There’s a lot of advice out there about getting good sleep — and it’s very important. We quickly adjust to being sleep-deprived, and don’t notice that we aren’t functioning at a normal level, but lack of sleep really affects us. If you’re feeling blue or listless, try going to sleep thirty minutes earlier for a week. It can really help.
Here are tips that have helped me get good sleep:
Good habits for good sleep:
1. Exercise most days, even if it’s just to take a walk.
2. No caffeine after 6:00 p.m.
3. An hour before bedtime, avoid doing any kind of work that takes alert thinking. Addressing envelopes—okay. Analyzing an article—nope.
4. Adjust your bedroom temperature to be slightly chilly.
5. Keep your bedroom dark. Studies show that even the tiny light from a digital alarm clock can disrupt a sleep cycle. We have about six devices in our room that glow bright green; it’s like sleeping in a mad scientist’s lab. I have to put a pillow over the cable box.
6. Keep the bedroom as tidy as possible. It’s not restful to fight through chaos into bed.
If sleep won’t come:
7. Breathe deeply and slowly until you can’t stand it anymore.
8. If your mind is racing (you’re planning a trip, a move; you’re worried about a medical diagnosis), write down what’s on your mind. This technique really works for me.
9. Slather yourself with body lotion. This feels good and also, if you’re having trouble sleeping because you’re hot, it cools you down.
10. If your feet are cold, put on socks.
11. Stretch your whole body.
12. Have a warm drink. Supposedly warm milk contains melatonin and trytophan and so helps induce sleep, but in fact, a glass of milk doesn’t contain enough to have any effect. Nevertheless, it’s soothing to have a warm drink. My nighttime favorite: 1/3 mug of milk, add boiling water, one packet of Equal, and a dash of vanilla. A real nursery treat.
13. Yawn.
14. Stretch your toes up and down several times.
15. Tell yourself, “I have to get up now.” Imagine that you just hit the snooze alarm and in a minute, you’re going to be marching through the morning routine. Often this is an exhausting enough prospect to make me fall asleep.
16. If you still can’t sleep, re-frame: re-frame your sleeplessness as a welcome opportunity to snatch some extra time out of your day. I get up and tackle mundane chores, like paying bills, organizing books, or tidying up. Then I start the day with a wonderful feeling of having accomplished something even before 6:45 am.
What am I missing? Are there some more great sleep-inducing strategies out there?
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This is a great mix of classic sleep tips and some others I have never thought of. I love the body lotion idea!
Thank you for these tips I am definitely going to try some of them.
Namaste,
Annalisa
Ecolips has a lip balm with lavendar in it that's supposed to help you sleep if you put it on prior to going to bed. You can buy it online at their website. Hope this little tip helps those who can't sleep.
Something that works really well for me is putting lavender essential oil on my pillow.
If you put a few drops of anything lavender scented on your pillow, it will relax you and help you get to sleep.
I have found that when I think of times in school, we would have to erase the blackboard until it was really clean. I would look at those times and erase all the day away and sleep would come before I new it.
Great post! Here are some of my favorites. Lavender hand lotion kept bedside. A pen and notepad for racing thoughts or the occasional brilliant middle of the night idea. Visualization to relax my senses. Progressive muscle works too. I have a 5 minute mp3 version, you can email me and ask for it if you like. Its free. Oh, and no news right before bed! Thanks again for a great post!
Maria
Milk is actually a bad choice as a sleep aid. It makes the stomach produce more acid, which in turn can end up waking you up instead of helping you sleep. People with Gastro-esophageal Reflux Disease (GERD) are actually told not to drink milk before bedtime as well as sleep with their head elevated 4-6 inches.
Another trip I use to fall asleep is to role-play in my head. It can be x-rated or innocent. Just close your eyes & play pretend in your mind.
Cool and dark usually work for me but if not I imagine I am in a movie playing the part of a dead body and if I move the movie is ruined! If I wake at 2 a.m. and can't get back to sleep, I get up and play mind-numbing games of solitaire on my laptop until I start yawning and then go back to bed.
I was wondering if you could tell me about the 5 min. Progressive muscle (I believe that's what it's called) that you mentioned in the 16 sleep tips article. Like, is it stretching or something of that sort that you do before bed?
Thanks for the tips. I will be putting them to use. I have a hard time stopping the coffee after 6pm, I ususally make a coffee run around 8:30 or so at night.
If I am up late, I love to spend my time surfing and killing time over at my favorite search engine, it is called SearchGeek (http://www.searchgeek.com) – it is better than anything I have ever used on the Internet, even better than Google. I love to play the games, it has all of my favorties from growing up.
when i can't sleep for any reason, i inmagine that a man, God, or Jesus is laying nex to me holding me and i'm thinking just about them. something els i can do if the sand man has not come my was is to play my DSi or slip downstairs to get online. i always play in the dark. it the brightness is too much, i turn it down just a little bit.
Here's a good, time-tested tip if you can't sleep. Have sex (or masterbate). Your heart will race for a few minutes when your done but you sleep like a baby afterwards.
Great post everyone. I've learned to employ 2 techniques at the same time. 1. long inhale through my nose, long exhale through my mouth. (yoga relaxation technique) 2. use ear plugs. (my own addition). Yes I am able to hear the alarm in the morning. In fact most of the time I wake up just before the alarm sounds
This is great I usually can't sleep because I always think about alot of things before going to bed. This will help because I have a month old son. Thanks
Avoid excitement and probably staying off computer at least an hr. before bed might help….thereby reducing stimulation.
Most of the suggestions work well for me, and a few are ones that I will have to try! But here is the one that I like the best.
Imagine the most peaceful place in the world. Now that you have a vauge image in your mind imagine yourself laying there and start adding details. Try to keep each detail in your mind while adding more details. The key is to focus on details that create the peacefulness of the place, particularly small and precise ones.
For me the beach at Lake Michigan is the place, and night is the time. I immagine laying in the sand. The feel of the sand on the backs of my legs and arms. I think of the sound of the waves in the distance (repetative and hypnotic!). While keeping these details I try to immagine all the stars above. Usually about the time I add in wind in the grass I drop off.
I have also found that staring at a lava lamp to be very relaxing, however it goes against the no light rule above so I am not sure how helpful that is.
one great thing that works is (Psycholgical-Visualizations) one of the best thing that work for this is to close your eyes, breath in very deeply and slowly and hold it for 10 seconds, do this about three to five times and then just start to breath very deeply. This slows down your heart and then keeps it slow. then imagine a ball, then the size and then the color. Imagine it balancing on top of your head and then it slowly roles down your back, and then across each arm back and forth, then imagine it slowly roling down your back, then around your waist, and then up and down one leg, and then the other, then imagine as it goes back up your back, across each arm again, then it should be balancing on top of your head again.
remember to breath deep throught the whole thing and actualy tell yourself that you feel the ball roling around your body. I get to my waist and i fall asleep like a baby, and i wake up fully relaxed and rested. if you dont believe me try it yourself because my therapist did this with me and now when i have those nights that i cant fall asleep i do this and im out, lol. just try it
I use the 'parrot' method. Play the same Album of music every night, as your going to sleep. I play it at a level where I have to strain or atleast be calm to hear it. And now everytime I hear that piece of music it relaxes me.
Separation, separation, separation. A lot of the time your greatest foe in the battle for sleep is your own mind! This simple little step is a great way to trick it and gain the upper hand. Designate your bed for sleep only. Many of us like to watch t.v., read, or even surf the web before we "hit the hay". Instead of doing those things in your bedroom, find a cozy spot in another room for your before bed activities. This way your mind doesn't associate your bed with anything other than sleep.
One more tip. . .close your cabinet doors. There is an old wives tale about open cabinet doors and gossip. Also, wash your dishes. Unclean dishes in the sink can lead to a sleepless night.
The list needs to include operating a fan or other droning sound producer to drown out noises from outside the bedroom. This most useful for night shift workers or college students in a dormitory or travelers in a motel.
Fresh sheets are the best – especially if I have showered and shaved my legs before I go to bed. Also, a very good pillow is a very good investment.
If I simply cannot sleep, I pray. It puts me in a peaceful frame of mind and sleep comes sooner.
Actually, once my friend didn't know what to get me for my birthday so she gave me this thing you put on your eyes. Its called Panache its like this small bag made of silk and filled with little grains of rice or something, the key is that it's really cool when you put it on your eyes and it smells of pine cones. It may have been a last minute present, but she really nailed it. I haven't gotten to sleep much faster, but I'm much less restless at night, I don't talk as much in my sleep, and I wake up feeling refreshed. Plus if your eyes ache from too much time at the TV or computer, they are instantly smothered in relaxation.
Another thing I recommend is not using a normal alarm clock because I've used it for years and now I twitch every time I hear that sound, if you can try to use different music to wake you up each morning because then you think, "Mmmm, whats that? Sounds good I wonder what it is…" and you wake up full of curiosity. There is nothing pleasing or happy about the alarm clock's usual "EH – EH – EH!" So I wake up thinking, "Oh great, my life sucks I can't wait for vacation." That really ruins my entire morning.
Great post, ty!
I found that if I don't drink caffeinated sodas or have coffee before I go to bed. Also sex will help you have a good sleep too, it does for me. Another trick is to tire my eyes out on the Internet. I do lots of looking around on SearchGeek, at http://www.searchgeek.com it has soo much good stuff. I love searching there. It's the cutest seach site I have ever been too. That's my two cents about that.
Love making is an excellent relaxation technique which leads to cuddling and then sleep. If sleep doesn't work immediately, repeat love making until you achieve blissful sleep.
Have fun………
Yeah, masturbate does really a huge help, but sometimes doesn't work..
if really deprived coz lack of sleep, maybe need last choice potentful, tranquilizer…
I would appreciate the 5 minute mp3 that of which you speak. My address is as follows:
lauren_levene@att.net
Thank you so much. Cheers! lauren