THERE are people who fall asleep as soon as their head hits the pillow.

I unfortunately, am not one of those lucky souls.

For as long as I can remember I've been a restless sleeper.

The mere mention of my childhood leaves my parents white as a sheet, remembering the nonsense they had to put up with at bedtime, including sleep walking into the cupboard and asking for biscuits (I promise I was really asleep).

Now as a fully-grown adult I'm no better.

At best I wake up once or twice through the night. The worst times are when I can't catch a wink until 3am - or I wake then and return to sleep just before my alarm clock noisily buzzes. Noooo!

It feels quite torturous being awake when all you want to do is drift off.

I've heard that some people happily survive on four hours a night - Margaret Thatcher famously boasted about it - but that's not me either.

I feel so groggy when I'm in the grip of an insomniac phase. I like a good eight hours if I can get it.

Really, I've tried it all. I've cut myself off from TV in the bedroom, limited my mobile phone use at home and stuck lavender under my pillow.

But sleep doesn't seem to work on any particular date. Sometimes I fall asleep, sometimes I don't.

A few years ago, during a particularly hard phase, I was prescribed sleeping tablets from the doctor.

They did the trick, but I felt like I had the hangover from hell the next day.

I vowed never to take them again.

Since I've lived in Glasgow my sleep has been much better. Still, I'm determined to keep improving.

This New Year, along with the usual 'get fit' resolutions I'm trying to up my sleep game, and I think others should do.

Powerful media mogul Arianna Huffington says she's become a "sleep evangelist" since she had a wake up call four years ago after collapsing with exhaustion.

Everyone is familiar with the feeling you get after a good night's sleep: it's like you could conquer the world.

Or at the very least you feel rested enough to smile and not snap at the train conductor in the morning.

As with all modern life, technology is a major part of the problem.

We need to switch off from the internet completely when we don't need to be there.

Believe me, it will carry on mindlessly without us all and it will be there the following day.

I will be trying to stick rigidly to a sleep routine - when it's half 10 it's bedtime.

Ms Huffington says sleep is the key to success.

It gives a whole new meaning to the phrase: sleeping your way to the top...but that's the advice we should all follow.