How to Fall Asleep Instantly

Sleeping problems  is among the most common of contemporary healthcare issues.

It seems that nearly everybody, from teenagers to the aged, tends to suffer from sleep-related problems. While there are plenty of sleeping aids in the form of prescription medicines, it is always better to seek natural, safer alternatives. This means using simple techniques to fall asleep instantly without undertaking risk of addiction caused by common, sleep-inducing chemical formulations.

Understand Why Counting Sheep Makes Sense

Among the oldest and perhaps, the most controversial and debated of natural sleeping aids is the theory of Counting Sheep. There is nothing special about sheep and visualizing or counting them doesn’t turn you into a freak of any sorts. The idea behind this theory is highly rational.

When psychologists started advocating the principle of Counting Sheep to sleep better what they meant was using it as a tool to disengage your mind. When you are lying in bed, concentrating upon counting sheep, you are essentially diverting your mind from other worldly worries.

This allows your mind to achieve a sense of superficial relaxation. Though this kind of relaxation is short-lived, it helps in falling asleep quicker. You can count any animal or anything that appeals to you. Just do the counting slowly and give at least a week for this method to work.

Declutter Your Mind with Writing

Most people struggle to fall asleep because their mind is overwhelmed with thoughts about how their day went or their ongoing struggles. To vent such feelings before going to bed, try to write them in a diary. This can be your nightly journal that you can maintain like a personal, summarized version of your daily life.

Calm Your Mind by Boring It

Rather than listening to loud music or watching provocative TV programs, it is better to do something boring. This includes reading the newspaper. This idea is to engage your mind with something that doesn’t stimulate it much. The more bored your mind gets as the night approaches, better are your chances of falling asleep faster.

Stick to a Routine to Fall Asleep Quickly

Our body follows an inherent day-night mechanism. This is often referred to as the Body Clock. In accordance with this regimen, our hormones are released and our energy levels are regulated throughout the day. To ensure that your body clock is well attuned towards helping you fall asleep, stick to daily routine. This includes a fixed time to sleep and wake-up with a variation of not more than 45 minutes for each.

Relax Psychologically with Yoga

Contrary to popular belief, meditation and yoga can be done at night too. Breathing exercises that help you be calmer are recommended when seated on your bed. Try to learn some yoga poses that help to reduce your anxiety levels. The less anxious your mind, greater are the chances of you falling asleep quickly.

Relax Physically with Warm Baths

Apart from psychological relaxation, you need to combine some form of physical relaxation. For this, taking bath with lukewarm is recommended. This helps to soothe the tired muscles, inducing a sense of relief. Our muscles get tense when we are stressed. As the muscles relax, our body re-discovers its unstressed, normal mode that helps to sleep faster. If taking warm baths doesn’t interest you, try to invest in a massage chair. A few minutes spent on the chair will help your muscles detangle themselves, helping you relax better.

Avoid Lazing in Daytime to Sleep Better at Night

To ensure that your body clock is not disturbed and you are not using your quota of daily sleep before night-time, don’t laze around during the daytime. Don’t take naps and stay away from habits that induce a sense of sleepiness. This includes boozing. If your brain gets to rest during the daytime, it re-balances the hormones, ensuring that the bloodstream is occupied with balancing hormones during the night-time. While this balance keeps your bodily functions in good shape, it tends to disturb the critical, night-time sleep.

Don’t Exercise Late-night

Heavy exercising increases our heart rate and blood pressure. It raises concentrations of hormones that increase our thirst and hunger—these are anti sleeping factors. Thus, don’t exercise after 9 pm. Even if you go for a night-time stroll, after dinner, keep the pace slow.

Dietary Recommendations to Fall Asleep Faster:

1. Try to reduce your intake of tea or coffee after 6 pm.

2. Stay away from sweetened desserts or beverages after dinner.

3. Drink relaxing, herbal beverages like Chamomile tea after dinner.

4. Eat more of whole grain foods that help to regulate blood sugar levels. This helps to avoid sugar spikes that often prevent us from falling asleep.

It is Not Warmness of Milk but its Ingredients that Help to Fall Sleep

Another typical remedy for falling asleep faster that has been misunderstood by many is drinking warm milk before going to bed. It is not the temperature of the milk that makes it a sleeping aid. Milk contains a very precious biochemical called Tryptophan. This is a sleep-inducing compound. Drinking milk, at least a couple of hours before going to bed, is recommended to benefit from its sleep-inducing benefits.

Develop Better Sleeping Posture

To fall asleep faster, you need to adopt a better sleeping position. This includes not using very thick pillows. Don’t sleep on your stomach. Try to position a pillow between or below your knees if you suffer from restless legs during the night. The mattress shouldn’t be too soft or hard. It should provide sufficient support to your spine.

Besides these, are there any other tips for falling asleep quickly that you would like to share with us? Please feel free to comment below and share your opinion with our growing community of readers.