Tips to Fall Asleep

Today, inability to fall asleep at night is a common problem. Most of us have faced this problem at one point or the other in our life. Studies have found that 30 - 40% of adult people have difficulty in falling asleep fast. It is also known as insomnia. On an average, an adult person should need around 15 minutes to fall asleep after they have gone into the bed. However, those with insomnia sometimes spend several hours before they can fall asleep. Many people take the help of medications to get sleep. However, such a measure cannot be a long term solution, and may also have many side effects. Instead of medicines, you can take the help of some tips to fall asleep.

Prepare the Bedroom

You should keep your bedroom decoration so cozy that the atmosphere itself induces sleep. Keep a big-sized bed with a good quality mattress on it. A better mattress means a deeper sleep as your body can unwind well on it. Keep the room very dark with the help of drapes which will force your body to get into a sleeping mode easily. You should use your bedroom exclusively for the purpose of sleeping only. Make a conscious effort not to make the bedroom a place for eating, working, arguments, making phone calls, etc. In this way, the moment you enter the bedroom, your body can associate itself with sleeping only. Keep the temperature of the bedroom slightly lower than required when you are awake. This is because a lower temperature tends to slow down the activities of the bodily systems and helps in getting sleep.

Activities to be Avoided Just Before Bedtime

The entire day, our body is in a highly active state which in turn keeps our mind very alert. Therefore, in the evening, you have to focus on relaxing your mind and body. Do not do all such activities that can arouse the brain. Any physical exercise brings about rapid increase in the blood flow which tends to make your body very energetic. It takes some time before the body can calm down and get ready for sleep. Physical exercises should not be done 3 - 4 hours before going to bed.

You should not take your dinner just before you go to sleep. This can cause heartburn and you will struggle half the night to fall sleep. Keep a gap of at least 3 hours between your dinner time and bedtime. Avoid any caffeine or alcoholic beverage in the evening time. Do not work on your computer before going to bed. The body associates the bright light of the monitor with waking activities and may send signals to the brain to stay awake. So switch off your computer and stop all work at least one hour before you go to sleep. Reading books or watching TV sitting on the bed before sleeping is strictly no-no. You can read books or write something before sleeping, but it should be done outside the bedroom. However, watching TV should be stopped one hour before sleeping time.

Prepare Yourself for Sleeping

One of the best tips to fall asleep is to get rid of all the worries of the day. This will reduce the stress of your body. For this, you can take a warm bath half an hour before going to bed. It helps get rid of tension and gives a nice, fresh feeling. A gentle massage of the feet with warm oil just before retiring to bed is also good for relaxation. Listening to some soothing meditation music on a low volume has a calming effect on the mind and makes yourself fall asleep. Sometimes, writing about some of your worries in a notebook before sleeping also helps. Before you lie down finally into the bed, stretch the limbs a bit and you will feel relaxed. If you are very sensitive towards sound and lights, you can use ear plugs and an eye mask to get the dark and silent effect, which is an ideal condition for sleeping.

How to Fall Asleep?

Keep the sleeping and waking time fixed for the day. Do not change the routine even on the weekends. This way, the body will get adjusted to the routine naturally and you will start feeling sleepy around that time of the night. Remind your body with some specific movements about the sleeping time. When you lie down on the bed, make light strokes on the bridge of the nose with the thumb. Do it everyday for two to three weeks before you can see any response. After that, whenever you do those stroke, the body would take it as a signal and you will start feeling sleepy. Another interesting way is to tell yourself a story to make yourself fall asleep. Try to make a light-hearted story in your head. Do not focus on anything else except the story. This will help to obstruct all the unwanted thoughts from entering your mind. You will not even realize when you have fallen asleep.

All the tips to fall asleep that we have shared with you in this article are natural ways to fall asleep. It does not involve use of any chemicals. However, if you are suffering from insomnia for a long time, and have tried these remedies without much use, then you are suffering from a sleep disorder, and you should also consult a doctor at the earliest.