I was sleeping 8 hours a night but waking up exhausted — until a doctor taught me 3 tricks for ‘switching off’ before bed

On the left, a woman lies on her back in bed stretching with a smile on her face, as if she's had a good night's sleep. On the right, a woman lies in bed with her face covered looking stressed.

Until recently, I was getting eight hours sleep a night (most adults need seven to nine hours) yet every day I was waking up exhausted. Unable to liv with the morning grogginess any longer, I asked an expert for help and after some probing, the answer became clear: stress. More specifically, I wasn't relaxing properly and shedding as much stress as possible before bed.

As I've since learned, stress keeps your nervous system alert, so you can't shut off. "Even if you spend eight hours in bed, an alert nervous system can keep your sleep from being truly restorative," explains Dr. Anita Raja, a sleep expert in partnership with Herbalife.