Quick Tip - Lamp Timers

If you or your loved one likes to read in bed before sleeping, get yourself a timer for the lamp nearest to them (or you) and set it to go off one hour after you want the sleep time to be. Also, have the timer be a minimum of 6 hours before you have to wake (more is way better). 

Image from Google Search Images

The advantage I've found with this is that, if you fall asleep before your light goes off, you are still getting the benefits of a darkened room (proven to improve mood, stress levels and fairly recently to help prevent Alzheimer's and behavioural problems in children) because your light isn't on all night and as an added benefit you also you don't waste electricity. 

Other advantages are that these timers usually have a "turn on" time and when they do you can also set it for the time you want to get up. I found that if I set mine for about one a.m. and 7 a.m. I could still do my studying, watch TV, have a bit of down time and generally read a bit in bed before I had to start again (I try to get to bed between 11 p.m. and midnight). 

One strange thing I found is that now that I personally use a lamp timer, I sleep better and I also have such a regular sleep pattern that I usually wake before my alarm clock, which can sometimes suck especially on weekends.

By the way these timers are sometimes sold on sale during holiday time for things like Christmas/Hanukkah lights and also plant lights for things like African violets. They are usually available in your local hardware store year round.