Are you getting enough sleep? 47 million adults in the US aren't. A hundred years ago, the average person slept 9 hours a night - clinically proven to be the amount most of us need. As of 2002, the average has dropped to 6.9 hours and general sleep deprivation.

We feel the need for more hours in day and the only place we seem to be able to cut time from is our sleep. We can't afford to sacrifice our personal productivity for a few "extra" hours snooze time. What many of us don't realize is how much damage we cause ourselves when we don't get enough sleep.

A lack of sleep can mess around with your emotions, energy levels, memory, problem solving, speech and general mental capabilities. Sleep deprivation can cause pessimism, stress, anger and sadness - not to mention a whole slough of health problems including pre-mature aging.

So, as you can see, cutting back on your sleep to get more done actually decreases your productivity.

Now, everything gets more complicated from here. Each of us requires a different amount of sleep in order to function properly. Don't get enough and fall prey to any number of the afore-mentioned symptoms. Get too much and become a lazy lump that lives to sleep.

It takes time and a bit of dedicated experimentation to find your optimum sleep pattern. It is not as simple as setting the alarm clock early or late one day.

You must get up at the same time and go to bed at the same time with your new sleep schedule for at least a week to allow your body to adjust.

You must do this for each time increment. Start out by adding or subtracting an hour and pinpoint from there. Your body will tell you when it's happy.

All this is well and good - if you don't have trouble sleeping. Unfortunately, most people (especially women) do. So what can we do to encourage the sandman? Cut back on alcohol, caffeine and nicotine and avoid them like the plague six hours before bedtime. Don't eat or drink anything for two hours before bed - this will also help your body to burn fat instead of calories while you sleep!

Don't fall into the clock-watching trap. If you can't sleep, don't lie there stressing about it - get up and do something until you get sleepy. Most importantly, relax before bed, but make sure your not in bed. Read, meditate or take our recommendation - have a hot bath with your favourite bath treat, soy candles and soothing music!