body, that would be enough. What is the difference between sleep and rest? Sleeping is when you really shut down your body - it's more physical. On the other hand, resting is more like relaxing, let your mind wander away from all of those hectic routines and hence, it's more related to your spirituality. Therefore, even if you find it difficult to shut your body and go to sleep, you should at least try to relax your mind and let it rest. 

I used to experience trouble sleeping once when I was heartbroken. That's the only time that I could not sleep until 3 AM - 4 AM and had to wake up at 7 AM for work. I very clearly remembered my manager said this to me, "Your body is here but your mind is definitely somewhere else. You looked like a ...." Ah, memories. 

If you have the same exact preference like me who does not like exercising routinely, then perhaps what I am about to share with you is worth trying. You could try any of these before you get your beauty sleep. 

BURN A SCENTED CANDLE

Oh, I love scented candles. Almost every single night, I burn the candle to let the scent fill my room. Choose lavender or eucalyptus scents. These are my most favourite ones and very relaxing. 

Just make sure you don't leave the candle burning the whole night. Not because it may burn your house or whatever, but simply because you want to kind of save it for at least a one month use. For me, there is no other brand that could offer sell scented candles better than the Bath & Body Works. You should try their Aromatherapy edition called 'Stress Relief' which has strong eucalyptus and spearmint scent. 

Actually, the burning candle itself won't work and bring you to your sleep. What you need to do after burning the candle is to relax; turn the lights off, take a deep breath and exhale slowly. Repeat that several times. Every time you exhale, release all those tensions in your body, especially on your neck and shoulder areas.

Say this to your self, "Hey, baby, you've done well today. You deserve a break and a nice good sleep tonight."

"TO SLOW DOWN" PLAYLIST

Please tell me I'm not the only one who has a playlist compiling all those slow, mellow songs. When I say 'mellow' of course, it is not just about sad songs. You could try acoustic ones. Imagine you are watching them performing live in front of you in a coffee shop in Paris - I don't know you decide. How would you feel?

My kind of songs are very mainstream. So, songs I'm gonna recommend here might be probably already in your music library. Try Boyce Avenue, Mindy Gledhill, Daniela Andrade, Reneé Dominique, Landon Pigg, Damien Rice - and one of my favourite Indonesian artists worth hearing before sleep: The Overtunes.

Slowly do this: close your eyes and take a deep breath and smile. That feeling of letting go is all what you need to enable your body entering 'do not disturb' mode.  

MEDITATE

I know, I know, some people even already reject this idea before even trying it. Meditating is actually to do nothing, and people still think they cannot do it?  For beginners, doing mediation is indeed difficult but thanks to the technologies called smartphones and applications, we can now have someone narrate us to enter meditative mode. 

Try these apps: Headspace or Calm. None of them offers a full free features. You need to pay extra to fully explore the apps. However, I believe the free basic features are all enough for you as beginners. 

Headspace offers 10 sessions for beginners to do meditation. You could choose whether to do a 5 minute or 10 minute meditation guided by a male or female voice. I could not think any easier way to begin meditation other than being guided by someone.

Calm offers more than just musics and storytellings. If you find yourself difficult to do meditation due to whatsoever reason, perhaps you could choose story in this app that interests you and let the narrator read it for you as a bedtime story. 

I am using both applications up to now and most of the time, I find myself already fall asleep even before the session finishes. 

PRAY

Whatever your belief or religion is, you do know how to pray, right? I always remember a scene from 'Eat, Pray, Love' movie where Liz was finding herself in a difficult time and could not sleep. She got up from bed and kneeled down and began praying by saying, "Hello, God?"

Begin your prayer by saying this: "I thank you for today. I had so many new experiences and great times with my family and friends. Today may not all be perfect as I planned but I do thank you for everything. Now please allow me to rest my body tonight and have sweet dream so that tomorrow I could wake up, be fresh and ready to offer more to this beautiful life with a brand new spirit. I know You always get my back."

READING

I am not a bookworm, at all. I rarely finish reading books that I bought, except poetry and Harry Potters. I'm not a big fans of reading even though I know it is good for knowledge but, meh, it does not work for me. This is why I always get sleepy while reading. I read topics which I am interested in on my ipad and after several pages, my eyes will always get heavier and heavier and that means, it's time to sleep. 

Everybody always has that one thing that can make themselves feel relaxed. Do that more often. Sometimes what works for some people does not work for others. The secret to fall asleep is to have a relaxed or light mind.

And finally, if you have tried all of these tips and you still cannot go to sleep? Well, I'm sorry my friend, you might need to try move your ass and exercise routinely. Well, step by step!