Stopping the internal dialogue: 14 ways to fall asleep quickly

The main reason you can't sleep is your internal dialogue. It is often associated with worries about past events or worries about upcoming ones. But even productive thoughts are not very appropriate when it’s time for you to sleep.

As a rule, if you cannot fall asleep within 15–20 minutes, further attempts are doomed. It begins to feel like your mattress and pillow were designed to torture you. As luck would have it, it is precisely at such moments that someone slams doors on the street, comes and leaves, and neighbors wander from room to room like somnambulists!

This is how your internal dialogue turns into whining and grumbling. To avoid this, you need to not start it at all. To do this, you need to distract your brain from debates and hypotheses. Use one of the following tricks to fall asleep easily today.

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Self-hypnosis

Relax as much as possible in a position that is comfortable for you. Calm your breathing. Relax even more by repeating to yourself phrases like “I am becoming more and more relaxed,” “My body is becoming heavier.” Then say (to yourself) “When I count to zero, I will fall asleep” and begin a slow countdown. You can, for example, count 50 exhalations.

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In any case, do not forget to properly prepare for bed:

• The classic rule is that the last meal should occur 2-3 hours before bedtime. However, if you are used to eating often, the feeling of hunger will prevent you from falling asleep as well as a full stomach. In this case, an hour before bed, drink milk, eat half a banana or a small amount of cheese.
• For good sleep, you need to move enough during the day (preferably in the fresh air). Develop the habit of walking before bed. Even a 20-minute walk can help you take your mind off tasks and prepare your mind for sleep.
• Be sure to ventilate the room before going to bed. It is better if the window is slightly open throughout the night. But if you're worried about getting cold, at least ventilate the room well before getting into bed.

Give yourself the command “don’t sleep”

This is the reverse way to overcome insomnia. Its essence is that a person should not force himself to fall asleep at any cost, but rather call his body to wakefulness. This will help reduce psychological stress from the inability to control one’s falling asleep and, as a result, the person will be able to fall asleep.

Cooling the body. If you're hot, your body will feel uncomfortable and you won't be able to sleep. Cooling the body using accessible methods will help here - open a window, drink a glass of cool water or change into thinner clothes.

Remember and imagine a calm, pleasant environment. Memories of the quiet rustling of the sea wave and other relaxing and soul-pleasant memories will help you relax and fall asleep faster.

Sleep disorders

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Sleep disorders are not only insomnia. Insufficient and restless sleep, which does not give a feeling of rest, is also not the norm.

Each person has an individual time required to restore and rest the body. It even varies depending on the time of year and the length of daylight hours. But in any case, a person should sleep enough time to wake up alert and rested.

In order to solve a problem, you need to establish its causes. You need to understand yourself and understand what is preventing you from falling asleep quickly. The state of sleep is mysterious, unknown, and you won’t be able to fall asleep quickly with a snap of your fingers.

Causes of insomnia

Insomnia is painful. It can be felt even by a tired person who really wants to sleep, but cannot fall asleep, or sleeps little and poorly, or wakes up at night and cannot fall asleep. Some sleep diseases or disorders include the following:

• insomnia , in which falling asleep is slow and difficult, and the sleep process itself is short and of poor quality;
• pathological drowsiness , in which a person constantly feels a strong desire to sleep;
• apnea or snoring , characterized by disturbances in respiratory rhythm;
• sleep paralysis , in which the muscles are completely paralyzed while falling asleep;
• parasomnia caused by nervous tension or stress; with pathology, sleepwalking, epilepsy, and nightmares develop.

How to deal with insomnia

In many cases, sleep disturbances can lead to more serious consequences - insomnia. This disorder is characterized by either poor quality of sleep over a long period of time (anxiety, restlessness, irritability) or its complete absence. Most often it is associated with lifestyle rather than health problems. Therefore, at the first signs of insomnia, you should not immediately sound the alarm and run to the pharmacy for sleeping pills - in most cases, it is enough to reconsider your daily routine, habits and attitude towards life in general.

What methods will help get rid of insomnia? Let's list the main ones:

1. Give up bad habits. Smoking constricts blood vessels, which, in turn, leads to vagotonia, a disorder characterized, among other things, by sleep disturbances. As for alcohol, contrary to popular belief, it does not help you fall asleep quickly, but, on the contrary, prevents it. Large doses of alcohol quickly “turn off” the brain, but make sleep short and of poor quality.
2. Create a daily routine. The faithful companions of insomnia are constant “lack of sleep.” It is known that an adult needs a full 8-hour sleep, but, unfortunately, not everyone takes this seriously. As a result, chronic lack of sleep becomes a problem that is fraught with not only psychological, but also physiological disorders. It is also recommended to avoid long naps during the day (although a short nap after lunch is beneficial).
3. Don't forget about vitamins. Often chronic insomnia is a consequence of a lack of vitamins B and D, as well as calcium and magnesium in the body. Review your daily menu and include more foods rich in beneficial microelements: fresh fish, vegetables, fruits, herbs, nuts. Consult a therapist, choose a vitamin complex for yourself and drink it every 6-12 months.
4. Cultivate stress resistance in yourself. Emotional experiences contribute to the release of adrenaline, prolactin and cortisol, which mobilize the body’s strength to fight an external threat. If he gets used to this state, this inevitably leads to sleep disturbances, even the most serious ones. The advice is simple: perceive life's difficulties as a chance to become better and stronger, and not as a tragedy. Study the techniques of Buddhists and yogis that help control consciousness and emotions in order to avoid stressful situations (by the way, in yoga you can find many ways to quickly fall asleep in the form of special exercises - asanas). Learn to meditate.
5. Don't take antidepressants. Medicines designed to combat apathy, depression and insomnia have a significant drawback - they are addictive. Manufacturers may claim that this is not the case, but you should not believe them. Here we are talking not about physical, but about psychological dependence - over time, it begins to seem that without a pill you will no longer be able to sleep peacefully, and your hand itself reaches for a tube of sleeping pills.

Correct breathing

This method is popular with everyone who wants to know how to quickly fall asleep in a minute. What can you do to fall asleep faster? Learn to breathe correctly with the “4-7-8” exercise, it helps you relax and calm down, relieves stress and excessive emotional tension.

• Inhale deeply through your nose, closing your lips (the inhalation should take 4 seconds).
• Hold your breath for 7 seconds.
• bad habits;
• Exhale slowly and noisily through your mouth (exhalation should take 8 seconds).

It is enough to repeat 3-4 cycles to quickly calm down and fall asleep instantly, like after a sleeping pill.

Author's methods

Many somnologists and pediatricians pay attention to the problem of “painless” falling asleep for children. The result is techniques that help the child fall asleep throughout the night. We have identified the 5 most popular techniques used by parents around the world.

Preschool children can be put to sleep by reading fairy tales

"Timer" by Tracy Hogg

Before bedtime, the baby is fed breast milk, setting a timer for 10 minutes. After a beep, the milk supply stops, and the baby is placed in the crib with gentle words. From the second week, the timer is set for 4 minutes, and after the signal, the breast is taken from the baby and a fairy tale, rhyme or song is told.

So, one habit is gradually replaced by another. For the first 3–5 days, children scream and demand the return of their favorite food source, but then the child gets used to it and falls asleep. Feeding before daytime sleep, and subsequently before nighttime sleep, is gradually removed. The technique can be used from 9 months.

Dylo method

Proves that you can put your baby to sleep in just 1 minute! Young dad Nathan Dylo posted a video online where he “puts” his four-month-old son to sleep using a paper napkin passed over the baby’s cheek. Most newborns react this way to the tactile contact of soft material with the skin, but the older the child, the more difficult it is to put him to sleep using this method.

Harvey Karp Method

He has taken a strong place in all families. It consists of 5 stages: rocking, swaddling, using a pacifier, laying on the side, turning on classical music or sounds of nature. The steps can be applied in combination or individually.

Estiville method

Suitable for children who are 2 years old and who already consciously perceive the words of their parents. The technique is not applicable for infants. The essence of the technique is as follows: the mother tells the baby throughout the day that he will now sleep alone in his bed, puts him to bed in the evening and adds that she will come in to check on him in a minute.

Then he leaves the nursery, closes the door and returns after 60 seconds. Every day the interval increases until the child gets used to falling asleep alone. Such measures in the first days are accompanied by crying and hysterics, so the attitude towards the proposal of the Spanish pediatrician Estiville is ambiguous.

Komarovsky's advice

Evgeniy Komarovsky advises parents whose child sleeps fitfully at night and wakes up every 30–60 minutes, not to be shy about “taking away” 1–2 hours of daytime sleep in favor of night rest. Also, Dr. Komarovsky does not recommend co-sleeping. Neither the baby nor the parents will benefit from it.

Important! If a child often starts in his sleep, this may indicate a neurological disorder. Sleeping with half-open eyes indicates an overexcited nervous system, and throwing your head back during sleep can lead to increased intracranial pressure.

Thus, quickly putting a child to sleep today is not a luxury, but a very real task, for the solution of which it is worth using certain methods and rules. Each of them has many supporters and just as many opponents on the Internet, but in any case, you should focus not on the subjective assessment of strangers, but on the individual needs of your baby.

Memo

1. Adequate healthy sleep is vital and important for every person. The efficiency and quality of your life depends on it.
2. There are many factors affecting sleep and its quality, the main thing is to determine what is bothering you and start working on solving the problem
3. Sleep applications not only track sleep parameters, but also create a habit of tracking and controlling the time of going to bed, and accordingly the person’s mode.
4. Do not take sleeping pills, even if prescribed by a doctor. It is important not to increase the daily or single dose. This will not bring a tangible effect, and problems with well-being will appear immediately
5. We have listed a lot of ways to fall asleep quickly, find the one that is suitable and comfortable for you and forget about problems with sleep.

We have prepared a healthy sleep checklist for you. Enter your email, click the download button ↓ and wake up in a good mood tomorrow.

Dream according to Feng Shui

Eastern sages insist that the main role for a healthy and comfortable sleep is played by the position of the body relative to the cardinal points, as well as a certain arrangement of objects in the bedroom. Chinese philosophers have an interesting view on the position of the body in a dream in relation to the door.

Any passage is a boundary between energy spheres. Everything that is behind the door is considered a “dead” zone, and everything in front is considered a “live” zone. Therefore, you should not lie down with your head or feet towards the exit. This will not lead to death, but it threatens lethargy and loss of strength due to weakening vital energy.

According to Taoist practice, the sleep ritual must comply with the following rules:

• You shouldn't sleep on the floor. This is the place of maximum accumulation of negative energy.
• Do not place household appliances near the sleeping area. Otherwise, a headache the next morning is inevitable.
• Don't sleep on a bed that has already had owners. Any energy is stored for a long time on used things, but you can resort to a ritual of cleansing the energy.
• The bedroom should be spacious, so you should not clutter it with furniture. It is especially bad if the sharp corners of the cabinets or tables are in the direction of the bed.
• The sleeping person should not be reflected in mirrors. This also threatens the outflow of positive energy and a high risk of disease. Therefore, there is no need to hang mirrors opposite the bed, or make mirrored ceilings.

Attention! Doctors recommend that people with heart disease sleep on their right side, which will reduce the load on the heart by lowering blood pressure and the frequency of contraction of the heart muscles.

Well-being and other quality characteristics of life depend on which side the head of the bed is directed to:

• north – characterized by stability and peace, so those who are tired of worries and stress, lying with their heads to the north side, will return life to a calm, measured course;
• East - sleeping with your head to the east is useful for tired people with a catastrophically reduced vitality. This will give you energy and new strength to accomplish all things and tasks;
• West – those who need variety, creativity, creative ideas and simply new sensations should sleep with their head facing west. After a few weeks of such a dream, a person’s life will sparkle with new colors, and his usual life will be supplemented with new interesting events;
• south - a way to increase material well-being with the help of strong southern energy involves falling asleep alone, it is contraindicated for people who are impressionable and in difficult stressful situations.

To decorate a bedroom, it is good to use the color type of the yin sign (green, purple, blue) or light pastel colors

Tablet in hand

When Lyubov Lvovna believed in the diagnosis of depression, she began to see a doctor as a day patient. She recalls: “When the doctor heard my story, he said to me: “How are you holding up? Any healthy man would have collapsed already. You must be very strong.” I deceived the doctor: I took a smaller dose of pills. I gained a lot of weight on this antidepressant and was afraid of gaining even more weight. But at least she started sleeping, and there was no ambulance for six months. I worked on pills, there were concerts. When I came to work, they told me: “My God, what bruises you have under your eyes, how can you still walk.” I can’t say this: I’m getting completely scared, it seems to me that I’m dying.”

“The process of selecting medications is simple,” recalls Olga Moiseeva about her treatment of insomnia. — Doctors have a list of drugs that are used for insomnia (but only for acute insomnia, which does not last long). These drugs are the same for everyone. Some are just weaker, others are stronger. Doctors begin to get confused when the patient says that they have tried everything and there is no point. None of them should be taken for more than a month, and all pills have withdrawal symptoms. They offered sports as an alternative to pills, but it didn’t help me. I worked out two or three times a week, but sleep didn’t always come after training. That is, it turned out that after a sleepless night I went to work, and then to fitness, and I really risked my heart at such moments. My coach told me that I can’t do this. I was also offered cognitive behavioral therapy. But, having found out the price for the session, I was forced to refuse: no guarantees were given, and the price tag for the course was equal to my salary.

Collage: Anna Lukyanova

All the doctors, such as a neurologist, a somnologist, a psychotherapist, cost me a lot of money. All of them are only in private clinics. We don’t treat insomnia for free - a compulsory medical insurance neurologist at the clinic offered me valerian. But, as it turns out, they don’t know how to pay either. Now, while taking vitamins, I feel better, I began to fall asleep on my own. I’m sure that with a problem like insomnia, you need to look everywhere, even where traditional medicine is not used to looking.”

Olga Shabutdinova’s story with insomnia ended in victory over the problem: “I was able to cope with insomnia with medication. My case was not treated with vitamins, teas, meditation, lavender baths... I did not expect to sleep immediately after the appointments. At the beginning of treatment, I took a week off. The antidepressants were taken for about a year. But I was able to sleep normally without tranquilizers after a month and a half. Of course, the doctor cannot always immediately select antidepressants; sometimes this happens the second or third time. It’s very good when during such a period there are people who have gone through this and can support you. My depression and insomnia were partly triggered by moving to another city, so there was no one around.”