When you're used to going to bed at about the same time every night, the stress of trying to force yourself to pass out earlier could make you take even longer than normal to fall asleep. Plus, the more hours you log in bed not sleeping, the more your body will associate your bed with being awake (holy vicious cycle!), says Kenneth P. Wright Jr., Ph.D., director of the Sleep and Chronobiology Laboratory at the University of Colorado.
So even if your alarm is set to an early hour, climb under the covers when you feel tired and not a minute before. And if you happen to have a burst of energy once in a while at bedtime, it's cool-you can turn in a little later.
If you're walking around like a zombie these days, it could be because lots of the sleep advice you're getting is flat-out backward. We're here to rescue you from tossing-and-turning hell.