How to go to bed earlier - 10 effective ways

There are probably no people today who have not wondered how to go to bed early? After all, if you fall asleep late, then in the morning you will be haunted by a feeling of weakness, fatigue, and joylessness. Even when a person has sound sleep, but in small quantities, when waking up, he will still be haunted by a feeling of exhaustion.

In addition, modern realities impose certain requirements of existence, as a result of which today’s homo sapiens have to work hard. And when he comes home, he wants to relax, for example, by watching TV shows, reading literature, or talking with friends, having fun playing computer games. As a result, there is practically no time left for sleep.

Common reasons for lack of sleep

If you toss and turn for a long time and cannot fall asleep within 10-15 minutes after going to bed, then there may be many reasons for this condition. The most common are:

• Stressful situations - in a separate article you can read how to get rid of stress and anxiety.

• Excessive light. It is difficult to sleep in a well-lit room. Light sources can be a street lamp, a TV or a laptop. To prevent lighting from interfering with sleep, you can buy a special night blindfold. It will help you immerse yourself in the world of dreams.

• Food. It is usually not recommended to eat 3-4 hours before bedtime, since the body begins to receive energy from food that needs to be used up. Even if a person falls asleep after a heavy late dinner, he will most likely wake up tired in the morning.

• Drinks containing caffeine. In the afternoon, you should not abuse invigorating drinks, as they excite the nervous system and worsen the process of falling asleep.

• Stuffiness in the bedroom. In the cold season, the cause of stale air can be heating, which dries out the air. Because of this, a person feels discomfort and cannot sleep.

• Fatigue and overstrain of the nervous system. Let's say you wanted to sleep, but decided to work longer. As a result, after work you do not feel drowsy; this is the first sign of overstrain.

• Great physical activity. Some people should not exercise in the evening, as endorphins begin to be produced in the blood, which invigorate and energize. As a result, it will be quite difficult to fall asleep in the evening.

Lack of sleep can be a symptom that signals some kind of problem in the body. Therefore, if you cannot cope with insomnia on your own, it is better to consult a doctor. The specialist will prescribe the necessary diagnostics and then provide treatment.

Ventilator OXY – works while you sleep

Do you often have trouble sleeping? Do you wake up with a headache? Perhaps there is not enough fresh air in the room. A night spent in an unventilated room cannot but affect your health and well-being. As soon as the bedrooms begin to be ventilated, sleep becomes deep and clear, and in the morning you don’t need to drink several cups of coffee to cheer you up - you easily open your eyes and feel a surge of energy.

Of course, you can ensure the flow of fresh air by using open windows, but there are several serious inconveniences:

• Along with the street air, street noise, insects, and unpleasant odors enter the house;
• You can only open the window for a long time in the summer, when it is warm outside, otherwise you will have to jump out of bed all night to let in a new batch of fresh air;

Exhaust gases and waste from industrial enterprises pollute the environment, so the concept of “clean air” in a city is an illusion.

The best solution would be to install OXY supply ventilation. It will quickly and effectively create an ideal microclimate, providing the room with clean air. Our customers note that installing a ventilator helps them fall asleep well and sleep soundly until the morning.

Advantages of OXY ventilators

• Year-round use. All year long, sleep will be like at the dacha in the summer - you will greet every morning with a smile and the feeling that you have had enough sleep for the year ahead;
• High-quality filtration of incoming air. Dust and carbon filters will clean the air masses of all types of contaminants, including allergens and unpleasant odors, which often interfere with a normal sleep if you open the window at night;
• Efficiency. The ventilators will provide clean air to the bedroom, where a family of 4 people can relax at the same time, which becomes possible thanks to a powerful inflow system - up to 150 m3/hour;
• Quiet operation. If you're looking for quick ways to fall asleep, you should eliminate any sources of noise. OXY products are not one of them - the “intakes” are quieter than the faint rustle of leaves.

Fresh air has a soporific effect, which has long been known in the medical community - in hospitals, oxygen is used to put patients to sleep. Therefore, the presence of OXY supply ventilation is a guarantee that your sleep will be deep, sound and healthy.

How to train yourself to fall asleep earlier

The first thing you need to do to start falling asleep earlier is to choose the right time to fall asleep. Since each person has their own circadian rhythms, it is necessary to select them individually. To do this, you can create a separate sleep diary. It is necessary to note every day for a week how much time was spent sleeping, and also after waking up it is worth giving a rating on a 5-point scale, according to the following criteria:

• Score “1” – I didn’t get enough sleep, I kept waking up at night, I felt tired.
• Score “2” – I practically did not rest, although the duration of sleep was sufficient.
• Rating “3” – satisfactory sleep, practically did not wake up, but did not get enough sleep.
• Rating “4” – after sleep, I feel good.
• Score “5” – I feel excellent, I am cheerful and energetic.

Next to it, write what influenced this feeling. Write down the main reasons for poor sleep. Registration is carried out from Sunday to Monday, etc.

Diary example:

Keeping a diary like this will help you understand how many hours are ideal for you to get enough sleep. You can also identify habits that are preventing you from falling asleep faster.

Please note: Once you have decided on the time and duration of your sleep, only then can you move on to the next stage, namely, start adjusting your bedtime. You need to do this by gradually shifting the time by 15 minutes when you go to bed.

For example, you always went to bed at 3 am. The next day you should go to bed 15 minutes earlier at 02:45. So after 3 days, you will begin to fall asleep an hour earlier, and after a week by more than two hours. If you don’t know how to quickly fall asleep at night if you can’t sleep, then in addition you will find our following tips useful.

Why do you have problems sleeping?

The reasons for poor sleep can be completely different: stress, hormonal imbalances in the body, addiction to bad habits, neurological pathologies and mental disorders, as well as emotional overload and much more.

These are serious problems. They need to be resolved promptly, without shelving them. Indeed, in some cases, the help of specialists may be required. However, often insomnia has nothing to do with problems in a person’s mental or physical condition. We prevent ourselves from falling asleep. Or rather, our daily habits and “living conditions”.

Often, we cannot fall asleep quickly due to the following factors:

• The light is disturbing. The light of street lamps, headlights of passing cars. Even the slight glow of a computer monitor, TV, mobile device screen, or the backlight of an alarm clock display can become irritants. Any light source that disturbs the natural darkness at night disrupts our circadian rhythms (cyclical fluctuations in the intensity of various biological processes associated with the change of day and night). Accordingly, the production of melatonin, the sleep hormone, is disrupted.
• The unfavorable microclimate “presses”. It is easier for the human body to fall asleep when being in the most comfortable conditions: with a reduced concentration of carbon dioxide, optimal temperature conditions and normal humidity levels. It's not easy to fall asleep in a stuffy room with a high CO2 level. Such an environment contributes to the manifestation of allergic reactions, causes general weakness of the body, and negatively affects the immune system.
• Extraneous sounds disturb you. The noise of cars is coming from the street, the neighbors' TV is playing too loudly, somewhere very close a dog is barking or music is playing - all these noise effects do not in any way contribute to a sound, healthy sleep. Our body reacts very sensitively to sound stimuli, which in a second can bring it out of a state of half-asleep and prevent it from falling asleep.

• Anxious thoughts overcome. In the lives of each of us, there are troubles and simply exciting moments associated with work, children, personal relationships, upcoming repairs, buying a new car, etc. What’s remarkable is that all this information, including negative information, pops up at the most inopportune moment. Instead of relaxing and falling asleep peacefully, a person begins to replay in his thoughts over and over again certain disturbing events.
• Affected by addiction to alcohol and high-calorie foods. Everything is simple here. Alcoholic drinks have a stimulating effect on the nervous system. Heavy, protein-enriched foods take a very long time to be absorbed by the body. As a result, even if a person quickly falls asleep after a heavy feast, having drunk a decent dose of alcohol, his state cannot be called healthy, sound sleep.
• Excessive physical activity in the evening. If you are an active follower of a healthy lifestyle and strive to devote every free minute to sports, remember one rule - postpone intense training for the morning and afternoon. In the evening, you can plan a light jog or a trip to the pool.
• Lack of bedroom hygiene. Having decided to figure out what to do for insomnia, you must first take care of the hygiene of your own bedroom. Under no circumstances should you turn your bed into a workspace or eating area. If you spend a lot of time lying on your bed with a laptop or smartphone, your mind will no longer perceive it as a place to relax. And leftover food on the bed linen will completely prevent you from sleeping normally.

• Strong smells are irritating. Of course, when a house or apartment smells nice, it’s good. But using a strong-smelling air freshener, scented candles or aroma sticks before bed is not a good idea. Strong smells irritate our olfactory receptors, thereby preventing us from falling asleep.

Additional tips for falling asleep quickly

Many people, in the absence of sleep, resort to taking medications. Remember that medications can only be prescribed by a doctor on an individual basis. It’s better to try to find an effective way to fall asleep with insomnia without pills. It is also worth considering that medications have a number of side effects that cannot be ignored.

It is important to know the rules of how to quickly fall asleep if you have insomnia. Practical tips will help you fall asleep faster and feel rested during the day:

• Tip 1: Create a daily routine. Proper time management can reduce mental and physical stress, and also helps normalize circadian rhythms. Time management helps with this; read what it is on our website.

• Tip 2: Stop using technology an hour before bed. Turn off phones, smartphones, and televisions at least an hour before going to bed. Blue screen light has a bad effect on the nervous system, so a person falls asleep worse if he worked at the computer for a long time before going to bed or watched television. If you work late, buy special glasses with yellow-orange lenses; they have a neutralizing effect and help preserve your vision when working with a computer.

• Tip 3: Take relaxing baths before bed. Take a relaxing bath with salt or aromatic oils. This way you can relieve unnecessary stress and fatigue that have accumulated during the day.

• Tip 4: Meditation before bed. Meditation before bed will clear your mind of obsessive thoughts and set you in a positive mood.

• Tip 5: Don't eat 3-4 hours before bed. This way you will feel pleasantly hungry in the morning and wake up faster.

• Tip 6: Dim the lights in your apartment 2 hours before bedtime. Turn on not the main, but additional sources: these are small lamps that have soft and relaxed lighting.

• Tip 7: Ventilate the bedroom. Fresh air lowers blood pressure and helps oxygenate the brain.

• Tip 8: Leave physical exercise for the morning. After activity, the body is in good shape, so it cannot immediately switch to relaxation.

• Tip 9: Limit the information flow. It is advisable not to watch or read the news at least 2-3 hours before bedtime, so that the information received does not cause anxiety.

Note! You can create a list of the tips that are most effective for you and use them together. This way you can create your own ritual of preparation for the holiday.

What helps you fall asleep

If you go to bed and a conflict with a colleague is not on your mind or your feet are cold, you will not be able to fall asleep quickly. The causes of insomnia are influenced by everything - both your psychological state before bed and physical comfort. Do this:

• Ventilate the room before going to bed - let the air be cool, not stuffy.
• It should be light and warm under the blanket; buy a comfortable pillow.
• Don't overeat at night, but don't go to bed hungry either: eat a banana or drink a glass of milk.
• Ensure darkness and silence: it is important to create physiological comfort for sleep.

The same applies to your sense of self: it should also be comfortable; in a state of stress it is difficult to fall asleep quickly. But achieving calm is a difficult thing to achieve; an internal dialogue begins in your head and you can’t stop it; attempts to get thoughts out of your head are fruitless. Special techniques will help you learn to fall asleep quickly; you can listen to music or soothing audiobooks.

How to quickly fall asleep in 1 minute: the “4-7-8” technique

This method, developed by American physician Andrew Weil, is very popular among people who are interested in meditation and yoga. The 4-7-8 breathing exercise helps calm your nerves and relax. It turns out to be effective even in difficult stressful situations, when insomnia has become a constant companion of the person suffering from it.

Please note that when performing the exercise, you need to inhale calmly, only through your nose. Exhale with a sound through your mouth.

• First of all, take the most comfortable position for you on the bed.
• Before you begin, place the tip of your tongue behind your front teeth (closer to the roof of your mouth).
• Inhale deeply through your nose, open your mouth slightly and exhale.
• Now close your lips, count to 4 and inhale slowly.
• Hold your breath for 7 seconds.
• Next, open your mouth slightly and exhale, mentally counting to 8.

For this method to quickly fall asleep to work, you need to carry out 3-4 cycles of exercises. The respiratory system allows you to calm your heart rate, pacify the flow of restless thoughts and fall into a restful sleep.

If none of the methods suggested above helps you sleep normally, you should consult a specialist. With its help, it will be possible to determine the true cause of insomnia and get rid of the problem forever.

Try sleep deprivation

Another effective, although rather controversial, way to restore sleep patterns is to not sleep for exactly 24 hours. When the long-awaited evening finally arrives, you will probably fall asleep as soon as your head touches the pillow.

This method is, of course, cool. But researchers were able to prove in An Unconventional Release from Depression the connection between daily lack of sleep and the activation of a certain type of brain cells that produce the protein adenosine. It is extremely important for sleep regulation: a sufficient amount of adenosine helps normalize the sleep-wake cycle.

Important details:

• Since the method is quite severe, you can resort to it only after consulting a doctor - the same therapist.
• During periods of sleep deprivation, avoid driving or performing other tasks that require alertness and concentration.