Following through on yesterday’s blog on the reasons why you can’t sleep at night, which is primarily due to us using our phones at night to “help us fall asleep”, which I also explained why it’s doing the reverse to us. I researched on how we can prepare ourselves to be able to sleep earlier the most natural way. This is besides the obvious (which I will have to share also since many are still not aware) and not so obvious reasons why. This is how I stopped getting to bed at 11am and still be up by 3-4am (then wake up at 8-9am) to getting to bed at 12mn and be asleep as early as 1am and be up by 8-9am like clockwork. We talked about how important getting 7-9 hours of sleep daily should be part of our habits and I hope this list will help you do so starting with the most common problem: Our addiction with our phones.
We talked about how important getting 7-9 hours of sleep daily should be part of our habits and I hope this list will help you do so starting with the most common problem: Our addiction with our phones. Most of these are also habits of the most successful people in the world and I handpicked what they do that worked for me the best. If you’re also thinking if I’m going to suggest some prescription drugs so you can fall asleep faster, then this is not it also.
- Take a cold shower 2 hours before bedtime – Getting a cold shower instead of a warm bath gets you to feel cozier when you get to your bed. It also eases any irritable feeling you had the entire day like itching or a bad smell you acquired the entire day.
- Get a real alarm clock – We use our phones as an excuse to have it by our bedside. I suggest to get one of those cheap battery operated alarm clocks and place it at the farthest location where you sleep, somewhere where you have to stand up and snooze it. Also, by not using your phone as an alarm, it’s not the first thing that you pick up when you wake up and be tempted to do some mindless scrolling on your social media feed or the news. Speaking of phones.
- Change where you charge your phone – Think of a spot outside of your room where you can put your charger and leave your phone there charged. It should be somewhere you can still hear it when someone calls you. Honestly, I’m not going to answer any phone call during sleeping hours, if it’s not from my immediate family. If it’s business related, it can wait until I wake up. There’s a setting on our phones where we can set it to “DO NOT DISTURB” at certain hours. Do so 1 hour before bedtime and if you’re saying “what if I’m going to receive an emergency call from work or from family?”. That’s why I don’t suggest you put your phone on silent to receive phone call or text notifications. Other than those 2, turn your notifications off. That comment to your post on fb or IG by someone you don’t really care about doesn’t need to be replied at 3am, right? Bottom line is, your phone does not deserve to be where you sleep. Same with your TV.
- Set a timer for your TV to turn off 30-45 minutes before your targeted bedtime – Binge watching on Netflix and reruns on cable TV? Our TVs work the same way as our phones, they emit a blue light too that gives us “jetlag”. If you watch TV also like me before sleeping, set a timer to turn it off 30-45 minutes before you go bed. Also, don’t watch anything that you’ve watched before already. Why? Because it will just leave you hanging for more, and worse, if it’s a TV series that is addicting, you’ll end up telling yourself “1 more episode…” and before you know it, it’s 3 hours past your bedtime already. Or better yet, just don’t open the TV during bedtime. Watching something you’ve seen before doesn’t require much of your attention, and which leads you to number 5.
- Read a book – Books are always present on my bedside. Reading a book 1 hour before bed makes me fall asleep easier as it relaxes my eyes. Books also don’t emit any harmful light on our eyes. Reading a book helps me get good dreams also as studies have shown that the last thing that you were thinking about before going to sleep usually gets to be part of our dreams. So make sure not to pick a fictional horror book before sleeping. My choices are self-help, business and motivational books. Don’t read magazines or newspapers as it may just stress you out before going to bed. I’d rather have you fall asleep with a book in your hand, than with your phone.
- Drink at least 500 ml of lukewarm water 1 hour before bedtime – When you wake up, you are going to be dehydrated for sure, being deprived of it for 7-9 hours straight. Getting to bed fully hydrated will help you wake up not lethargic or tired but with energy. Either drink warm or lukewarm water, not cold, because cold could cause you to not fall asleep faster. Make sure to have 500ml to 1 liter of COLD water also upon waking up to refresh all those lost fluids while you were sleeping.
As a bonus, I recommend breathing exercises for 2-3 minutes with your eyes closed before going to sleep to help relax. Also, I play music using my Google Nest speakers at a very low volume. Playlists on Spotify like focus music, binaural beats or peaceful piano help set a mood to go to sleep. Recorded Nature sounds also are a great way to help you fall asleep. Lastly, I want you to visualize 3 things that make you happy, and think about it for 3 minutes. Instead of lying in bed worrying and thinking about stressful things, visualize a place that makes you feel happy and calm. Picturing and concentrating on an environment that makes you feel peaceful and relaxed can take your mind away from the thoughts that keep you up at night.
Question of the day: What’s the one thing that you do that you think helps you fall asleep at night?
December 13, 2020 Author Marinela Paano
The one thing I do to fall asleep at night is to pray. Sometimes the reason of sleepless night is emotional breakdowns, we think a lot and then making time pass so we used phones but at the end of the night you can’t fall a sleep because of the heavy burden. Let God comfort you. When I can’t fall asleep i pray, i closed my eyes and then magugulat na lang ako umaga na hehe ??
December 14, 2020 Author Khel Lawrence
For me, I agree with your breathing exercises as a way of falling asleep. But personally, I would easily fall asleep based on my usual sleeping position. There would be times that you cannot fall asleep easily because of your position on the bed.
January 9, 2021 Author rhona
Reduce blue light exposure in the evening or do not use any gadgets at least 1 hour before sleeping.
January 9, 2021 Author pogi
Reduce irregular or long daytime naps. While short power naps are beneficial, long or irregular napping during the day can negatively affect our sleep.
January 9, 2021 Author Joseph
i always try to sleep and wake at consistent times.
January 9, 2021 Author edward
I take melatonin. It is very effective to help me sleep faster but sometimes when I woke up in the morning, I feel sleepy again hehe
January 15, 2021 Author rhona
I try to fill up my day with work or job or tasks that will get me closer to achieving my goals in life and be focused doing them.
And when I do get all of those tasks done, I can fall asleep faster because I am tired and all I can think about is sleeping since I didn’t have to worry about wasting time or think about if the tasks and work I accomplished today are getting me closer to achieving my goals.
January 15, 2021 Author jocelyn
The last thing that many people do before going to bed is to look at the phones for an hour. You actually don’t want to be looking at your phone at all because the blue in light triggers a chemical in our brains that will make us stay awake.
You actually retain a lot more if you read right before you go to sleep because while your sleeping, information you acquired throughout the day gets sorted. Your brain actually will retain most of the things in the book you just read.
Reading a book gets me sleepy not because the book is boring, but because it’s about time for your body to rest.
January 15, 2021 Author jocelyn
Make a proper sleep schedule. Our body is a slave of our habits. Going to bed at a particular time every day not only helps you to fall asleep easily but also makes the sleep better. Our body has its own biological clock called the circadian rhythm which regulates the sleep schedule of the body. this rhythm is inherently present in the human species and is adjusted for sleep during the night and wakefulness during the day. If you want to sleep fast, you must pertain to this natural regulatory mechanism to make your body set its own timely schedule. Once you start to develop this habit, you shall observe that you will automatically fall asleep fast at that particular time
January 15, 2021 Author aldwin
The biggest piece of advice for falling asleep faster is to not use any screens such as smartphones, computers, TVs, etc. for an hour before you go to sleep. The blue lights from these devices suppress the melatonin (the hormone that makes you sleepy at night) your body produces and will keep you up.
January 15, 2021 Author genesis
Tire yourself mentally as well as physically during the day. If you have a job or school, you probably do tire yourself mentally. To tire yourself physically, do some exercise early in the morning or early evening like running, cycling or anything else that you specifically like. Just make sure you don’t do this too close to bedtime as your energy levels will be high and won’t be conducive to sleeping.
January 15, 2021 Author Hans Angelo
Don’t use your mobile phone or laptop before going to bed. The screen of the phone or laptop, no matter how dim tends to wake up the mind. Also since we live in a world which is so connected, we don’t realize how time passes, and before we know it, we’re already way past our bed time.
January 15, 2021 Author Hans Angelo
Go to bed 20-30 minutes before the time you want to fall asleep. Make sure you are in your bed completely relaxed with a boring book in your hand before you fall asleep. This helps your body and mind go into sleep mode which helps to fall asleep faster.
January 15, 2021 Author Jimbogs
Try taking a hot shower before going to bed. This will help you relax and try drinking sleepy-time tea, such as chamomile
January 15, 2021 Author Jimbogs
Avoid caffeine in the afternoon and evening, and alcohol close to bedtime. These can promote wakeups during the night. Make sure your sleep environment is quiet and dark throughout the night. Use darkening shades to block streetlights and early morning light, and a fan or noise machine to block sounds.
January 15, 2021 Author Anton
I love listening to music. Most people love listening to music so if you are a music lover then you should follow this trick. Noise of some sort can be a very big help while falling asleep fast. On your phone, you can get nature noise sessions which help you fall asleep very fast. These create soundscapes which relax you and clear your mind. The mix of relaxation and a clear mind is the golden key to fast sleep.
January 15, 2021 Author Janeth
If are having trouble falling asleep, blink your eyes fast for a minute.
January 15, 2021 Author Albert
The reason why people find it hard to sleep at night is because they think of too many things. I have seen these meme going around facebook for quite some time now. In the meme a person goes to bed ready to sleep and the brain begins watching some old memories like a movie. The brain then makes fun of the person. This is what happens to us also. When we go to bed we think about important things that we did in the past. The moment you begin doing this you will not sleep. If you want to sleep fast then you need to think less What I do is keep my mind blank. When your mind is blank you will begin thinking of some weird things that eventually end up being your dream.