Trouble Sleeping? Here’s How to Fall Asleep Fast

Getting a good night’s sleep is essential for our overall health and well-being. It helps our bodies repair and rejuvenate, allowing us to wake up feeling refreshed and energized for the day ahead. 

Sleep is also known to improve a person’s brain function, memory, and concentration. It also helps reduce stress, anxiety, and depression, lowers the risk of diseases, and helps maintain healthy body weight.

And although it’s an important part of people’s daily routine, getting a good night’s rest is often neglected.

There are many different reasons why people tend to stay up late at night. For some, it may be due to their job or school responsibilities that require them to stay up late to complete tasks. Others may have trouble sleeping because of stress, anxiety, or sleep-related issues.

Some people may even choose to stay up late to watch movies, play video games, hang out with friends, bond with families, or enjoy the quiet of the night. 

But did you know that people ages 6 to 12 years need at least 9 to 12 hours of sleep, while teens (13 to 18 years) must sleep for 8 to 10 hours? Adults (18 to 65+ years old) need about 7 to 8 hours of sleep.

However, research from the National Sleep Foundation has shown that many people are not getting enough sleep. Nearly 30% of adults and 75% of teenagers are not meeting the recommended amount of sleep.

You may be wondering if you can make up for lost sleep by sleeping more on the weekend. Unfortunately, once the damage to your body is done, you cannot recover with extra sleep on another day according to studies.

Lack of Sleep Dangers

Not getting enough sleep can seriously harm your health over time.
A recent study reported by Clinical Cardiology showed a nearly 70% increase in having a heart attack among people that have chronic sleep problems! It can also lead to diabetes, stroke, high blood pressure, obesity, depression, and even Alzheimer’s disease.

Tips to fall asleep faster

And if you’re having trouble sleeping right now and tired of tossing and turning at night, don’t worry. 

I’ll share 5 simple yet effective tricks you can use to help them fall asleep quickly.

1. Create a consistent sleeping pattern.

It is found that setting a sleep schedule helps people fall asleep easier. This is because going to bed at the same time every night helps your body clock predict when to sleep.

Doing this regularly will make it easier for your body to adjust to this schedule, so you can fall asleep and wake up around the same time daily.

2. Avoid naps during the day.

Recent studies have shown that taking long naps during the daytime (at least 2 hours or more) can disrupt a person’s circadian rhythm. This makes sleeping hard at night and can lead to poor sleep quality.

Circadian rhythm is the internal biological clock that regulates a person’s body functions over a 24-hour day. It determines when they should be asleep and when they should be awake, regulating a person’s daily sleep and wake schedule.

3. Avoid using electronic devices

Using electronic devices such as TVs, video games, mobile phones, tablets, computers, and social media for more than 8 hours a day can make it hard to fall and stay asleep. 

These devices keep your mind active, making it harder to relax and rest. 

So it’s best to avoid using these devices excessively, especially your phone, at least 30 minutes before going to bed to avoid negatively impacting your sleep. 

4. Try meditation or mindfulness.

Anxious and stressed people often struggle with falling asleep, which often causes racing thoughts at night that make it hard to sleep.

To combat this, techniques like yoga, meditation, breathing exercises, and mindfulness can help relax both the mind and body and make you feel at peace. 

Practicing these techniques distracts the mind from busy thoughts and helps ease anxiety, making it easier to fall asleep.

An example of a breathing exercise you can do is the 4-7-8 breathing technique. It involves breathing in for 4 seconds, holding the breath for 7 seconds, and exhaling for 8 seconds. 

Here’s what you need to do:

1. First, lie down on your back and ensure you’re comfortable. Don’t forget to close your eyes.
2. Next is to exhale through your mouth, making a whoosh sound.
3. Then, close your mouth and inhale silently through your nose as you count to four in your head.
4. Then, hold your breath for seven seconds by counting.
5. Lastly, exhale through your mouth for 8 seconds while making a whoosh sound.
6. Repeat the process three more times.

5. Try The Military Method

During World War II, the United States military recognized the importance of sleep for fighter pilots. To address this issue, they enlisted the expertise of naval ensign Bud Winter, who developed and tested a method for teaching effective sleep. 

The military technique emphasizes muscle relaxation, controlled breathing, and visualization to promote deep and restful sleep.

Here’s how to fall asleep fast using the military method. 

1. First, lay down on your bed, ensuring you’re comfortable.
2. Next is to close your eyes and relax your face. Begin by closing your eyes and relaxing your facial muscles, including your forehead, cheeks, tongue, and jaw. As you release this tension, you’ll notice that your breathing becomes deeper and slower, promoting a sense of calm and relaxation.
3. Afterward, drop your shoulders, making them heavy. 
4. Don’t forget to do the same with your arms and legs. Feel them getting heavy and let them go limp.
5. Repeat all this until you feel at ease. 
6. Then, take some time to clear your mind for about 10 seconds. If you find that difficult, you can also try repeating “don’t think” many times.
7. You can visualize a calming scenario, such as lying in a peaceful canoe on a serene lake or gently swaying back and forth in a completely dark room. 
8. Or you can imagine you’re gazing up at the blue sky with clouds drifting on a warm spring day. 
9. Avoid letting any other thoughts enter your mind. Instead, focus solely on this imagery.
10. Simply hold onto this picture for 10 seconds.

It’s important to remember that the military method for falling asleep may take some time to master. So don’t be discouraged if you have difficulty clearing your mind at first. 

With practice, this technique should become more effective and help you fall asleep faster.

Remember that getting enough sleep negatively affects our physical and mental health, and we risk developing chronic (long-term) health problems. So it’s crucial to prioritize sleep to ensure we get enough of it every night to maintain our physical and mental well-being.

What are your thoughts about this? Do you have other effective tricks to fall asleep easily? Please comment below with your answers.