How to Fall Asleep Fast
I’ve written before about the Circadian Clock and how you can support it by doing certain things at certain times of the day and night to help regulate your natural sleep cycle. But those routines take time to become ingrained, and it takes your Circadian Clock a few days to adjust.
[Update: for a full step-by-step guide to retraining your bodyclock, see my new article series How I Overcame Insomnia in 10 Steps.]
This article is about the quick fixes. When it’s already 3am and you have to be up early in the morning, and every time you look at the clock you feel like screaming – you need a quick fix. You need to know what to do to fall asleep fast. So here is the ultimate list of insomnia quick fixes:
Avoid Screens
Yeah, because scrolling through social media at 3am is really going to help you drop off. There are so many reasons to turn your phone off at night, but social media is the best one. It is never ending. It is designed to make you keep scrolling endlessly. What a waste of time! But it’s often the first thing we think to do when we’re up late and bored.
The bluish light from your phone is playing havoc with your melatonin production, so turn it off right now. (Oh, wait, you’re probably reading this at 3am on your phone.) If you need to look at your phone at night, install a blue-light filter app. There are many free ones on the App Store/Play Store. I like Eye Protect, but there are tons of similar apps. I use a blue-light filter on my phone every night after about 9pm, and I find it is less harsh on my eyes.
Star Trek
The one screen you don’t have to avoid is the TV, largely because it doesn’t tend to have a constant glaring white background. In fact, one of my favourite quick insomnia fixes is watching old episodes of Star Trek in a darkened room. Next Generation is the best, in my opinion.
I’m serious! Think about it: First of all, it is emotionally neutral. Ok, sometimes there are aliens shooting lasers, but compared to modern TV and films the action and loud noises are very few and far between. Plus you don’t get that high contrast between dialogue and sound effects they put in more recent TV. The majority of Star Trek is quiet, monotone dialogue, about technical equipment and philosophical ideas.
I’ve tried a lot of TV shows for background noise when I can’t sleep – but they’re either too funny and engaging, too emotionally tense or upsetting, or too full on and noisy. Star Trek is perfect. Calming, nostalgic, and quiet. What more could you want?
Warm Shower? Cool Shower?
Well, the jury’s out on this one. Some people say that having a warm bath or shower long enough to raise your body temperature works, because when you get out, the rapid drop in body temperature signals sleep to your body.
On the other hand, cold shower enthusiasts claim that although it wakes you up first thing in the morning, a cool shower can lower your body temperature quickly and promote better sleep.
To illustrate this point, here’s LifeHacker on both subjects:
Nutso. I can actually see that both could be right. It seems what triggers the sleepy feeling is the drop in body temperature, so this could be achieved either by raising it first with hot water and then letting it fall, or forcing it to drop with cold water. Cold shower aficionados often say that after a cold shower you want to dive straight into bed, so maybe they’re onto something!
4-7-8 Breathing
This one was apparently popularised by Dr. Andrew Weil, however I’m not going to credit him with inventing it because I discovered it myself when I was about 14. When getting out of a hot bath, I often get dizzy, and my heart would pound. I learned to slow my own heart rate by breathing in quickly, holding my breath, and breathing out very slowly and steadily. This is exactly what the 4-7-8 breathing technique does.
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- 4: Breathe in for four seconds, through the nose, rapidly taking in lots of oxygen and breathing deeply.
- 7: Hold your breath for the count of seven seconds, allowing the oxygen to enter your blood stream.
- 8: Breathe out slowly and steadily for eight seconds, through the mouth.
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Dr. Weil recommends pressing the tongue against the palate behind the top teeth throughout the exercise, but I find that it works if you purse your lips and blow out slowly as if playing a flute. You can repeat this exercise as many times as you like to slow your heart rate and relax your body.
Progressive Muscle Relaxation
Another old relaxation tip is to close your eyes and focus on each part of your body in turn, starting with the toes and working your way slowly up the body towards your head. You can either do this physically, by tensing and then relaxing each part of the body in turn, or simply focus on each part of the body and try to feel it relaxing. This is a really good exercise and you may find that you drop off before you even reach your knees!
There are guided relaxation soundtracks on YouTube that talk you through the process over relaxing music, but you can also do it on your own, anywhere, any time
Sleep Music or Sounds
If Star Trek isn’t your bag, try putting on some relaxing music. You can wear headphones if you don’t want to disturb your sleeping partner. Any music that you find relaxing can help – whether that’s classical, slow jazz or blues, or modern ambient music such as meditation music or spa music. There are loads of examples on YouTube, helpfully repeated over several hours to provide you with sleep-inducing music for the duration of your sleep.
One note about self-proclaimed “sleep music” though – different things work for different people. Some music that some people find relaxing others might find distracting or even irritating. So experiment to find what works for you. Personally, I can’t have anything with lyrics or a strong melody as I end up following it with my mind and getting distracted.
One thing I discovered recently is the Shhh app – again, it’s completely free on the Play Store and no doubt available on iTunes too. It features a combination of white noise, calming nature sounds, meditation style tones and binaural beats, which are proven to help entrain brain waves to the frequency needed for restful sleep. Honestly, the past week, I have fallen asleep within minutes of putting it on. I will be writing a whole post on this app soon, so look out for that, but in the meantime download it and try it.
Sweet Dreams!
I hope these tips help next time you’re having a sleepless night. Let me know in the comments which ones worked for you – or if you have any of your own special techniques to fall asleep fast.