How to fall asleep quickly, part 1

March 22nd, 2007          Email This Post        Print This Post

Do you find yourself in bed for 10 minutes or longer, trying to fall asleep? Then try some of these tips (more to come!) to fall asleep faster. This list is things to do while already in bed.

• Take slow, deep breathes. Take at least 6. They should be effortless, and can be done until you fall asleep. This should calm down the body and mind. If you count the breathes, it will also give you something monotonous to concentrate on, making it easier to fall asleep.

• Put your hands on your stomach, under as many of the layers you are wearing, if possible. You may also place them higher up above the ribs if the movement from breathing bothers you. This will warm up the hands (the extremities get less blood when the body is cold), and this will either be more comfortable, or even better, the heat will make you sleepier. You might also want to try a warm bottle of water between your feet when it’s cold out (make sure it won’t leak!).
• Relax your muscles. Tense your lower body for 5 seconds, then relax it. Next your abdomen, then your face. Learn more about PMR.
• Focus on something soothing.
  If you visualize something soothing, the body will follow along. The more senses you can get involved, the better. (This is also good practice for most memory strategies.)
  My favorite is laying on the beach. There are many things to imagine there, which are all soothing, and take your mind off other daily-life, sleep distracting thoughts. I imagine the sun warming me up. The nice warm (or cool) breeze flowing over me, just right, making me feel very calm. The sound of he waves lapping gently nearby, or the seagulls chirping.
  I can’t concentrate on all these at once, so I switch from one to another when I feel like it, or I lose a hold on the current sense.

• Focus on some white noise. Focusing on the sound of a fan will work wonders if other noises distract you.
• Acupressure for relaxation
  “You can try gently stimulating acupressure points yourself. Gently press the specified points using your fingertips, steadily, or with a small circular massage motion, for approximately one minute. After a break, you can repeat alternating pressure and breaks until you fell a sort of release. Beginners should not exceed 5 minutes on any one point.
  1. The hand. With your palm facing up, find the juncture where the wrist meets the hand with the thumb of your other hand; rub just below the first crease of your wrist.
  2. The face. Using the tips of your index and third fingers, apply pressure to the spot between your eyebrows, at the juncture of the bridge of your nose and your forehead.
  3. The back of the head. Gently massage the pressure points and the indentation at the base of the skull on the back of the head; moving outward an inch in on both sides of the skull at the hairline.”

  This is from

I always slow down my breathing as I am going to sleep, and usually practice the visualization. It is quite rare that I use the other methods, but I used to do PMR all the time.

Like these tips? Subscribe to this blog to get future parts of this series!

Photo from powerbooktrance on Flickr, licensed under Attribution 2.0 license.

Similar Posts:

• Sleep Hack: Repeat "Sleep"
• When you need to stay awake
• Sleep with an open window
• How to Enjoy Lectures/Classes/Speeches (or At least Stay Awake)
• Don’t take a nap right after eating
• Finding More Time, Part 3: Eliminating Even More!