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From time to time, everyone has faced certain issues with sleep. Insomnia strikes at the least predictable and sometimes most inconvenient moments, and you might often be wondering what techniques you can use in order to know how to get sleepy at night. If you are struggling with falling asleep once the lights are out, and you don’t know how to get to sleep immediately, there is help available.
The first steps for you to know how to get great sleep are usually found by implementing changes to your personal habits and routines. You may be guilty of several offences that inhibit sleep. Just like other aspects of your health, you have to monitor and adjust your actions in order to achieve successful slumber. The best chances of maintaining a stable sleep schedule come from taking the personal initiative to settle your mind and form great habits that will have you drifting off to sleep as soon as you hit the pillow. The following recommendations are intended to help you unwind and fall asleep more easily.
1. Establish a Lights Out Routine
If you want to know how to get sleepy, creating a bedtime routine will help you add some stability to the final portion of your day. When you have a list of routine activities that you can do before officially turning in for the night, your body will start responding positively, knowing that it is time for sleep. First, make sure that you use the same time every evening to start dimming the lights and preparing for bed. You don’t actually need to be in bed at this time. Instead, be mindful that knowing how to get to sleep immediately requires a routine for winding down.
At least one hour before bedtime, make sure that you dim the lights and that you reduce your exposure to blue light emitted from electronic devices. This means that during the final hour of your day you should try your best to avoid exposing yourself to television, computer, and mobile phone screens.
Scientific studies show that blue light suppresses sleepiness and inhibits your body’s natural ability to fall asleep easily at the end of the day. As such, during the last hour of your day, you could listen to soft, relaxing music or a podcast, complete an easy household chore or two, wash your face and brush your teeth, or simply read in bed under soft lighting. Making an effort to dim the lights earlier and take an hour to unwind surely helps you get to sleep fast.
2. Find Ways to Regulate Your Breathing
For those wondering how to get sleepy, it’s very important to regulate your breathing at night. One of the biggest factors preventing sleep is the buildup of tension within the body throughout the day. In fact, most people fail to appropriately release their built-up stress. While exercising during the day is one solution, as part of a bedtime routine, you could easily integrate stretching, breathing and light yoga.
These exercises will alleviate accumulated tension and help you better prepare for sleep. Stretching and yoga both help oxygen flow throughout the body without accelerating your heart rate, helping you to relax. Furthermore, by relieving tension and pressure points, your body will more comfortably sink into your mattress and pillow, and you will not wake up in the middle of the night with aches and pains.
Lastly, attempt taking deeper slower breaths, especially when you are in bed. Regulated deep breathing helps your body to calm itself down. Furthermore, controlling your breathing will prepare your body for the rhythmic breathing necessary to sustain proper sleep.
3. Experiment with Natural Solutions
Don’t fool yourself by trying to jump right onto the prescription medication bandwagon if you don’t know how to get great sleep. Normally, doctors only prescribe prescription sleep aids as a short-term solution, and these will only temporarily mask other problems in your bedtime routine that you should be addressing. Plenty of natural and herbal remedies can be used before resorting to chemically-concocted pharmaceuticals.
Valerian Root
Both valerian root and melatonin supplements are available as over the counter remedies to incorporate into your bedtime routine overhaul. Valerian root is a naturally-occurring herbal supplement that promotes relaxation and healthy, sustained sleep. Melatonin supplements are also available over the counter. This supplement has been clinically proven to stimulate your body’s already natural production of this hormone, telling your brain that it is time for sleep.
Herbal teas are another possible option. Try taking teas that contain chamomile, mint, lemongrass, and even valerian root in order to promote sleep and relaxation. Furthermore, natural essential oils can be used to promote sleep and to create a relaxing environment. Lavender, for instance, is one of the most commonly used fragrances that encourages relaxation and sustained sleep. Invest in an essential oil diffuser or naturally produced lavender sprays to make you sleepier faster.
4. Clear Your Mind
Another suggestion to follow if you want to know how to make yourself fall asleep instantly is to make active attempts to clear your mind as you prepare for bed. Activities like journaling, prayer, meditation, and focused concentration will help clear your mind and assist you in getting better sleep.
As little as 5 minutes of journaling before bed is enough to prepare your mind and body for restful sleep.
By journaling, you are able to reflect upon what went well today, what you are thankful for, and you can start to brainstorm what you would like to accomplish tomorrow. Both prayer and meditation allow you to think with deep focus and strengthen your bond with a higher power or your inner self.
Lastly, although counting sheep may seem like a childish activity, these kinds of imaginative games can help you shift your mind’s focus and fall asleep faster. Both counting and category games can help distract you and alleviate a racing mind. One great category game uses the alphabet. Think of a certain category like animals, for example, then mentally try to provide one example of an animal that begins with each letter. Try to make it fully from A to Z before switching categories. You’d be surprised by how quickly this technique can calm a racing mind.
5. Monitor Your Diet Before Bed
Finally, if you want to know how to get sleepy fast, it is important to pay attention to the kinds of foods that you eat and when you eat them. Try to avoid having a large, heavy meal right before going to bed. The foods you ingest will make your body work actively to process and digest all of those calories that inhibit sleep. Do make sure to eat dinner earlier, at least three hours before going to bed. If you are hungry before bed, try to eat foods with a mix of healthy proteins and carbohydrates that are easy to digest.
The National Sleep Foundation makes several recommendations for healthy snacks before going to bed. Foods like cottage cheese, peanut butter, fruit, or even a light turkey sandwich all make suitable options. Be sure to avoid caffeine up to six hours before going to bed, and do not make the mistake of thinking alcohol will help you sleep better. In fact, alcohol can dehydrate you, make you wake up more frequently during the night, and encourage dependence. Throughout the day, make sure that you are eating a balanced, nutritious diet as well as staying hydrated in order to fall asleep faster.
Try Out These Modifications Tonight
If you do not know how to get sleepy at night, and you want to know how to make yourself fall asleep instantly, start with a careful assessment of your own pre-bedtime habits and routines. Evaluate what strategies mentioned here work best for you. You may only need to make minor changes. However, poor bedtime habits may require a complete overhaul. Once you try out these methods for a couple of weeks, you will certainly acquire some new techniques and better know how to get to sleep immediately. Talk to your doctor if your insomnia is not getting better.
A sleep study could be performed in order to provide you with additional assistance falling asleep. As you carefully assess and monitor how these changes affect your sleeping, you will certainly have a new arsenal ready to combat insomnia. What’s more, if you have any friends or family members questioning how to get sleepy fast, you will undoubtedly serve as a guru for helping them reach their goals and achieve restful slumber.
