I'll teach you how to become to media's go-to expert in your field. Enroll in The Professional's Media Academy now: ...

proven-sleep-tips-how-to-fall-asleep-faster

Proven Sleep Tips | How To Fall Asleep Faster

here are no frills scientifically backed evidence-based ways to help you fall asleep don't eat too close to bedtime but if you do eat focus on complex carbs you want to avoid high fat protein meals as they take a really long time to digest and they can actually impact some of your hormones like orexin which can keep you alert and not really sleepy speaking of avoiding Foods before sleep you want to avoid spicy foods not only can they make you feel uncomfortable because they can trigger symptoms of acid reflux but they also raise your core body temperature it's the exact opposite thing of what your body's trying to do in order to get to sleep avoid studying TV phones other activities the only thing that should happen in bed is sleep and sex avoid blame for not getting a good night's sleep as this can only make the problem worse know that humans have a distinct chronotype based on their genetic code that will select when sleep comes to them naturally so you may fall asleep at a completely different time than me I'm a fan of naps but I'm talking about a short nap early in the day when you start making them longer than 30 minutes or having them close to bedtime even around 5 600 p.m. that's going to affect your sleepiness hormone and make it really hard to want to go to sleep at night be wary of caffeine and I'm not just talking about coffee there's caffeine and tea sodas energy drinks preworkouts so ideally you want to be consuming this caffeine before lunch in fact if you like having a nap early in the day consume the caffeine just just before your nap to get the most out of it but caffeine close to bedtime is going to want to make you pee in the middle of the night make you wake up caffeine actually also impacts your ability to enter the Deep stages of sleep meaning that you might get a full night's sleep but not a restorative night's sleep decrease blue light exposure you can do this by getting the devices out of your bedroom putting them on night shift mode if you really need to use them or perhaps using blue light blocking glasses legit ones that actually work because blue light will actually decrease the production of melatonin that sleepiness hormone we talked about earlier help your body cool down by lowering the thermostat normally when we start to get sleepy our body temperature drops by a degree or two this is incredibly important in the bedroom to facilitate your body to feel sleepy but it's usually done by sweating and who wants to sleep in their own sweat just lower the thermostat increase light exposure early and throughout the day open those curtains first thing even on a cloudy day because the eye sends signals to the super chmatic nuclei which then sends signals to the pineal gland in the brain and that helps optimize sleep hormones even later that night invest in your sleep gear I'm specifically talking about your mattress and this is individualized and will be different for everybody because depending on your sleep position your medical conditions your body habitat your size your shape you will have different preferences so go to a store try out different mattresses see what works for you don't use the first few minutes upon waking as the signal of whether or not you got a good night's sleep sleep inertia is a real thing in fact if you sleep a radically short amount of time you might wake up even easier but that doesn't mean you had quality sleep in fact after repaying some sleep debt you may feel grogger after a night of proper sleep signaling that you still need to make up more hours of sleep the next day sorry bear pets out of the bed we've seen it time and time again in research article after research article pets interrupt our sleep allow them to hang out in your bedroom just not directly in that bed pay attention to noise while a silent room can be great for a good night's sleep you can have white noise in your room and still sleep great and you don't have to get an expensive white noise machine you can just turn on YouTube or maybe have a fan in the corner all work through the same principle essentially you want to have a consistent same volume of noise because what happens then is your brain begins to tune out that noise just like it would as if it were silent make your bedroom pitch black get blackout curtains put Shades up do whatever it is you have to do to eliminate all light from your sleeping environment there's been studies that show even a candle flickering in the corner of your room can impact the quality of your sleep for safety reasons I do say maybe have a motion activated light somewhere in your room so that if you do get up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom you'll still be safe go to sleep when you're tired it may sound simple but at the same time it's easy to push through the sleepiness at 9:00 p.m. when you're binging your face Netflix show but if you miss that crucial window you may get a second wind and find it hard to fall asleep until really late at night modern day devices have sleep modes on them to prevent your friends drunk texting you and waking you in the middle of the night my recommendation here is to customize those alerts to allow certain contacts in your phone to be able to contact you any time of night also it allows you to set a specific number of calls that will bypass the sleep mode system so that if your father or your friend calls you to three times that might mean it's an emergency and it should still ring to wake you unless you want to wake up with a sore back or sore neck in the morning avoid having cold air blown directly on you this could mean turning the fan away the air conditioner away or closing a window because direct cooling onto your skin can overcool an area thereby decrease circulation to a muscle causing a spasm to urve keep your feet warm but not sweaty it's easy to put on a really thick sock and then your feet are sweaty and causing potential fungal infections to form instead what you want to do is optimize it so that they're warm the blood vessels vasod dilate meaning open up and that will signal to your brain that it's comfortable to fall asleep this one is going to sound weird if after 15 minutes you can't fall asleep get out of bed because the last thing you want to do is toss and turn building up that anxiety of why you can't fall asleep instead what you want to do is leave that bed leave the bedroom do something relaxing wait until you get sleepy then get into the bed because then you will associate the bed with sleep as opposed to suffering because you can't sleep get that exercise because physical exercise improves the quality and duration of your sleep in fact it's that moderate intensity aerobic exercise that improves your deep sleep your slow wave sleep where your brain and body have a chance to rejuvenate some say don't exercise too close to bedtime I think you need to do what works for you for me I try and stay away from that high-intensity exercise close to bedtime avoid alcohol before bedtime while it may help you fall asleep it's actually going to hurt the quality of your sleep even just having a couple drinks can hurt your ability to enter and stay in REM sleep that's that restorative sleep that you need in order to function well throughout the day no matter how tempting it is be careful with long-term use of sleep aid medications whether we're talking about prescription or over-the-counter they do have legitimate risks anxiety is one of the most common complaints I hear from patients as to why they they can't get good sleep I constantly suffer with insomnia because I'm tired but wired in those cases I do say it's smart to talk to your doctor about potentially starting therapy or maybe even a medication but for me what a little strategy that worked quite well is the three good things before getting into bed writing down old paper and Pen three good things that happened to you that day and the reasons as to why they happen this allows your mind to take a break from thinking about the negative nervous that it constantly feels in order to keep you safe and instead think about the positive emotions and let that gratitude guide you into getting a proper night sleep in the evening begin to dim your lights just as it's important to expose yourself to Bright Light in the morning you need to dim the lights in the evening this is strictly for your circadian rhythm if you have exposure to Bright Light in the evening your circadian rhythm gets thrown off your melatonin production starts to decrease and your sleepiness begins to float away uh was that too dramatic as always stay happy and healthy

Dr.

Related Videos

Consultation & Treatment

Consult With Loading Doctor Data