8 ways to train your brain to sleep better

(Sandee LaMotte/ CNN News) — Even melatonin can be misused, says Dasgupta.

Boy do we need it. More than a third of American adults are not getting enough sleep on a regular basis, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says, calling sleep deprivation a “public health epidemic.”

It’s a global problem too, according to the World Sleep Society, a nonprofit organization of sleep professionals dedicated to advancing “sleep health worldwide.”

“Sleep problems constitute a global epidemic that threatens health and quality of life for up to 45% of the world’s population,” the society says.

You don’t have to go through life sleep-deprived. Just as you learned to frequently wash your hands and wear a mask as part of your pandemic personal hygiene, you can learn to sleep better each night with what experts call “sleep hygiene.”

That’s sleep specialist lingo for the ways you can train your brain to recognize its time to fall asleep – and then stay asleep. (…)