How to fall asleep quickly: 11 things you should do during the day

Sci­en­tists esti­mate that peo­ple spend about a third of their lives in sleep. But why then do we not get enough sleep and con­stant­ly feel tired? It turns out that some of our habits are to blame.

Med­AboutMe tells you what you need to do dur­ing the day to sleep sound­ly at night.

1. Wake up at the same time

It’s not as impor­tant to go to bed at the same time as it is to wake up. Each per­son has their own inter­nal clock, which works like an alarm clock if they stick to the sched­ule of falling asleep and wak­ing up.

There is no point in bask­ing in bed longer if the inter­nal alarm clock has worked and is call­ing you to get up. Over­sleep­ing is just as bad for your health as not get­ting enough sleep.

2. Drink more water

The rule of eight glass­es of clean water a day has not been can­celed! If your body is suf­fi­cient­ly hydrat­ed, your metab­o­lism works bet­ter and you are more active and pro­duc­tive through­out the day. While the lack of mois­ture makes a per­son yawn and walk like a sleepy fly. In addi­tion, mois­ture defi­cien­cy is a com­mon cause of headaches in the morn­ing.

Drink plen­ty of water through­out the day and lim­it your water intake a cou­ple of hours before bed­time, oth­er­wise the need may inter­rupt your sleep.

3. Time your caffeine intake

Every­one knows that drink­ing cof­fee before bed is a bad idea. But some experts believe that drink­ing cof­fee right after wak­ing up is also not very good. Not only can caf­feine on an emp­ty stom­ach cause prob­lems with the gas­troin­testi­nal tract, but it can also increase the lev­el of the stress hor­mone cor­ti­sol in the body. It is bet­ter to drink cof­fee 1–1.5 hours after wak­ing up and be sure to have a refresh­ment before­hand.

But the last cup of caf­feinat­ed drink should be 5–6 hours before bed­time. Caf­feine takes a long time to digest, so it’s best not to risk it.

4. Practice physical activity

Reg­u­lar car­dio train­ing helps a per­son fall asleep faster and enjoy deep­er and more rest­ful sleep. There­fore, it is very use­ful to go to the gym 2–3 times a week, run in the morn­ing or swim in the pool in the evening. The main thing to remem­ber is an impor­tant rule: no intense train­ing an hour before bed­time!

A 2019 review of research found that reg­u­lar exer­cise is asso­ci­at­ed with a reduc­tion in the amount of time it takes adults to fall asleep.

5. Limit the duration of the siesta

Many peo­ple find it dif­fi­cult to be pro­duc­tive through­out the day if they don’t have time for breaks and short naps. It is not for noth­ing that sies­ta is prac­ticed in Italy.

But if you get more than 30 min­utes of day­time sleep, it can deprive you of a good night’s sleep. Experts Mayo Clin­ic It is rec­om­mend­ed to plan a sies­ta as ear­ly as pos­si­ble (in the after­noon, not in the evening) and care­ful­ly mon­i­tor its dura­tion.

Do you know what “sleepy” tra­di­tions exist in dif­fer­ent parts of the world? We have col­lect­ed the most inter­est­ing of them in the mate­r­i­al “12 sleep habits from around the world”!​

6. Eat foods for sweet dreams

There are foods that act like a “sleep­ing potion”. For exam­ple, juice from tart cher­ries, accord­ing to the find­ings of sci­en­tists, helps to quick­ly plunge into the Land of Dreams and sleep bet­ter. And Greek yogurt, a source of cal­ci­um and tryp­to­phan, helps you get enough sleep.

Foods con­tain­ing mag­ne­sium and potas­si­um are also use­ful. They per­fect­ly relax, relieve stress and give peace of mind. So, bananas and almonds can be great allies in the fight against fatigue.

7. Breathe fresh air more often and more

Even a morn­ing walk can make a huge dif­fer­ence! While walk­ing at a leisure­ly pace on a warm, fine day, the lev­el of endor­phins hor­mones in the body, which are respon­si­ble for a good mood and work pro­duc­tiv­i­ty, increas­es in the body. They also help to be more alert and focused dur­ing the day, so that rou­tine tasks are per­formed bet­ter and faster.

And hav­ing worked hard dur­ing the day, a per­son, as a rule, sleeps bet­ter at night. But if this is not enough, a short walk 1–1.5 hours before bed­time will save you.

8. Stop watching thrillers before bed

Excit­ing block­busters and hor­ror films are not worth watch­ing right before bed. They excite the ner­vous sys­tem, and then it becomes more dif­fi­cult to fall asleep.

“But there is anoth­er dan­ger — expo­sure to the blue light that your gad­gets emit. A cer­tain wave­length dis­rupts your body’s bio­log­i­cal clock,” says MD, board-cer­ti­fied sleep ther­a­pist. Ilene Rosen.

9. Create a favorable environment in the room

“Your body’s cir­ca­di­an rhythms cor­re­late with your body tem­per­a­ture,” MD says Ilene Rosen. Right before bed­time, the body tem­per­a­ture drops slight­ly and the per­son falls asleep.

If you low­er the aux­il­iary heat­ing indi­ca­tor, you will cool your room and your body and thus sig­nal to your brain that it is time to sleep.

10. Practice bedtime rituals

A per­son with a dif­fi­cult, busy sched­ule can find it dif­fi­cult to calm down before bed and fall asleep. Work prob­lems do not give rest, and thoughts rush through my head like a whirl­wind. The best way to deal with this is to cre­ate your own sleep rit­u­als.

This could be tak­ing a bub­ble bath or show­er, chang­ing bed­ding, fill­ing a room with pleas­ant incense, or sim­ply read­ing a book or pur­su­ing a hob­by. Any­thing that calms the mind will even­tu­al­ly calm the body and the per­son will fall asleep.

11. Talk to a subject matter expert

M.D Ilene Rosen says that peo­ple came to her appoint­ments who said: “I have not slept nor­mal­ly for more than 15 years.” They thought it was some­thing they should accept and live with. But you don’t have to put up with insom­nia.

If your sleep is poor, at least 3 nights a week, and this con­tin­ues for three months, it can be assumed that you have chron­ic insom­nia. The best way to say good­bye to her is to con­tact a spe­cial­ist.

Sweet dreams to you!