8 Sleep Hacks That Will Put You Right to Bed

The half-life of caffeine, or the time it takes for the average person to get rid of half the caffeine in their system, is about five to seven hours. To get rid of 75 percent of the caffeine in your body, it will take eight to 10 hours. Drinking later in the day can generally interfere with your sleep.

You will sleep better when your bed is clean and comfortable.

Take a 15-minute nap immediately after downing a cup of coffee. Researchers found that combining the two was more effective than taking a nap or drinking coffee on their own. Caffeine takes about 15 minutes for the effects to kick in, so by the time you wake up, you'll be feeling refreshed.

Too much blue light before you sleep can affect the production of melatonin, a hormone that controls the sleep cycle. F.lux can help by changing the color of your computer screen to correspond with the time of day. For example, the brightness will automatically be dimmed and the blue light will lessen as the day turns into night.

You can wear blue-blocking glasses — like these Blue Light Blocking Glasses ($10) — to block out the artificial blue light at home. A University of Toledo study found that adults who wore blue-blocking shades three hours before they slept saw a significant improvement in quality of sleep.

Of course, you can skip all these blue-blocking gadgets if you just limit your usage of electronics a few hours before bed.

If you're not getting quality sleep, then perhaps you're not properly breathing. For a quick fix, get Breathe Right Nasal Strips ($39) to help open nasal passages.

We all know that you sleep better in a cool room (between 65 and 72 degrees Fahrenheit) because your body temperature needs to lower for you to get to sleep. However, if the temperature is too low, it may cause your feet to get chilly. And when your hands and feet are cold, the blood vessels constrict, retaining heat in your body and making it harder for you to fall asleep. Since cold feet are strongly linked to the sleep cycle, putting on a pair of socks in bed might be a good way to induce sleep more quickly.