Having trouble sleeping? You’re not the only one. Studies show that more than half of American adults struggle with at least some form of insomnia, ranging from only a couple days to several years at a time.
Insomnia can be caused by a variety of reasons, including stress, traveling across multiple time zones, or drinking caffeine too close to bedtime. But some lesser-known reasons are eating too late in the evening and taking medications that impact sleep cycles. Your body needs time to digest food and eating a large meal can throw off your natural circadian rhythm — that is, your body’s internal clock that controls your sleep-wake cycle. Medications for allergies, asthma, diabetes, and anxiety may cause REM sleep disorder (RBD), in which you physically act out your dream through speaking or moving. Both late-night meals and RBD-causing medications can negatively affect your length and quality of sleep.
As you age, certain life changes may mean that you experience insomnia more often. Your circadian rhythm naturally weakens, meaning you get tired earlier in the evening, and wake up earlier in the morning. Ongoing health issues can also disrupt sleep, such as sleep apnea and restless leg syndrome, which become more common with age.
Regardless of the reason you’re experiencing insomnia, there are a few methods you can use to help fall asleep faster:
Slow, deep breathing can help your body relax, reduce stress, and promote a sense of calm that helps you fall asleep. The easiest way to do this is through diaphragmatic breathing, which utilizes your diaphragm to breathe more deeply than you can with just your lungs. The diaphragm is located at the top of your stomach, just below your rib cage. You can breathe deeply with your diaphragm by simply following these instructions:
- Place one hand on your chest and one hand at the top of your stomach, just below your rib cage.
- Inhale slowly, directing your breath down into your stomach. This should cause the hand on your stomach to rise, while the hand on your chest should barely move at all.
- Tighten your stomach muscles and exhale
- Repeat
Since most people do not utilize their diaphragm when breathing, this method may take some practice.
Another method that expands on diaphragmatic breathing is the “military method,” which comes from Olympic sprint coach Lloyd Bud Winter’s book, “Relax and Win: Championship Performance.” The method was developed during World War II as a way for Navy pilots to fall asleep in any situation in just under 2 minutes. The steps are as follows:
- Close your eyes and begin to breathe deeply.
- Begin relaxing your body. Starting with your face, focus on each individual muscle, breathe deeply, and let go of any tension in the area. Continue all the way down through your body.
- Clear your mind by focusing on an image of something calming, like a beach or a hammock under a sunny sky. If you have trouble visualizing, repeating phrases like “don’t think” or “be calm” also work.
While there’s very little evidence to prove that the “military method” works as quickly and accurately as its promoted, it does utilize well-documented relaxation techniques. As mentioned above, deep breaths have a relaxing effect on the mind. But relaxing individual muscles and visualizing calming scenarios have also been shown to help you fall asleep faster. So, while you may not fall asleep in only 2 minutes, the technique still works to combat insomnia.
Your phone’s blue light messes with your melatonin levels, making your body think it’s daytime, even when it’s night. Leave at least 1 hour before bed to be completely phone-free.
If a meditation-like approach to falling asleep isn’t your thing, another option is word games. Luc Beaudoin, an adjunct professor at the Simon Fraser University in Canada, developed a technique referred to as “cognitive shuffling” that quiets the mind and helps you fall asleep:
- Think of a neutral word with five or more letters, such as treat.
- Take the first letter of your chosen word and imagine as many objects as you can that begin with that letter. In our case: tree, town, or telephone. Every time you think of a word, visualize that object in your mind.
- When you run out of words, move on to the second letter in your chosen word.
The technique works because it mimics the random thought patterns your brain naturally produces as you fall asleep, as well as helping to distract your brain from ruminating on stressful things in your waking life.
While insomnia is incredibly common, persistent or chronic insomnia may be a sign of an underlying medical issue. If lack of sleep is negatively impacting your quality of life, talk to your doctor.
