better sleep rituals

Photo: Andrew Southam

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The Bedtime Story You Can Read with Your Eyes Closed
Who: Jillian Michaels, health and wellness expert and the author of Slim for Life

Her routine: Michaels is as hard-core about sleep as she is about exercise, and she prioritizes her rest. She aims for eight hours every night, although her two very young children don't always cooperate. "When I don't get enough sleep, I'm hungrier the next day," she tells us. The wind-down technique she always recommends to clients involves listening to audiobooks—"They are like bedtime stories for adults," she says. One of her all-time favorites is Parallel Worlds, by theoretical physicist Michio Kaku.

Make it work for you: Keep the volume just barely audible, so it's easier to drift off when you're ready.