One of the greatest things you can do for yourself is get a good night's sleep. It can help make the PMS symptoms and other ailments seem a little less… take the edge off. While this can be easier said than done, here are some tips to helping you get more quality (and quantity) sleep.

• Limit caffeine consumption. Along with coffee, tea and sodas, caffeine is found in chocolate and in medications used to treat headaches, colds and sinus congestion.
• Avoid nicotine, which impairs the ability to fall asleep and stay asleep.
• Don't drink before bedtime. Having just one or two alcoholic drinks within a few hours of going to bed can disrupt sleep and lead to more frequent awakening in the latter half of the night.
• Get active. Lack of physical activity during the day is associated with increased sleep problems. But don't exercise too close to bedtime because that can make it more difficult to fall asleep.
• Eating too much close to bedtime can make it more difficult to fall asleep and stay asleep.
• Be careful with daytime naps, which can make it harder to fall asleep at night. If you do need a nap during the day, keep it under 30 minutes.
• If self-treatment strategies to improve sleep don't help, talk to your doctor. Sleep difficulties can be related to a number of medical conditions.

These tips come from some research done by the Mayo Clinic in the January 2006 issue of January Mayo Clinic Women's HealthSource.

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