Nurse practitioner John D. Cary has learned that what what works for patients can also work to improve a nurse’s sleeping habits.

Part of the trick to falling asleep is turning your brain off before you settle in for the night. This is more and more difficult for nurses as the nurse-to-patient ratio dwindles, says Cary. “When you’ve been taking care of sick patients, sometimes a lot of them, it can be hard to turn your brain off when you get home. It’s so easy to just keep thinking about what you’re going to do the next time you go in, but you have to call a halt.”