Tips and tricks to fall asleep and stay asleep

Sleep hygiene is the term used to describe good sleep habits. Here is a list of effective guidelines and tips to help you sleep better. Following these strategies can provide long-term solutions to sleep issues. Since there are so many guidelines, it is suggested that you try all of them one at a time and then stick with the strategy that works best for you.

A good night’s sleep is essential for your health. It allows your mind and body to repair, recharge and regulate. It strengthens the immune system, balances hormones and improves your brain function by solidifying memories and creating new neural pathways. It also helps regulate emotions and improves focus and concentration. This is why practicing good sleep hygiene is important.

1. Use your bed only for sleep or sex, nothing else. Try not to sit on your bed and eat, work, watch TV, scroll through your phone, read, study, etc. If you have worrying thoughts at night, get off your bed, go to another room and process the thought and then come back to bed. Using your bed only for sleep helps your brain to associate your bed to sleep. If you use your bed for anything else like eating or working, you will feel hungry or remember work that needs to be done, just as you are trying to sleep.
2. Keep away all gadgets 90 minutes before going to sleep. The light from your phone screen, TV screen, laptop or tablets stimulates your brain and makes it harder for you to fall asleep. So, while your body is physically tired, your brain is still active. This can lead to disturbed sleep and nightmares. You may even wake up feeling tired or wake up feeling like you’ve been thinking all night – which you actually have! Keeping away gadgets and swapping them for books or other reading material before you go to sleep helps your brain relax into deep and restful sleep.
3. Same time, same place. Try to go to sleep at the same time every night and wake up at the same time every morning – even on weekends and holidays. This rhythm behaves like an anchor for your body and synchronises with your body’s natural your circadian rhythm. It also helps you fall asleep faster and wake up easier.
4. Avoid caffeine, nicotine and alcohol 4-7 hours before you go to sleep. While caffeine and nicotine make it harder to fall asleep, alcohol disrupts sleep. Caffeine stays in your bloodstream for upto 7 hours so make sure to have your last cup of coffee no later than 2 pm or 3 pm everyday. Caffeine is not just found in coffee but in other everyday food and beverages such as tea, chocolate, cocoa, energy drinks and sodas, kombucha, some medicines, nuts, etc.
5. Avoid Naps. If you find it difficult to fall asleep at night, avoid napping during the day to make sure that you are tired at the end of the day. If you absolutely need to nap, make sure that it is less than an hour and not later than 3 pm. Naps can cause sleep fragmentation and difficulty in falling asleep.
6. Exercise. Exercise serves 2 main purposes (among all the other benefits) – it can energise you and it can tire you out. Exercising in the morning energises you for the rest of the day while exercising in the evening can tire you out. A 10 minute walk after dinner can also prove beneficial to your sleep.
7. Routine. Having a specific routine that you do every night before going to bed can signal to your body that it is time to shut down. For example, have a hot shower, brush your teeth, do your skincare routine, drink a cup of milk or camomile tea, read a book, etc. Do the same five things in the same order everyday.
8. Get up, get out. If you cannot fall asleep in 20 minutes, don’t toss and turn in bed. Get up and go to a different room and do something relaxing like breathing exercises or reading a book. Don’t do anything that is too stimulating. Come back to bed when you start feeling sleepy.
9. Eat right, sleep tight. Avoid spicy food for dinner. Avoid a heavy meal just before going to bed. Try and finish your dinner 3 hours before your bed time. If you are hungry at bed time, eat a light snack but not a whole meal. Drinking a glass of milk or a cup of camomile tea will also help you fall asleep.
10. Balanced bedroom. Make sure that your environment is conducive to good sleep. Use blackout curtains or an eye mask to block out light. Make sure that your room is not too hot or too cold. If you live in a noisy neighbourhood, investing in earplugs, a white noise machine or soundproofing your room might be a good idea. Keep pets out of the bedroom if they disrupt your sleep. Use a bedside lamp with a dim bulb or turn your lights down low to prepare for bed.
11. Avoid clock-watching. Don’t keep looking at the clock, worrying that you’re not asleep yet. If you tend to do this, remove all clocks and watches from your room.
12. Worry elsewhere. The more you worry, the harder it is to fall asleep. Try to schedule a worry time and a worry space (a specific chair) that is not your bedroom where you can explore and process all your anxious thoughts. If you are worrying in bed, move to your worry chair, complete the thought and get back to bed. This trains your brain to worry in that specific place and not on your bed. Have a notebook near your bed where you can write down your worries – now that you’ve written it down, take it out of your mind and go back to sleep.
13. Sleep Diary. Use a sleep diary to log your bed time, wake time, strategies that have worked, daily and weekly progress, etc.
14. Small changes. Incremental changes over a long period of time amount to large changes. If your usual bedtime is 2 am, you can’t suddenly start trying to fall asleep by 10 pm. Instead, try going to sleep by 1.45 am for the next 5-6 days, then reduce by another 15 minutes the following week and so on, until you are at your optimal time. If you generally drink coffee in the evenings, try and drink it half an hour earlier to start with.
15. Baby steps and patience. You can’t be expected to make all these changes immediately so make one small change at a time. Try out all the tips listed above and then settle on what works best for you.