Fall Asleep Faster: 9 Tips to Help You Sleep Better Tonight

If you’ve had a stressful day, your mind and body carry that energy into the evening and night, making it harder to fall asleep.  Your mind races as you hit the pillow, thinking of the day’s events and what tomorrow will bring.  Before you know it, your alarm is ringing and it’s time to start a new day.

Finding the right remedy to help you fall asleep faster takes some trial and error, but once you find something that works, your mind and body will thank you. Try out any of these 9 Tips to Help You Sleep Better Tonight.

Aromatherapy

Essential oils have surged in popularity due to their natural health benefits and healing abilities. Aromatherapy diffusers pump these oils into the air, filling the entire room with the scent of your choice. When you combine the right oil with this diffuser, your sleep problems may have a solution.

Lavender is perhaps the most common natural oil used for sleep aid. Its relaxation properties have proven to alleviate restlessness.  This oil is used in lotions and baby products to help infants (and their parents!) fall asleep faster.  I like to put a few drops in my diffuser and deeply breathe in this relaxing scent.

Relaxation Apps

There’s an app for everything these days – including apps that help you sleep!  Restlessness at night has become such a common problem that hundreds of apps have been developed to help guide you off to sleep and fall asleep faster.

Headspace is the most common app that experts recommend to help with sleeplessness.  You can choose to listen to one of the many “sleepcasts”, which serves you up a 45-55 minute audio session that allows you to visualize a calming experience.  It also has numerous meditation courses that are great for winding down and relaxing your mind.  Get the Headspace app here.

Breathing Techniques

A good breathing routine calms your nervous system and allows you to focus your mind, helping to block out the stress of the world. I recently spent time with a great counselor who encouraged downloading the Breathing App and following the prompts as it takes you through timed breathing sessions.  He recommended using the App 2x per day for 10 minutes each setting.  Even if you don’t have the Breathing App as a guide, you can still perform this technique on your own to help you fall asleep faster.

Here’s how it works:

• Exhale all of the air from your lungs
• Inhale through your nose while counting to 4
• Hold your breath while mentally counting to 7
• Exhale completely through your mouth while mentally counting to 8
• Repeat at least 4 times or as many as necessary to achieve a calming feeling
• Not only can the 4-7-8 breathing method help you sleep faster, it can also be used in times of stress or anxiety to help calm your body and mind.

Read

As you lie in bed with your mind racing, it can be helpful to open a book and let your mind focus on the words in front of you.  Dive into Scripture for some relaxing words of wisdom, or reopen your favorite book that you’ve read a hundred times.  Allow your mind to escape from any stressors you may be feeling with each word on the page.  Note: Using a reading light allows you to minimize the brightness in the room while still being able to see the words!

Another option to reading a book before bedtime is to listen to your favorite book. You can do this through the Audible App and it even has a sleep timer to help you fall asleep faster.

White Noise

White noise can be a useful technique in falling asleep, as it provides a background to help distract you from normal thoughts.  It can also muffle any other sounds you might hear in the room that create wakefulness, such as a faucet dripping or outside traffic.

This white noise machine is one of my favorite options for both children and adults. It offers a variety of sounds that will play for your choice of 1, 2, or 3 hours at a time.  Select a light setting of your preference and allow yourself to fall asleep faster and drift off to a full night of rest.

Reduce Screen Time

With the constant need to be attached to our devices, it’s common practice to take our phones to bed.  After scrolling through social media for a few hours, we put the phone down and realize that it’s difficult to sleep.  So, we pick the phone back up and the cycle continues.  Blue light emissions from cell phones is a common reason why sleep feels unachievable. Reducing screen time has been proven to help.

Something that Daron and I have started doing is an hour before we go to bed, we try to separate ourselves from our devices.  If this is impossible for your work or lifestyle, try using a yellow-light setting that changes the tones of the screen.  Studies have shown that this can help you fall asleep faster and improve quality of sleep overall.

Melatonin

Melatonin is a hormone produced by the body for sleep.  It can also be taken as a natural supplement to aid in restfulness.  Your pharmacy or grocery store will carry brands of this supplement that can be taken in 0.5 – 5 mg doses.  Read the label for your recommended dosage and take the Melatonin about 30 minutes before going to bed.  You can also find melatonin creams, lotions, and gummy supplements that can be helpful.

Keep a Sleep Schedule

When your body maintains a regulated sleep schedule, it becomes accustomed to falling asleep at the same time.  Napping or staying awake later (even on the weekends!) can affect your body’s internal schedule, making it more difficult to fall asleep at night.  Logging your sleep and the times you go to bed can help create a regular sleep schedule.  Some fitness watches have built in sleep trackers and can assist with keeping record.  Attempt going to bed and waking up at the same time each day to help get the rest your body needs.

Healthy Diet and Exercise

One method that carries more benefits than just falling asleep faster is maintaining a healthy diet and regular exercise.  This is important!  Eating large meals before bed, ingesting alcohol, or smoking can all prevent you from falling asleep soundly. In addition, daily exercise boosts the production of serotonin in the brain and decreases levels of cortisol.  Cortisol is the stress hormone that can disrupt your ability to sleep deeply at night.

If you are just beginning to change your diet and eat healthier, you can find several easy and lightened up recipes in our recipe index here.  Also, if its a struggle to find time to workout each day, start small by going for a walk each evening after dinner or wake up a few minutes earlier each morning.  It only takes 15 minutes, and try my morning workout routine at home!

All of these suggested remedies are designed to naturally help you fall asleep faster.  I believe each method is worth a try if falling asleep is something that you struggle with. As soon as you find the right method for you, stick to it, and enjoy a full night’s rest!  And, once you do find a method or suggestion that works for you, let us know!  Leave a message or take a picture and tag us on Instagram @ourfarmerhouse.

XOXO,