I visited a friend sometime ago in the night. He wasn’t home because he had gone out to do a bit of jogging. Apparently, he was finding it hard to easily fall asleep at bedtime; his solution was to hit the road.
I wished he talked to me first before picking on that wrong method to try to fix his problem. On the other hand, jogging is good for the body in so many ways. So it wasn’t all bad for him.
To easily fall asleep at night is all about finding ways or doing things to relax every single cell in the body. Running would only pump adrenaline into your system making you restless.
Sure, you’d be tired from the running or whatever night exercise you chose to do in the night; but by bed time, you would only be tossing, turning and fidgeting on the bed with no sign of sleep in sight.
There are many reasons to keep us away from our beauty sleep at night. The worst form of the problem is called insomnia where sleeping is as hard to get as water in the middle of the desert.
Let’s just hope you are not suffering from insomnia but a mild form of sleeplessness caused by anything from financial worries, problems with your boss at work or my favourite, relationship problems that are giving you so much grey hairs you are considering buying a hair dye to reclaim back your youthful hair.
To easily fall asleep, just follow the tips below. For the lucky ones, just one method would work. While for others, you must combine several tips to get your night rest.
Do some Yoga
Even though yoga is an exercise, there are certain forms of yoga that work to relax your body completely. And that is what you need to easily fall asleep; a completely relaxed body.
Besides, if done properly, some aches and pains in your body which are also implicated in causing sleeplessness, can be eliminated by doing yoga. The logic here is simple: less aches and pains, better night rest.
Meditate and easily fall asleep
Again, we are talking about calming down the body before sleep can overwhelm us.
One of the biggest obstacles to getting sleep is too much brain activity caused by thinking of the problems we faced during the day. Meditation in its purest form is all about eliminating all that ‘noise‘ from the brain. To do that requires the body and mind to be relaxed.
Holding the meditative pose for a while would sooner than later induce the sleep state in you.
Stop taking caffeine before bed time
If like me you like drinking a cup of coffee at night, it is high time you stopped if you have problems sleeping. Because, unlike you, I drink coffee to force myself to stay awake.
The caffeine in coffee is the substance that does the trick in keeping one awake. One thing it does is to increase your heart rate, simulating what happens when you exercise.
Apart from coffee, any food or drink that contains caffeine should be eliminated from passing through your mouth before bedtime.
Warm Milk
Instead of drinking a caffeine-based drink, why not try warm milk instead if you have to drink something at night.
As a matter of fact, it is recommended that you form the habit of drinking milk if you are having a hard time sleeping. Milk and milk-based drinks contain a significant amount of tryptophan.
Tryptophan is implicated as a sleep inducing substance essential to the body. So adding more of it in your body would help you easily fall asleep.
Say no to gadgets at bedtime
It now common for most people to take their smartphones and computers to bed. It is a bad habit in so many respects. And it is doubly bad if you have problems falling asleep at night.
The lights from these gadgets interfere with the rhythm of the brain, making it hard for the brain to relax and lead you to sleep.
Therefore, it is important you turn off all gadgets including TVs at least one hour before sleep and perhaps do the next tip instead.
Read a book
This always works for me plus the many other benefits. I know it works for many people too.
But I won’t advocate reading a scary book like Stephen King’s ‘Salem’s Lot‘ though. That would keep your awake I promise.
Curtains matter
What people hardly realize is that external lights, even though your room is dark enough, can influence your sleep pattern.
Lights from yours or your neighbor’s security lights; from passing cars; from Street lamps and from people waving their flashlights at night as they walk by, can disrupt your ability to easily fall asleep.
This is where the curtains you use matter. Investing in thick dark curtains would go a long way in keeping your room dark no matter what.
And with no light able to penetrate your curtains from outside, the chances of your sleep being disrupted when you finally fall asleep are significantly reduced.
Have a fixed time for Sleep
Everyday training for kids include fixing a particular time kids have to be in bed. You can do the same thing for yourself.
By fixing a set time for sleep each day, your body would instinctively adjust to that pattern daily; thereby automatically shutting down the body to help you relax in time for sleep.
Lower room temperature
I know it is stating the obvious that it is difficult to get to sleep on hot summer days. The simple solution is to lower the room temperature.
Lowering the room temperature with an AC or a fan would help you snuggle in bed. Another benefit of a cool room is that it helps the busy cells of the body to slow down all metabolic processes. This in turn helps the body to relax.
That’s it. Any of those tips or a combination would get you sleeping blissfully in no time.
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