If you don't feel alert and vital in the daytime, and you have trouble getting an adequate amount of shut-eye at night, you might want to try each of these four techniques, which Stevenson recommends to his patients:

1) Try to get your rest on a fairly regular schedule. The need to sleep is controlled by your body's internal clock. If you rise at 6 a.m. during the week but sleep until 10 a.m. on weekends, you're throwing that clock off.

2) Make your bedroom a sleep-only sanctuary. "People frequently misuse the bedroom," observes Stevenson. So don't make your sleeping place a setting for exercise, watching television or toiling over income tax returns; those activities are bound to get you keyed up.

3) If you can't fall asleep within 10-15 minutes, don't stay in bed fretting about the rest you're not getting. Instead, get up and go relax somewhere else. Reading a soothing book (that is, not a thriller) is fine, but Stevenson actually recommends "sitting and doing nothing in a darkened room." Or try simple diaphragmatic breathing. He also notes that a little reverse psychology will work wonders on your eyelids-focusing on staying awake is more likely to trigger slumber than is trying to will yourself to sleep.

4) Be a detective and try to clue in to any internal and/or external disturbances that could be disrupting your sleep routine. Are you worried about anything? Are you on any medications that list insomnia as a possible side effect? Are you drinking too many caffeinated beverages? Are you drinking too much alcohol (which can keep you awake as it wears off)? Is your partner snoring? Do you have noisy neighbors? Is your bedroom too light, too cluttered, too hot or cold? Are you getting up frequently to use the bathroom? (Stevenson notes that nighttime bathroom trips increase with age. To make the experience less disruptive, try to pretend you're sleepwalking: Keep your eyes half shut, if you can, and use a nightlight in the bathroom so that you won't be stimulated by the glare of bright light.) The sooner you identify potential problems, the sooner you can make changes and improve your sleep.

There's no universal magic number of hours of sleep that everyone should be getting, but you'll know when you're getting what's right for you, says Stevenson. Whether it's six hours or nine, a full night should leave you refreshed and free of fatigue during the day. Until you experience that, the most important thing to remember, says Stevenson, is that "you can't make it happen, you can only set up the ideal circumstances for sleep to occur."

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