One of the top questions everyone gets asked is how can I fall asleep fast every night?” It makes sense. I mean, getting to sleep can be tough. That’s why many, many people use sleep aids like melatonin, alcohol, or even prescription sleep aids to help them fall asleep. But I want to give you some tips that you can do to help you fall asleep fast tonight no supplementation or alcohol is required.
“First, you must understand how long it should take somebody to fall asleep. Remember, sleep is not an on/off switch; it’s more like slowly pulling your foot off the gas and slowly putting it on the brake. There’s a process that needs to occur there, and I’d love to say that healthy sleep means you fall asleep in 10 minutes or less, but the reality is everyone takes a different amount of time to fall asleep.”
“It’s important to consider daytime sleepiness, right? So, if you’re tired during the day, that is a sign that you’re not getting the amount of sleep you need at night. If it takes one person 5 minutes to fall asleep and another person takes 30 minutes to fall asleep, as long as they both report feeling rested in the morning, I’ll be honest with you and I think either one is fine.
The signs that you need to consider falling asleep as a problem are, as I mentioned earlier, this idea of daytime fatigue or sleepiness. Sometimes you notice that your eyes are doing one of these during the day, or you can’t stay awake in a meeting, or you’re watching a video and can’t seem to concentrate, that’s a sign that you’re getting some level of daytime fatigue or sleepiness.
Also, difficulty getting up in the morning and it’s not just, “Oh, I don’t feel like getting up,” but, “I hit the snooze once, I hit the snooze twice, I hit the snooze three times” and that’s your body telling you, “Hey, I don’t want to get up.”
Once you’re up, having a reduced attention span, like I said earlier, and then the mental health side of this is also there, right? Irritability, depression, or anxiety. All of which elevate the more sleep-deprived you are. So my first tip is to pay attention to something called your chronotype.
Chronotype
If you don’t know your chronotype, this is your genetic predisposition to when you should sleep and when you’re most productive during the day. Here’s what’s interesting: trouble falling asleep could be that you’re not aligned with your chronotype. So, as an example, let’s say that you’re an early bird chronotype, and you’re staying up until midnight to go to sleep. That could be a problem. Or if you’re a night owl chronotype, what I call a wolf, and you’re getting in bed too early.
Thermostat
Another thing that you can do is lower the thermostat. The ideal temperature seems to be somewhere between 65 and about 72°. You can achieve this by turning down your thermostat, using a fan, or covering the windows with dark curtains.
Taking A Warm Bath Or Shower Within 90 Minutes Before Bedtime
Take a warm bath or shower within 90 minutes before bedtime. So, have you ever had a long day and then taken a shower right before bed? My hunch is that you probably had an easier time falling asleep. Well, guess what? That’s because it’s raising your core body temperature and then having it drop, which is a big signal to your brain to promote relaxation and release melatonin. Studies have shown that 10 minutes in a warm bath or shower within two hours of your bedtime has improved overall sleep quality.
Exercise Earlier In The Day
Exercise a bit earlier during the day. Sleep is not something that you can do on a dime. You have to give yourself a chance to do it. So you can start preparing your body and mind for sleep by the time you wake up. That might mean shifting your exercise to a bit earlier in the day. We all know that after exercise we do tend to have a little bit more energy, so for folks who are exercising late and then trying to go to bed is a difficult task.
Avoiding Electronics Before Bed
This one has got some controversy avoiding electronics before bed. I know it’s super tempting to wind down by watching TikTok or Instagram, catching up on the news, or YouTube videos, but your phone is a problem, okay? When you’re sitting here looking at it and you’re getting all of this information so close, I’m not even as worried about the blue light as I am about your level of engagement.
If you’re trying to get your high score on Candy Crush or trying to learn what’s going on in the news, I’m pretty sure that’s going to cause enough anxiety to prevent you from falling asleep. I’d rather you even turn on the television and watch an old episode of, like, Seinfeld or a comedy or something that can take your mind off of things because right before bed is not the time to be getting your news and media update.
Keep a Consistent Beadtime
Keep a consistent bedtime and wake-up schedule, including the weekends. I can’t stress this enough. And by the way, regular wake-up times are more important than regular bedtimes. So let’s say it’s Friday night and you want to stay up late, but your normal wake-up time is 7:00 a.m. I’m okay with you still waking up at 7:00 a.m. If you stay up until midnight or 1:00. Don’t take a nap during the day and keep that sleep deprivation up because that helps you then fall asleep at night.
So if you notice your bedtime can be variable, but your wake-up time has to be consistent and it has to be on Saturdays and Sundays, I’m sorry to say. Okay, what do you do right before bed if you don’t know how to have a routine? so there is a concept that I call the Power Down Hour. So, let’s say that your bedtime is 11:30. At 10:30, set an alarm in your bedroom to force you to go in there to turn it off.
And now take that hour before bed and chop it up into three 20-minute segments: 20 minutes for just stuff you got to do. So in our house, it might be finding shoes, backpacks, sports equipment for kids, or last-minute emails, probably not the best, but if you got to do it, go ahead.
Twenty minutes for hygiene so brush your teeth, wash your face, and maybe then is a time to take that warm bath or shower. The final 20 minutes are there for some level of meditation, relaxation, or prayer. If none of those appeal to you, maybe a gratitude list is something that can work out for you. It’s something to take your mind off of daily stressors and put it into something positive. There is a lot of data now surfacing that shows that positive emotions before bedtime not only help you fall asleep but also give you more positive dreams.
Meditation And Breathing
My final recommendation is to practice meditation and breathing. These are some of the best things that you can do for your sleep.