Waiting around to fall asleep is quite frustrating.
Especially when you have to get up early. But what if I told you that there are some hacks and tricks that can get you to fall asleep fast?
That’s right!
In today’s post, you will learn 5 most effective ways to fall asleep fast. And the best part is, they actually work and help you fall asleep when not tired and are very simple!
#1 Ditch Your Phone
The number one reason why you may find it hard to sleep fast is that you are up staring at your cell phone, either on social media chatting up with friends or just surfing the endless world of information called the Web.
You might think that watching or reading something online can get you more sleepy. But in reality, it works the other way round.
Apart from the distraction that your phone activities cause before bedtime, the blue light from the screen is very detrimental to getting proper sleep, as it delays melatonin release in your body. As you know, melatonin helps regulate your body’s natural cycle. Thus, in order to fall asleep faster, you will have to ditch your phone for a while. Don’t worry, as soon as you are up in the morning, you can get right back to where you stopped the night before.
Apart from not using your phone when it’s bedtime, you should also avoid keeping the sound on while you are trying to sleep. You can set your phone on the airplane mode or use the “Do Not Disturb” feature to silence incoming call/notification sounds. This will prevent not only sounds from disturbing you but also the screen from lighting up when you receive a new message from your chats.
#2 Pick Up a Book
When in doubt on ways to fall asleep fast, take a book and start reading. Reading a topic that isn’t too exciting is the best way to go.
You can also read something you wouldn’t normally be interested in because the idea is to bore yourself to sleep. That is why it should preferably be a dense book with small prints. Plus, you want to do this while you are lying in bed to get the most out of this method.
This book reading hack also helps in breaking the cycle of anxiety if that’s what doesn’t let you drift off. The mind battle between focusing your mind on what you are reading and the thoughts that have saturated your mind eventually causes your body to get very tired, hence giving in to sleep.
Make sure that it is a paper cover book if you want to see any results. Reading from your device might work too but you are risking the distraction from social media notifications. And, as mentioned above, the screen light doesn’t promote sleeping.
#3 Induce Yourself With Music
Yes, ambient music has been known to work specifically for this purpose. You can simply search for ambient or classical music for sleeping on YouTube, and you will get lots of options to choose from.
Using music to fall asleep fast basically helps soothe your ears and, at the same time, is blocking out any noise that might be hindering you from sleeping.
You want to make sure that the tracks are pre-downloaded and arranged in a playlist before bedtime. If you choose listening online, be it YouTube or music streaming apps, you risk waking up to something that is not sleep-friendly at all.
Another way you can fall asleep fast using sounds is by listening to white noise.
White noise is used to counterbalance other sounds in your bedroom or outside of it. It is simply a mixture of different sounds of different frequency playing at the same time. It not only is soothing to the ears but also gives you a sense of relieving stress.
Modern white noise machines usually don’t produce the actual white noise but just play different soothing sounds instead, which is still pretty effective. You can choose between the sounds of the ocean, waterfall, rain, thunderstorm, forest, etc. And you actually don’t have to buy the machine. There are lots of apps and online resources where you can find long, soothing tracks.
#4 Start Meditating
This one might work as a more long-term fix for your inability to sleep fast. There are different stages of meditation that will rapidly increase how fast you can go to bed. Meditation for beginners might be somewhat hard, but as soon as it becomes a habit, you will be eternally grateful.
All you need to do is learn how to focus your attention on your breathing patterns. The most recommended breathing pattern is called the four-seven-eight method and it works like magic.
The best part is:
You can do this both lying down and sitting. So, whether you are on a plane or in your bed and want to fall asleep in minutes, you can use this method anyway.
Here’s how it works:
First, you inhale through your nose while counting 1 – 4, in your head. Next, you hold your breath and keep counting up to 7, and then finally you exhale through your mouth on the count of 8. Repeat this for about four to five times and let the magic happen!
An alternative to meditation, which will help ease your mind and subsequently your body, is journaling your thoughts. This enables you to let go all the stressful thoughts you’ve been carrying around all day and to clear your mind on paper, literally. You will feel relieved, similar to how you would feel after meditating, hence, falling asleep will be much easier.
#5 Have a Glass of Something Warm
You might have noticed that drinking hot tea is often associated with the feeling of coziness. I love having a cup of tea before bedtime, curled up in a chair under a soft blanket.
Indeed, drinking something warm is proved to calm you down and put you in a more relaxed mood.
But it doesn’t have to be tea.
It can be a glass of warm milk with honey and oranges (my second favorite drink after lemon tea).
It can be hot cherry juice. Tart cherries are known for being high in natural melatonin.
So, prepare your favorite hot beverage (except coffee) and enjoy sipping it slowly to wind down and set yourself in a sleepy mood.
