WRITTEN BY ZIPPORAH E. DORSEY | ILLUSTRATED BY ANNIKA ELYSE

Remember in elementary school when you had nap time? When you knew exactly where you were going to sleep, how long you got to sleep and how your body knew the right position to relax? Why does that seem so impossible now? It seems like most people aren’t nearly as capable of getting a good night’s sleep the more they need to be able to — and many struggles with insomnia, or simply don’t have a good sleeping pattern.

Redeveloping a healthy sleep pattern isn’t easy. Relaxing isn’t as simple as it was in elementary school due to the stress of being an adult and having responsibilities. But without enough healthy sleep, taking care of some of those responsibilities becomes harder leading to more stress and less sleep. It’s a vicious cycle that needs to be broken.

Ultimately, the key is to reset your mind from the events and thoughts from the day — to allow it to relax just as your body does when you decide it’s time for la-la land. You want your mind to rest as well, so you wake up refreshed and energized instead of groggy and disoriented. While it’s not always possible to control all the factors that affect your sleep — like roommates, external noise and lights — there are some active choices you can make to help you sleep like a baby again.