6 Researched-Backed Ways to Fall Asleep Faster

How long has it been since you went to bed and before you knew it, you’re in dreamland (even if you don’t dream)? Right, been a while? Now, you find yourself spending minutes running into hours in bed without falling asleep. If that applies to you, you should find the ideas shared here super helpful. It contains up-to-date advice from sleep experts and researchers. But first, let’s deal with the elephant in the room.

Why You Don’t Fall Asleep Fast

In the wise, old saying “practice makes perfect” lays the basic template to most schedules. Yes, including your sleep timer. When it comes to sleeping fast enough, you might want to do a little personal analysis on what practices shape your day – workload, home activities, thought routine, panic control patterns – a rather long list depending on what you know influences you in 24 hours, and beyond.

Do these practices go into a snooze when you lie down for a quick nap? Or do they enjoy a considerable amount of influence over your sleep routine – ultimately controlling the speed or ease with which you get ‘knocked out’ after laying down for a nice sleep?

But before we tackle this head on, let’s dabble a bit.

How Fast Should You Fall Asleep?

5 minutes, 10 minutes, or perhaps a few hours? Knowing how quick you should fall asleep is the first step to solving the problem of going to bed and battling to fall asleep. I mean, it pays to know if you even have a “delayed sleep pattern” or if it is just a hoax in your mind. Maybe in your case, you find it hard to relax, and you always feel the need to move. Or have you been trying to go to bed early but don’t get to find sleep until 2 a.m?

The National Sleep Foundation found that it is normal to go between 10 – 20 minutes before falling asleep. Now, if this is you, then perhaps you have a proper ‘doze-speed’ already. Considering that, sleeping off immediately you hit the bed can be more of a sign of exhaustion. But, if it still takes more 20 minutes, perhaps up to an hour, to get you an entry into ‘sleep-land,’ then you cannot afford to stop reading this piece right here.

The next phase is precisely for you.

Time To Fall Asleep Faster

As we go further, you need to remember that there’s no magic technique anywhere, guaranteed to make anyone fall asleep fast enough on any given night. Even strong sleeping pills don’t work equally for everyone. So please steer clear of an overdose and give a try to some of these techniques below:

Do Some Activities

You know how fast you get to doze off when you are tired. So the trick is to strike a balance in your bid to fall asleep faster, doing some activity just before bed, can turn exhaustion levels up a bit and send you right on your way.

• Do some light exercises. Nothing hectic like lifting a dumbbell or running a treadmill, just a few stretches or mild jogging around the house. Maybe do some yoga, if it is your thing.
• Listening to some music, having ‘quick’ sex, or even making a quick phone call to a loved one just as you get into bed can also build relaxation levels significantly enough to send you straight to sleep. But you must be disciplined enough not to get coaxed into staying more extended hours awake, due to these same activities.

Lay off Workplace Habits

If the aim in that particular moment is to get some sleep, then everything else that defeats that aim should be laid off. Else, the mind takes over and delays your sleep.

• Turn off your personal computer and keep all files aside.
• Put up alarms or reminders for any work that you must do later.
• Don’t take your work materials or documents into bed.
• Turn off your phones or pager.
• Take a shower and maybe drink a glass of juice, milk or water.
• Dedicate a few minutes to relaxing your mind and telling yourself that ‘there will be no natural disasters at the office while you sleep.’

Feeding Schedule

The nature of your eating and drinking habits can determine greatly, your ability to sleep faster. And this involves everything you consume in 24 hours, not just before bed.

• Avoid taking caffeine-packed products so late in the day.
• Adopt and maintain a  list of foods that are proper to eat before bedtime.
• Be cautious of alcohol levels to ensure you don’t take in so much before bedtime, as this may no doubt ‘knock you out’ but inevitably reduces the quality of sleep – and the ability to sleep faster when not under the influence.
• Don’t eat so much in the evenings, also avoid sugary meals or snacks, fatty foods, spicy food and red meat at night as your body might find it hard converting these foods appropriately at night.

Make the Room Conducive

You will agree with me that an environment that is almost as busy as a factory will hardly ever be as favorable for sleeping faster than a serene, quiet set up.

• Set your room to an ideal temperature.
• Open a window if the room is stuffed up or lacking good aeration. Sweep up dirt and arrange all misplaced items properly
• Ensure the sheets are clean and correctly set on a comfortable mattress
• Zone out or switch off any loud music, turn off the lights get tucked in properly.

Make Sleep Schedules

The thing about falling asleep faster is; you can’t precisely, consciously become a workaholic, rely solely on sleeping due to exhaustion, and then expect to be able to sleep quick enough when you are ‘not exhausted.’ Therefore, it is vital that you:

• Make a conscious habit of sleeping at timed intervals. As your body will get accustomed to sleeping more. Making it easy to fall asleep faster.
• Have conducive resting environments for the scheduled sleep, especially if it is planned within the workspace.
• If you miss out on any part of the planned sleep schedule due to work, then you must make up for it at the expense of any non-significant activity in your daily routine.

Just Relax

A relaxed mind is crucial and must be achieved in this mission to enhance faster sleeping. Everything else depends on this:

• Harborless worried thoughts. Keep your mind free and empty while in bed.
• If you must think, then focus on happy thoughts and reminisce on sweet memories from the past.
• If available, and for those who relate to cuddling with Teddy bears, it might be a relaxing feeling that aids the sleeping process.
• You can never underestimate the effectiveness of doing the ‘countdown routine’ where you recite numbers from 1-100 or more to clear the head and maintain focus until sleep takes over.

If you’ve been having trouble falling asleep quickly, you should find the researched-backed ways to fall asleep faster in this article helpful. And be sure to engage them dedicatedly.

Also, note that the health and lifestyle choices you make will affect your sleep positively. Not forgetting your bedroom environment, attitude, approach to sleep, and daily routine all play a pivotal role to help you sleep faster.