Simple Ways To Fall Asleep Within Half An Hour Of Getting Into Bed

Falling asleep quickly—just half an hour after your head hits your pillow—is far more important than it may seem. In fact, the National Sleep Foundation describes it as one of the main pillars of good sleep quality. Feeling that wonderful drowsy feeling can sometimes be difficult, especially after a stressful day. The good news is that you can enjoy this sensation on most evenings and wake up in a great mood, provided you stick to a sound sleep strategy.

Routine Is Everything
Despite your temptation to stay up late ‘Neflix and chilling’, aim to stick to a relatively strict sleep time routine. Staying up late on some nights will make it harder to feel sleepy at the same time every night. In order to feel refreshed and reinvigorated in the morning, you need to sleep for around seven to nine hours a night. This can be hard to achieved if you are tossing and turning, or counting sheep to no avail.

Designing A Sleep-Friendly Bedroom
The environment you sleep in also has a direct bearing on how sleep you feel. For instance, keeping your bedroom cool (at between 60 to 67º Fahrenheit) works alongside the patterns of your core body temperature. The latter is regulated by your body’s circadian rhythm. It drops in the evening, aligning with your brain’s melatonin secretion. A cool room enhances this temperature drop and improves your sleep quality. Your room should also be completely dark and quiet. Blackout curtains are affordable, and they are highly effective at completely blocking out light.

Harnessing The Benefits Of Smell
Fragrances affect human beings’ mental states and moods. Research published in Chemical Senses shows, for instance, that you can manipulate your mood and benefit from scents that improve your mindset. Therapeutic-grade essential oils such as lavender, clary sage, and chamomile have a scientifically proven, stress-reducing effect. You can either smell these oils directly from the bottle, apply them to your skin, or diffuse them through a small oils diffuser. Candles containing these calming scents can also help you achieve a more relaxed state.

Limiting Screen Time
Screen use right before bedtime increases your alertness, making it a bad ally for sleepiness. Devices like phones, laptops, and tablets essentially produce blue light, stimulating the part of the brain that is responsible for the production of melatonin (a hormone that plays a crucial role in sleep). Many people actually take melatonin supplements to help with sleep disorders and jet lag though if you are considering doing so, get the okay from your doctor first to ensure it does not interact with any other medication you may be taking.

Practicing Calming Techniques During The Day
Make it a point to battle stress actively during the day, embracing techniques such as meditation and controlled breathing. The latter can be practiced relatively easily. Simply inhale air for around four seconds, then exhale the air for the same amount of time. Spending time in nature can also drop levels of the stress hormone, cortisol. When this hormone is present at high levels, it can keep you awake with worry and anxiety.