One sheep, two sheep, three sheep, four... Please sleep, please sleep, please sleep... Ooommmmm...

Whatever your bedtime mantra, sometimes you just can't get the quality shut-eye you need. If you've ever found yourself drooling on the conference room table at the 9:00 a.m. status meeting, there is hope.
Your best bet to feel rested and energized is by avoiding sleepless nights in the first place. If you’re tired and irritated because of a sleepless night (or more), you may be easily be put off by this statement.
But when it comes to optimal health, it’s essential that you take preventative measures. Since sound sleep isn’t always possible, here is your guide to recovering from those energy-sapping sleepless nights.
Tips to recover from a sleepless night
1. Think quietly
If you stay awake after a sleepless night, you can still recover to a good degree by slowing down your thoughts. Try to quell any unnecessary chatter in your head. Ideally, you should meditate. If you have no idea what that is or think it's only for yogi's, just look up some introductory videos on the Internet.
In your mental toolbox, meditation is the screwdriver – powerful, fundamental, dirt cheap, and portable. Studies show that, in general, meditating can significantly reduce the amount of sleep you need. Make sure you keep your breathing slow and deep.
The busy gal's guide to meditation
2. Exercise
Time to get physical: light exercise sprinkled with some sudden movements will do a good job of waking you up. Just watch out for the backlash – too much exercise followed by comfortable sitting a few hours later will make you irresistibly drowsy.
3. Eat right
If you want to stay awake and alert, you must avoid heavy meals. That means eating light and frequently, which will help you avoid further fatigue that is the result of your body's energy going to digestion and causing fluctuations in your blood sugar level. Vitamin C is a potent pick me up – much more so than coffee. So go out of your way to eat healthy in such situations.
Hang in there by employing a few of these tips and you'll be sure to breeze through the day. Get to bed as early as you can and expect to wake up sans alarm clock fresh and ready to roll the next morning. The good news is, in most cases, you can recover completely with just one good night's sleep.
(Source: SheKnows.com)