How To Get To Sleep
Our Educational Content is Not Meant or Intended for Medical Advice or Treatment
Do you want to know how to fall asleep fast and continuously at night? Try these effective tips tonight!
In this article:
- Always Sleep on Your Right Side
- Slow Down Your Breathing
- Bed by 10:30 PM at Least or Maybe Even a Little Earlier
- Regulate Your Pulse Rate
- Use a Massage Tool
How to Fall Asleep Quickly
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You Need a Good Night’s Sleep
People will experience some sleepless nights several times in their lifetime. It’s fairly common for students studying for exams or busy individuals who lose themselves in their work during projects.
Suffering constantly from lack of sleep, on the other hand, is a different story. Insomnia or sleep deprivation can cause other health problems in the long run.
Here are a few suggestions and ways to fall asleep better:
1. Always Sleep on Your Right Side
Which side of your body do you favor when you fall asleep? According to experts, it’s better to turn to your right side for a good night’s sleep.
Why? This is because your heart is on the left side and the liver is on the right side.
So many people have either a fatty liver or a congested liver. When you sleep on your left side, the weight of the liver can press on the heart.
It’s much better if the heart is sitting on top of the liver when you’re on your right side. You’ll breathe better and sleep better when you sleep on your right side.
2. Slow Down Your Breathing
Focus on your breathing to get a good night’s sleep.
When your adrenals are overstressed, the breathing is different. The exhalation is shorter than the inhalation.
Here’s how you can slow your breathing to release excess adrenaline:
- Sync your breathing with an equal amount of inhalations and exhalations -- about 4-5 seconds each. Slow down the counting as you reach four or five while breathing in.
- Breathe in, one-two-three-four, then pause for a few seconds.
- Then, breathe out, one-two-three-four.
You’re slowly breathing in and slowly breathing out – as you’re falling asleep. That really helps you sleep faster.
Some people catch themselves holding their breath as they’re trying to sleep. This is a really good thing to focus on as you drift off.
RELATED: High Pulse Rate and Sleep Quality
3. Go to Bed by 10:30 PM at Least or Maybe Even a Little Earlier
Here’s the problem: you miss out on your circadian rhythm when you go to bed past 10:30, 11:30, or, even more so, 12 midnight. What does this mean?
Circadian Rhythm Definition: Behavioral, mental, physical changes in the body that follow a cycle in response to light and darkness, aka. sleep-wake cycle.
You may already know that... like you might get tired around 9:30 and you think, “Man, if I just went to bed now, I can sleep,” but suddenly you wake up - that’s what I’m talking about.
Get to bed by 10:30 pm because the optimum time of that circadian wave is about 10:45-11:00. That’s when your body drifts off into a sleep. I consistently go to bed at that time and can doze off very fast but if I go to bed around 12, I’ll be laying there for an hour.
4. Regulate Your Pulse Rate
If you ever go to bed and hear your pulse rate on the pillow, what that means is that you’re deficient in potassium. If you’re deficient in potassium, your heart will beat louder, harder, and at a higher pulse rate. Normal pulse rate is 72; sometimes 65 or 60 (if you’re in better shape).
What you may want to do for this is to eat more vegetables because you don’t have enough potassium in your body. The pulse rate is a good indicator of low potassium and if you increase those vegetables, you’ll drift off to sleep better.
But really, what causes potassium deficiency are two things: 1) stress for many years (stress depletes your potassium), and 2) sugar. Eat too much sugar and it will definitely deplete your potassium and your pulse rate will go higher.
5. Use a Massage Tool
The massage tool I use before I go to bed is a tool I developed for my own body. I have information on how to use it so you can get some good ideas.
I work on my neck points before I go to bed. I do my mid back points and I do my adrenal points every night before I got to bed. It’s a really simple no-brainer.
I take it on vacation wherever I go because it helps me get to sleep fast.
There are certain acupressure points that you work on in your neck and your adrenals will just turn things off and you will sleep a lot better. It helps pull stress out but it’s kind of a do-it-yourself model.
Depending on how big you are, you can use the really small knob, the medium one, or the large one.
You just have to massage the points indicated above to help your body relax and ultimately, fall asleep.
Knowing how to fall asleep faster will help your body work better toward wellness. Getting time in dreamland helps your body heal from the day’s work and reduces your accumulated stress levels.
Have you experienced sleepless nights? What’s your bedtime routine? Share your own tips on how to fall asleep fast in the comments section below!
Up Next: Perfecting Your Sleep and Energy
Disclaimer: Our educational content is not meant or intended for medical advice or treatment.
Editor’s Note: This post was originally published on July 13, 2016, and has been updated for quality and relevancy.
*Any comments on our blog or websites relating to weight loss results may or may not be typical and your results will vary depending on your diet and exercise habits.
