Fall Asleep Faster: 10 Tips to help you sleep better

We sleep less, we yawn all day. We sleep more, we miss important things in life. How to fall asleep faster and have a good long sleep so that we have time for things that we love? Here are a few tips to help you sleep better.

Key Things that can help

1. Having goals and a purpose imbues your life with lots of energy. This helps in driving away sleep when you need to.
2. Eat a little bit less. It is hard to sleep on an empty stomach.  
3. If your mind wanders and you overthink meditation can help
4. Don't expose yourself to a mobile phone or laptop just before sleeping.
5. Make sure to have a comfortable temperature and fresh air in your room
6. When you wake up, get out of bed immediately. Throw your sheets away and open your windows.  
7. Vary your sleep time and find out how much sleep do you really need
8. Have fixed sleeping and waking hours.  
9. If you feel sleepy during the day take short naps

Have a purpose

Having a purpose gives you a lot of boost in energy and motivation. This helps in easily driving away sleep. If you don't have a goal to look forward to, you can easily slack off and before you know it, you find yourself dozing off or finding a couch to help you sleep. Less sleep can itself serve as a goal for a day or two but if you want to go on sleeping less for a while, it is better to have a clear-cut goals for every day. This way your mind can't easily find loopholes to postpone things for another day and go to bed. Having a long-term purpose also helps in shooing away sleep. In your weaker moments, thinking about long-term goals and what rewards they contain for you can also help.

Eat less  

It is easy to fall asleep with a full stomach compared to an empty one. Too much food makes your body too comfortable which in turn makes you sleepy. So eat less especially before sleeping. 

Meditate

Meditation especially before sleeping can make your mind calm. You fall asleep faster with a calm mind than an excited one. You can meditate using some audio that you like or you can simply concentrate on your breathing for a few minutes. Meditate for 5 to 15 minutes to get calm and then enjoy a deep sleep and wake up refreshed.

Avoid blue light

 Avoid blue light from the laptop and mobile screen for one or two hours before going to bed. Blue light suppresses melatonin. Melatonin helps the body to start the sleep process. You can use some screen apps to suppress blue light from your gadgets. 

Temperature and air

Have a temperature of 60-65 degrees F (16-18 C) in your room. This might seem too cold but it can help you fall asleep quickly in your warm bed. Make sure to have clean air in your room. Change your air-conditioning filters if necessary. You can try nasal strips to breathe better. Similarly, an air filtration system can also help. 

The point is that your room should have fresh air when you sleep. 

Get out of bed quickly

When your alarm rings leave the bed immediately. This might seem difficult. You can try to count backward from 5 to 1 and get out of bed. The trick is to not give your mind time to convince you to go back to sleep.

Make staying in bed uncomfortable  

If you make staying in bed uncomfortable, it will make it easier for you to get up. You can do this by opening the windows or blinds. Putting the blankets away from you can also help. These are just suggestions. Do whatever works.

Sleep time is varied

Different people need different amounts of sleep. Our genetic makeup plays a vital role in determining how much sleep we need. On average humans need 6-8 hours of sleep but there are people who sleep less or more than that and are comfortable and fresh throughout the day. Find out how much sleep you need by testing yourself. Decrease your sleep time until you feel uncomfortable. 

Set a time 

Set a fixed time for sleeping preferably at night. Changing the time of sleep can badly affect your sleep cycle. Have a fixed time to go to bed and a time to leave the bed. 

Short naps

If for some reason you have to sleep less than your desired amount you will feel groggy and irritable throughout the day. The solution is to have a short nap when you are too sleepy in some semi-comfortable position like in a chair or on a hard floor. This short 20-15 minutes nap will help you get energized for the rest of the day. 

Turn on some music

Music can really help in guiding your mind in some specific direction. Experiment with different kinds of music to find out what helps you fall asleep faster. If music does not help you can try some sounds like a night train or the sound of rain to help you sleep.

Conclusion

Try these tips and see which of them helps you the most. Some of them may not work for you but don't worry everybody is different. If you have any suggestions or tips to sleep better let us know in the comments.