Maybe you’re emotionally wound up from watching the nightly news – or a gripping TV show. Try this: Read the most boring thing you can find. Sleep medicine specialist Dr. Christopher Winter calls it an anti-page-turner. Remember how you used to have to fight to keep your eyes open during reading assignments in school? That same impulse can help you fall asleep now, because reading helps the brain relax. It’s down to the repetition – page after page, line after line – which distracts you from thoughts that can keep you awake.