Our ExploraVision team is investigating how to sleep efficiently and maximize the rapid eye movement (REM) sleep phase. The REM sleep phase has the most benefit to sleepers.

We're in desperate need of ideas, but here are a few tips for improving your sleep that I learned from reading articles and books about insomnia, such as "No More Sleepless Nights" by Peter Hauri and Shirley Linde:

1. Imagine that you’re on an air mattress floating in the middle of the ocean.

2. Count things like sheep.

3. Eat a heavy breakfast, a moderate lunch, and a light dinner.

4. Do 30 minutes of intense aerobic exercise five to six hours before bedtime.

5. Avoid sleeping drugs because they cause dependency and are only temporary.

6. If random worries pop into your head when you’re supposed be sleepy, lock yourself in a quiet room in the evening and create a 30-minute worry time to jot down all the worries in your head.

7. Imagine that you're a sponge.

8. Imagine that you're on your mattress slowly falling downward, so that the farther down you fall, the sleepier you become.

To my disappointment, I found no conclusive or highly effective solutions for curing insomnia. But even if the above tips are ineffective, at least you've narrowed your list of potential solutions.