[harkyns_castle]

Meditating/relaxing in bed before sleep I think is pretty important. Just taking 10-30 minutes to completely relax the muscles, stretch everything, forget everything. Pine trees, crickets, water lapping over white sands.

To do it well, I focus on the extremities of the toes and fingers, and give them a really good stretch, then let them relax. Then work inwards. Eventually you'll feel like you're floating, and get a good night's sleep. But I also mean stretch your eyebrows, your jaw etc. Stretch everything possible and let it relax. Its amazing where you can hold tension.

[parham]

I don't have much experience with stretching before sleep, but sounds like it would work, and work well! I only use meditation to clear my mind so I can get some peace and away from the problem I've been trying to solve during the day, otherwise I would be awake all night!

I really do prefer weight training an hour or so before sleep, it just gets the blood flowing without increasing the heart rate too much.

[harkyns_castle]

I agree, I think a good exercise/weight session is equally as good, if not better. Or both. We're pretty sedentary beasts, and I think that can cause a lot of problems.