Sometimes falling asleep quickly is complicated. Let's discover together how to sleep quickly with a few simple habits to put in place
How to sleep fast by improving your bedroom environment?
Don't look at the clock to sleep faster
You constantly toss and turn, try to fall asleep and in the meantime you see morning fast approaching with the time displayed on the alarm clock
Relax in hiding the alarm clock. Checking the clock frequently only increases your stress, making it harder for your nervous system to calm down so you can sleep.
Keep the room cool
Most people sleep best when the room temperature is cold, around 20°. A little trick to sleep better in winter is to turn off the radiator in the bedroom and put a thick blanket on it so you don't get sick during the night. The cold in the room and the heat inside the bed will help you sleep better!
Sleep in the dark
Put dim lights in your bedroom and use them at night before you go to sleep. It is also important that the room is dark, so close the roller shutter, buy blackout curtains or equip yourself with a sleep mask that blocks out 100% of light.
Use the bedroom only for sleeping and for privacy
A big mistake for sleeping fast is using the bedroom for activities that aren't related to sleep (or intimacy with your partner). It is important that when you enter the room, that your mind associates this piece with the fact that it will soon be time to sleep.
How to sleep fast: Put your smartphone in another room
Another way to get to sleep faster is to stop using your smartphone as an alarm clock and turn it on. replace with an analog alarm clock.
This allows you to keep your cell phone in another room and not only makes it easier to sleep, but also reduces dependence on your smartphone at night and in the morning when you wake up.
Remove blue light from your screens
Extensive research has shown that exposure to blue lights from electronic devices (smartphones, tablets, and laptops) reduces your ability to fall asleep quickly.
The vicious circle of blue light:
Blue light from screens halves the production of melatonin
Melatonin is the hormone that regulates your circadian rhythms
Night after night, your body feels the need to sleep later and later
You have trouble falling asleep and quality of sleep is affected
There is a free and quick solution to regain the right levels of melatonin without having to give up the screen: remove blue light from screens.
The easiest solution is to install specially designed applications. These apps use the clock and sunset time to start fading out the blue lights until they stop completely.
You can also adjust your screen or download the f.lux app which will reduce the level of blue light. Otherwise, choose anti-blue light glasses if you use a screen before sleeping.
Available applications:
On your Mac / Windows / Linux computer you can use f.lux (which also has a "movie" mode that doesn't distort the colors too much)
On your Android tablet/phone, you can use Twilight
If instead you have an Apple device (Mac, iPhone, iPad), you have a similar function called " Night Shift ". To enable it, check the screen settings.
How to sleep faster with actions to do during the day?
Create a ritual to sleep quickly
To be able to slow down your mind is a key factor in getting you to sleep quickly. Try creating your own bedtime ritual that will become your bedtime ritual every night.
Your ritual might just consist of one of these things or a combination of them:
- read a few pages a book (maybe not the last novel in your favorite series, capable of keeping you glued to the story until dawn)
- do meditation (e.g. with Clarity App)
- take a hot shower
- Listen to slow, relaxing music, with a bluetooth noise canceling headset for example.
Your ritual can last from 10 minutes, up to a maximum of one hour, the important thing is that our body knows every night what awaits it and associates this activity with the next sleep.
Write down your concerns
If this is a time when you have trouble falling asleep, it's probably because you have recurring thoughts and worries that don't allow you to relax and your mind keeps repeating them because it's afraid of forget them.
In this sense, a very useful technique to find how to sleep fast is to take it seriously and try to Write down in a notebook what worries you.
As you write these things, try to get a feel for whether this is something you're already dealing with or if it's something you haven't dealt with yet. It tends to ease your mind so that it is calmer and does not disperse.
If you need a starting point, just try answering this question: "What things usually come to mind at night when I'm lying in bed?"
You can try doing this exercise in the evening or earlier in the day. But avoid doing this when you are already in bed, allow some time before you separate yourself from these thoughts.
Keep a sleep diary
If you're an analytical type, another thing you can try is keeping a sleep diary: a diary where you tell yourself each day what time you went to bed the night before, how long you were it took to fall asleep, how many times did you wake up, what time you woke up in the morning and how you slept. You can also tell yourself what you ate the night before, what activities you did in the evening, how much exercise there was the night before. Keeping track of these things helps you see repeating patterns, what harmful things to avoid and in general to learn the hidden mechanisms of your body and mind.
Avoid coffee and alcohol in the afternoon
It seems obvious but it bears mentioning: avoid alcohol and especially coffee during the day.
How to sleep fast with your dog?
Sleeping with your pet seems to help with relaxation...as long as it's not an overly excited animal.
What to do when it doesn't work?
Alright, you've tried doing some/all of the things above, but you still end up in bed and can't fall asleep. What to do in these cases?
Use the 4-7-8 method
Made famous by Dr. Andrew Weil, this method has become increasingly popular.
When you are stressed or anxious, the amount of adrenaline in your blood increases and your breathing becomes faster and shallower. This exercise works like a sedative: in consciously slowing your breathing, you are also slowing down the rhythm of your heart and at the same time you are also calming your mind simply by focusing it on the breath.
The result is that your whole body relaxes. During his research, Dr. Weil discovered that this method was actually well known to Indian Yogis for centuries, who used it during meditation to achieve a state of complete relaxation.
Here's how it works:
- Place the tip of your tongue against the gums of the front upper dental arch and leave it there for the duration of the exercise
- Exhale through your mouth
- Close your mouth and inhale silently from your nose for up to 4
- Keep your breath counting to 7
- Exhale completely from your mouth making noise and counting to 8
- Repeat for a total of 4 breath cycles
- It is also easy to remember: 4 - 7 - 8
- 4 seconds inhale, 7 hold breath, 8 exhale.
listen to something
It's true, we've been told not to bring any technology into the room but sometimes you can make an exception...if it's just to listen. You can try a boring audiobook, with the volume loud enough to be understandable but not too loud to keep you awake. It will distract you from your thoughts.
Or you can do guided meditation/relaxation using an app like Headspace.
Warm up your feet
Keeping your feet warm is scientifically proven to help you sleep fast. You can put on socks or you can place a hot water bottle at the foot of the bed.
Get up and do other things to get to sleep fast
If you haven't fallen asleep for more than half an hour, there's no point in continuing. Stand up, change room and do something else like read a book or watch something to know how to sleep fast.
