Can’t Sleep Well?

Don’t worry; you’re not alone. In the US alone, sleep disorders affect more than 60 million people every year.

You might have heard your bosses, peers or even your friends mention the above statistics many a times.

This would’ve left you wondering that since millions have trouble in sleeping, then it’s not something that one should worry about.

You might have heard people citing examples of highly successful people who sleep less than 5 hours a day and still experience exponential growth.

The truth of the matter is that getting less sleep is not the only factor that has enabled them to achieve enormous success.

There are many ingredients in the recipe of every uber-successful person. But, we’ll talk about those variables in another article later.

Coming to the Topic.

What makes a good night’s slumber so important?

Like eating healthy and getting physical exercise, getting adequate sleep is also important to keep you going through the rigors of daily life.  A good night’s sleep is a mode in which your brain repairs the body. Science suggests that there are various reasons for sleep deprivation. The most common causes are anxiety, depression, over-analyzing your past, and not taking out time to clear your mind before you hit the bed.

Some people fall asleep fast. A friend of mine goes to bed, and within five minutes you can hear his snoring. While for some unlucky people like me, it takes hours to get into the sleeping mode.

If your body is taking more than 20 minutes to fall asleep, this means it is giving you a warning sign.

A study suggests that sleeping is more important for healing the body than proper nutrition. There were 36 volunteers in the experiment. They were given small skin wounds. One group of 20 people was allowed to watch tv, play with their phones, and forced to stay awake. The other group was given a placebo drink and asked to sleep early.

The first group of people (the one with sleep deprivation) took five days to heal while the other group took 4.2 days.

So, to cut-down your healing time, it is best advised to sleep well.

Which brings us back to where were we started. How to fall asleep fast?

How to fall asleep fast is not an art; it’s a science. Luckily you are about to take control of your sleep and sleep like a baby.

Here are some scientifically proven ways (I am just saying that to make a good impression on you, but yeah, these methods worked for me) that can help you sleep like a log.

Reduce the Room Temperature

Do you know that as you fall asleep, your body temperature changes?

The overall temperature of the body drops while your hands and feet get cold.

If your room is too warm, you might find it back-breaking to fall asleep. Try opening the room windows or shifting your thermostat temperature to 15–23°C

Of course, everyone has their preferences. Just listen to your body. Do, what suits you best.

You can even take a warm bath to change body temperature. As the temperature in your body changes, it will give a signal to your brain to fall asleep.

The “4-7-8” Breathing Method can Help

“4-7-8” is a method to relax your muscles and allow your mind to cruise in a calm state. Apply this method to fall asleep fast.

The method is quite simple. You have to change your breathing pattern, and you’ll fall asleep right before you finish reading this blog.

Here are the steps:

Experiment with Daylight & Darkness

Lights can influence your body’s internal clock.

Irregular exposure of light throughout the day can affect the sleep cycle of your body and make it difficult for you to fall asleep.

Throughout the day, expose your body to sunlight or bright light.

When you are planning to sleep, dim out all the lights in your house. Dimness will evoke the feeling of sleepiness.

Science suggests that darkness boost melatonin which is an essential hormone for sleep.

If you want to fall asleep fast just turn-off all the lights and wait for the feeling to come out.

Listen to Soothing Music

Greeks used music to treat their mental illness.

This proves that music affects our bodies enormously.

Smoothing music can cure insomnia.

A study suggested that adults who listened to music slept deeper.

Monks use Buddhist music to relax their mind. Listening to Buddhist music can aid you to fall asleep fast.

I use the following music. Relaxing, soothing, and I fall asleep within minutes.

If you are not able to listen to the music, you can even try blocking the noise around you to help your brain go deeper into the sleeping mode.

Practice Journaling

Journaling is a natural way to tune your mind towards positive thoughts. Staying calm will help your brain relax and fall asleep fast.

The core reason that people cannot sleep is due to stress which they take throughout the day. Journaling will help eliminate negative thoughts.

Writing things down will help you develop a state of gratitude and happiness, which will help you relax while you go on your bed?

A study by students suggests that journaling resulted in reducing worries and stress.

Try to do this 15 minutes before you retire for the day. It is essential that you only focus on positive events. Bring the feeling of happiness in your current state.

Read, Read & Read

A study conducted by the Sleep Council concluded that 39% of the people who read before they sleep, sleep peacefully.

However, with electronic devices all around us, it is advised to read paperback books instead of using Kindle or your phone to read anything. Using electronic devices before going to sleep delays your sleep cycle (aka circadian rhythm).

The electronic devices reduce the melatonin secretion which makes it harder for you to fall asleep.

Therefore, it is suggested to read from a physical book to relax and improve your sleep.

Visualize Events that Make You Happy

Instead of lying there aimlessly, consider closing your eyes and thinking about all the happy events that happened with you that day.

You can even think of your family and friends that made your life special.

Visualizing those moments will help you reduce your stress, anxiety and clear your mind. When your mind is clear you will be able to go in sleep mode fast.

Readjust your Sleep Position

The quality of your sleep depends upon the position of your body during the night.

There are three sleeping positions: Back, Stomach, and side. Usually, it is considered that back sleepers sleep better.

However, a study revealed that this might not be an ideal position for sleep, as this leads to snoring, sleep apnea, and blocked airways.

Another research revealed that people who complained about poor sleep were sleeping on their back.

Although, the sleeping position is a personal choice. However, it is essential to learn about your body. Which of the sleeping positions are suitable for you?

30 Seconds of Cold Water

If you’re distressed, why not go for something simple yet effective. It would help if you had a glass-filled with ice-cold water. When you’re not able to sleep, it means that you need to reset your nervous system. Submerging your face in cold water will trigger a phenomenon called the Mammalian Dive Reflex. This will lower your heart rate and blood pressure. Which will eventually result in relaxing your brain and you’ll sleep quickly.

Trick your Brain

Have you ever noticed that when you try to do something, your mind backfires and instead does the opposite? As it turns out it is a principal of paradoxical intention.

A study done in Scotland revealed that the paradoxical intention concludes that forcing your brain to sleep increases anxiety and insomnia as compared to doing nothing.

Instead of trying to go to sleep, tell your brain that you are trying to stay awake. Try to listen to the sounds that are surrounding your room. Once you take your mind off sleep, the mind will automatically dive into sleep.

To wrap it all

A study done on 13,00 adults revealed that a lack of sleep increases the chance of heart attack to around 71%.

Moreover, yes, you can even die with sleep deprivation.

Sleep is necessary to maintain your physical and mental health.

Lack of sleep can cause health-related severe problems. Experts also suggest going to bed every night at the same time. This will train your brain to go into sleep mode as soon as you hit the bed.

On a lighter note, if you are awake at night, why not use queue feature of TaskQue to assign tasks to your idle resources.