How many times have I lain awake at night wondering how that can even be. Was it the coffee that keeps me awake or was it the afternoon exercise? A while goes by and my thoughts are already racing and I can’t get any rest. But that need not be!
There are so many things that each of us can try or have tried when we have trouble sleeping. But not every tip helps everyone. It’s an ongoing experiment until you find the right solution. A kind of game whose prize is a rested body. For me it’s a combination of eliminating sleep predators. I don’t always manage to put my cell phone down and not reach for it again – and if I do, my neighbor suddenly calls at maximum volume and I lie there in frustration and roll from left to right. In the meantime, however, I’ve found a few tricks that work well for me that make my life easier – and discovered scientific hacks that should lead to better sleep. Maybe some of them will help you too:
#1: Sleepcasts or Sleep Stories
Radio plays or “the movie to fall asleep” have never worked for me, like some friends of mine. Instead, I lay there and let the movie run to the end, turned off the TV, and only then fell asleep. With the Headspace Sleepcast on YouTube, I found a way to fall asleep when I’m restless. The account offers stories with a soothing pitch and background noise free of charge and without advertising and is a real blessing for me. A few friends of mine also enjoy using ASMR videos, but most of the noises tend to stress me out more than calm me down. The YouTube channel Calm also offers calm stories for restless souls. The only important thing with this method of falling asleep is to deactivate the autoplay function, otherwise you will be woken up rudely by the next video and, above all, by the advertising.
#2: Socks on
Yes I know! Socks in bed aren’t exactly sexy. But socks can actually help us fall asleep. On average, subjects in a study from the USA slept 15 minutes faster and deeper when they wore socks. Sexyless instead of sleepless? For some, that’s probably a good compromise.
#3: Military Relaxation Exercises
This method has been tested in the military by pilots from the US Navy Pre-Flight School. They devised a relaxation technique that, after six weeks of practice, had the pilots fall asleep in two minutes or less! Admittedly, six weeks sounds like an awfully long time, but even if this technique doesn’t put you straight to sleep, it should at least relax you a little. Incidentally, the pilots practiced sitting down during training, but the bed is enough for us:
- Relax your entire face, including the muscles in your mouth and jaw.
- Let your shoulders drop and let go of the tension of the day, placing your hands at your sides.
- Exhale deeply and relax your chest.
- Now relax your legs, thighs and calves.
- Imagine a pleasant scene in your head for ten seconds. For example, how you lie on the beach and the waves roll onto the beach again and again, only to flow back into the sea shortly afterwards.
- If it doesn’t work and you just can’t let go, repeat the words “don’t think” to yourself over and over for 10 seconds.
- With practice, you should fall asleep after those ten seconds.
For example, to relax your shoulders, legs or face, it can help to first tense the body part completely so that you can calm down. So raise your eyebrows strongly and then let them fall and feel the relaxation or tense your leg muscles and then let go and stay relaxed. Basically, it’s about relieving your body from top to bottom in every muscle.
#4: Cell phone gone! Hurry up!
I know it’s hard, but good sleep also has something to do with our evening routine. If we briefly check the mobile phone news or read on the tablet in the evening, our brain does not switch off so quickly. Most of the time, they keep us awake longer than we intended. Again and again we look at the time display and think: ‘Okay, five more minutes, then it’s over.’ Until thirty minutes later nothing has happened and we already know: we will be tired the next day. However, the technology that has become so dear to us keeps us awake because it stimulates our brain. The blue light from cell phones can also make us less likely to release melatonin, a hormone we actually need to sleep. So it’s best not to bring your cell phone or tablet into the bedroom at all, but leave them unnoticed in the next room after brushing your teeth until the morning.
#5: This breathing method will help you become calmer
Often our thoughts or a hyperactive and overly alert body do not allow us to switch off in the evening. We lie there, annoyed, and can’t sleep. One way to at least slow down the body a bit is this breathing technique:
- Loosen your lips and exhale loudly through your mouth.
- Then close your lips and breathe in softly through your nose. Count to four silently.
- Then hold your breath for seven seconds.
- Exhale loudly through your mouth for eight seconds.
- Repeat the breathing technique. It’s important that you don’t think frantically about the fact that you’re about to breathe in and breathe out again. Just keep counting.
- After about four repetitions, you should be able to sleep slowly. Of course, if your body relaxes earlier, you can fall asleep earlier.
This exercise helps some people if it is practiced regularly. The more it is used, the more effective it is. The most important thing is not to let your mind wander and focus on your breathing. The inventor of the technology is psychologist Dr. Andrew Weil, who calls it a “natural nervous system relaxant.”
Source: SWR3, Healthline, Sleep Foundation, SCL Health