Going to bed and not sleeping is one of the worst cycles we tend to fall into. You tend to be either tired, frustrated, and stressed out when you face sleep issues. But a tired body and mind should be able to fall asleep quickly enough not to have to face the problem of not sleeping. Pondering into the night one thought after another, including countless attempts to close your eyes, doesn’t help either. In the current pandemic global problem, it can be even more problematic because of the sedentary lifestyle. If you are facing problems with sleep, starting from falling asleep itself, it is a sign that you may want to try different techniques to fall asleep.
The 2020 lifestyle makes us stressed out not only in the short term but long term too. Paranoia, frustrations, stress sustained over this long has consequences on the human mind and body. This is incredibly impactful on our sleep because of these mental issues. Your body is either too tired or not tired at all to be at peace to go to sleep quickly. Meditation, mindfulness, and calming practices help, but sometimes even they are not beneficial when you’re not in the state of mind to do anything. Read on for some short and long-term tips that you can follow to go to sleep quickly.
Here are the tips and techniques to try if you want to go to sleep without the additional hassle:
1. Breathing exercises: Whenever you face issues while going to sleep, the first thing we attempt is to close our eyes and try breathing. But that often fails because we tend to follow what we know to try to relax and calm down. However, the stress, frustration, or any other reason keeping you awake are still going to return if you falter. The best way to practice breathing and be mindful enough to go to sleep is to practice the 4–7–8 method conceived by Dr. Andrew Weil. This method involves breathing in a particular manner than the default in and out of the method we tend to use. That works too in the majority of the people, but the 4–7–8 method is more efficient, and here’s the how and why behind it:
a. Maintaining and remembering this method will help you fall asleep quickly and easily. You start by using mouth breathing. Assume your sleeping position and exhale through your mouth as a relieving procedure.
b. After exhaling through your mouth, count to 4 and breathe in through your nose.
c. After inhaling through your nose, hold your breath inside till you count to 7 calmly.
d. Now, exhale through your mouth again and keep doing it till you count to 8. You need to be able to make a relieving whooshing sound in steps 1 and 3 when exhaling.
e. This is one cycle of this procedure, and you can repeat it and keep on doing it till you fall asleep. Ideally, it should start helping you feel sleepy within 3–4 cycles.
This method works and helps you sleep quickly. But the best way to start with this procedure is to sit up straight and get into the practice before using it in your sleeping orientation.
2. Digital Isolation: One of the most widely known lifestyle issues that lead to sleep disorders, especially the inability to sleep quickly, is our screen time exposure. Specifically talking, our screen time before bed is the one that leads to both active and passive inability to sleep. Firstly, we might not realize the time we spend and see its already been 2–3 hours, and you are still not asleep. Secondly, gadgets during bedtime emit blue-ray emission, which keeps your mind alert and unable to go to sleep quickly. Moreover, digital screens of any kind make you irritable or lose focus or unable to unwind if you are engaged in action games, movies, or anything just before sleep. The best way to find balance here is to stop all digital exposure at least 1 hour before going to bed.
3. Using a high-quality mattress: Your old mattress can only be the biggest reason that you’re unable to go to sleep quickly. The signs to watch out for, if your mattress is the issue are:
a. Inability to relax your body
b. Cannot find your comfort or preference of softness or firmness.
c. Waking up at night, including excessive movement during sleep (which you notice)
These are just the signs that you watch out for in your body, among others. But if you also see your old mattress’s general shape and firmness, it is a prominent sign that you need a new one. Finding your comfort and going to sleep are in correlation to your health. Ensuring good-quality sleep needs you to have a calming environment, including a well-suited mattress. Your old mattress may also be the most significant reason behind any body aches that you have. Because in addition to your lifestyle issues, your mattress might not be helping you take care of your back and body issues, therefore leading to sleep disorders.
4. Unwinding and relax: Reread it! If you haven’t tried “relaxing” in its actual meaning (no relaxing with gaming, movies, food doesn’t count). Relaxing to sleep means that you are giving all of your senses and body time to rejuvenate and repair themselves. From the moment we wake up to the moment we go to bed, we tend to find ourselves between one form of screen or work schedule. All of this tires us out and makes us want to relax. Some people find appropriate relaxing methods, while others may find means to procrastinate.
Relaxing before sleep time means that you leave everything (try it literally) at the bedroom door. It can be your smartphone notifications, alerts from any digital device for your work, entertainment, or other purposes. It can be the work notifications and even work you take to bed, making you hyper-alert and unable to go to sleep. Try relaxing with mindfulness techniques (and use apps for the first few days to get into the habit). If gadgets are making you stay awake and alert, you can also use them if you know, with meditation and mindfulness apps.
5. Inactive lifestyle: The way things are going in 2020, everyone has one cause or another, be it mental or physical. But one thing that is common worldwide is the inability to keep ourselves active and motivated. You might be in stress, or not be in the mood for activity, and by now, it might be a habit not to do anything physically trying. The best way to assess your sleep issues is to keep a habit tracker, see how well you sleep when you exercise, and now when you aren’t as active. You can even think of how well you used to sleep in a routine compared to now. The extra calories before sleep, inactive lifestyle and other pandemic-induced lifestyle issues might be the aggressors.
But do not beat yourself over it; instead, take it in stride and overcome it with the help of apps and other methods that have worked for you in the past. Exercising even 30–40 mins makes a big difference to your energy levels throughout the day and your sleep. Less calorie consumption, high-stress levels from news, work, financial issues, among other things, are bound to keep one awake at night. Start with small steps and keep your 15 min activity session a regular for 21 days, at least. Then, when the motivation kicks in, increase, and maintain, you will see all sorts of lifestyle and sleep disorders go away.
6. Habits and visualization: We are creatures of habit, and complex thoughts plague us during our sleep more than any other time of the day. Changing your sleep-time habits and thought patterns would yield the most results, especially if you follow a disciplined routine. Sticking to changed patterns for 21 to 40 days would help your new habits cement. Overthinking, looking back at the day’s news and stressful events, how you can change your circumstances, among others, are healthy only if you do not engage with them during sleep time. Since there is no such thing as leaving your thoughts or brain at the door to switch them off, you can change them by thinking positively and relaxing.
Be it planning, thinking about your day ahead, or how your day went; these things can keep anyone up all night stuck in a train of thoughts. The best way to combat these issues is by thinking quite the opposite and noticing your thoughts. Only if you are aware can you change anything about yourself, which applies to these things. Change your negatives of the day to positives, fears, and concerns with positive visualizations, dreaming, and planning. The best part is this is easy to develop as a habit and leads to great results as you go to sleep, knowing you have done your best than the contrary.
7. Nutrition issues: Do you tend to yawn and crave throughout the day, and be alert just before going to bed? If yes, your nutrition and exercise need to be the things that you change. Day time cravings, including wanting to go to sleep after lunch, are common issues are all share. But if you engage in these activities too often, they end up changing your body clock and the way you work and sleep. This upsets your whole lifestyle and upends your sleeping schedule. Getting the right nutrition helps avoid bedtime cravings, which aren’t beneficial for your body or sleep.
Calorie heavy food items and hard liquor, among other things, activate or inhibit your digestive and nervous systems. Following the right nutrition and good lifestyle changes things that no micro habits or other assistive applications can help with. Changing your time and manner of eating before sleep can help you fall asleep quickly. Nuts, fruits, or milk before sleep are the best things to choose if you know your habits and stomach wouldn’t let you go to sleep.
8. Room environment: In addition to mattresses, the environment you sleep in also impacts your ability to go to sleep. Unfamiliar or uncomfortable environments do not let us go to sleep quickly. If you find your heart rate, body temperature, eyes, or other senses too alert and activated to fall asleep, there might be issues that you need to address in your environment. Getting the proper ventilation, air conditioning, or the lighting or absence of lighting are factors that you need to change. Moreover, changing these things not only helps you fall asleep quickly but be sure that you’re not going to get up in the night to change one thing or another. It cane be washroom breaks, water, or other things you need in the middle of the night.
Conclusion:
Sleep is a sensitive issue that controls our lifestyle and general well-being. We do not do anything unless there are severe disorders or just the inability to fall asleep quickly. Your sleeping patterns, lifestyle, and other things influence your health just as much as bedtime activities and the environment. All you need to do is change how you think, eat, relax just before bed. You do not have to shunt those things out of your life, but changing the timing and consumption helps a lot.
Another thing that can help you fall asleep quickly is to establish a bedtime routine. It can be using the washroom (without your phone), filling up a water bottle, and keeping by your bedside or other things. These bedtime habits indirectly signal your body that it is time to fall asleep and act as accelerators in helping you fall asleep. It is the same thing we use on children, except adult habits aren’t the same. Falling asleep shouldn’t be a challenge, but changing things can help you fall asleep quickly.
