Whether we're springing forward or falling back, the biannual time shift is, at best, a discombobulating experience - but changing the clocks also gives us a ready-made opportunity to change ourselves.

I loved singing lullabies to my daughter. As a musical theatre geek who suddenly had a captive audience (one that was physically incapable of walking out on me), how could I not? At nap time, bed time, really any time, I'd croon my own renditions of familiar classics. A couple of standouts: "Don't Cry For Me Little Baby" (sung to the tune of "Don't Cry for Me Argentina") and a song I just referred to as "Baby Hypnosis".

If you're having trouble falling asleep at night, your ticket to snooze town might be making a to-do list.

Parents who know the struggle of getting their kids to go to sleep may have turned in bleary-eyed desperation to The Rabbit Who Wants to Fall Asleep, the bestselling book that uses psychological tricks to get little listeners to quickly doze off. About a year ago, I played a reading of the book to my daughter at bedtime, and it worked like a charm three out of five times. (And it made me yawn a whole lot.)

Let's face it, waking up to the dream-shattering sound of an alarm is not the best way to start your day. If you want to get to bed on time, just keep reminding yourself how great it feels to wake up on your own in the morning.

If you don't have a hot water bottle at the foot of your bed as Australia heads into the colder, rainier months, I'm begging you to reconsider. Sure, you can wear warm socks or tuck your feet under a human or canine companion. But dogs don't stay in place, and people tend to shriek "Eek! Your feet are cold!" before rolling over and stealing your covers.

iOS/Android: If you didn't sleep well last night, you'll be tired today. Duh, right? Wake Mode shows your tiredness as a battery level for your body. For you and me, that's a cute gimmick. For my seven-year-old, it was a compelling argument for actually going to sleep.

I've been searching for a way to get myself to bed earlier for years, and I've finally found a trick that works for me. I just have to treat myself like a kid and make a deal I know will almost always work in my responsible side's favour.

If you're having a hard time waking up on time in the morning, you might need to adjust your schedule to align with your sleep cycles. The closer you can line up with the 90-minute rule, the better.

Right before you climb into bed with your partner, or say good night to your roommate, what's the last thing you talk about? If it's something that gets your anxiety or your anger up, you might be better off switching topics.

My kids are balls of pure energy who are offended by the very thought of bedtime. But meditation videos like this one actually keep their interest long enough to help them slow down and begin to relax.

You probably have to be up at a certain time every morning, so getting a good night's rest comes down to falling asleep on time the night before. If you can't get to bed at a decent hour on your own, ask for some help.

Whether or not you have kids, you probably have an opinion on parenting. Should mums and dads enforce rules strictly, whether their kids like it or not? Or is it more important to let kids enjoy themselves, even if that means bending the rules sometimes?

As delicious as a perfectly brewed cup of coffee is, we generally know that we shouldn’t pour a fresh cup after a certain time — it might keep you up at night, after all. We also know that looking at our smartphones at night can ruin our sleep. But how many of us actually put our phones away, or at least use some sort of strategy to limit blue light from screens?