How to fall asleep better and deal with sleepless days- tips

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Do you often find your self about to fall asleep and suddenly you get woken up and then you can’t fall back asleep? You start to worry about not being able to fall back asleep. Even worse, you have to work or have an important event and you ended up getting only an hour of sleep or no sleep at all? Most of us have been there. Worse, many struggle with this issue. I, in particular, have always struggled with this for many years. As a result, I have dealt with many sleepless nights and the wonderful busy days that follow them. Fortunately, I have learned a lot from dealing with this, and learn different ways in falling asleep and coping with not getting sleep. There are some different techniques to help you fall asleep and to help get through the day easier when you don’t get enough sleep.

In the first section, I am going to cover some tips and tricks in falling asleep and getting as much sleep as possible when you need to. In the second section, I am going to cover some tips and tricks in getting through busy days where you had little or no sleep.

Section 1: Tips and Trick in falling asleep and getting a goodnight’s rest:

The first tip I learned to help you fall asleep and getting a goodnight’s sleep is try to eliminate any fear based thoughts or regrets about not getting much sleep. Most of the time when people have trouble falling asleep, it is caused by sleep anxiety. Sleep anxiety is when a person worries about not falling asleep or has regrets of feeling like they could have slept better then they currently will now. It is best to eliminate these thoughts as much as possible! If such thoughts creep in, try to focus on something else- like being comfortable or other techniques to help you fallback asleep in which I’m about to mention next.

The second tip I learned to help you fall asleep and getting a goodnight’s sleep is understanding that even if you don’t sleep, you can still gain “rest” the will give you energy that’s the equivalent of sleep. In other words, rest will still give you energy for the upcoming day. This is done by relaxing your mind and body and using them at the least amount as possible. There’s a common belief that people have to sleep and dream in order to get rest. Yes sleeping helps, but I found you can still get rest even without sleep as long as your mind and body is relaxed to the point that it can recuperate from the previous day.

The third tip I learned to help you fall asleep and get a goodnight’s sleep is relaxing your body. In other words, don’t move your physical body much, lay in a comfortable position, and relax your body. Simply put, just be comfortable- like you were relaxing in your bed for pleasure or as if you were laying in a spa. Make it enjoyable. The more comfortable you are, the more your body will be relaxed and recuperate from the previous day- even if you don’t end up sleeping.
The eighth tip I learned to help you fall asleep and getting a goodnight’s sleep is using popular mind relaxing techniques like counting backwards, counting sheep, or listening to music but to understand they may not be most effective. This technique has proven to work for some people but not for everyone. This technique can help relax your mind and stop your through process, but this technique may not completely relax your mind. People often end up feeling discouraged. The reason is is that these techniques actually cause you to still use your mind on a small level and your goal is to relax your mind enough for rest or even better, sleep. If you find these techniques to be the case for you, I learned some better tips that you might find helpful.

The forth tip I learned to help you fall asleep and getting a goodnight’s sleep is to do what I call the: “take notice of your thoughts without thinking about them technique.” This is done by first making a vow not to think about anything. At least try not to think about anything; if you do it’s okay; the goal is just trying to not think of anything. If you try too hard to not think of anything then your actually using your brain and not letting it rest. Once you try not to think of anything, then put your attention to the random thoughts that try to popup in your mind. You will find it kind of interesting in what you see happen. You’ll start seeing random thought of different things you’ve recently experienced, sensed, or thought about. You’ll notice the thoughts will actually be visuals that come up one after another. Simply take notice of them without engaging each one by thinking about it more. Take note of the image and then let it pass. You’ll then see another one. You’ll eventually start noticing the images will come after each other quicker and things will start looking vivid and you’ll start experiencing them with all your senses. Keep doing this. These visuals will eventually become like videos and turn into dreams and you’ll be asleep. When doing this, I would suggest not trying to force yourself or try too hard when doing this. The key is, is to try to relax and rest your mind; use it more of a process to do this. It not about trying to perfect this technique, it is about trying to fall asleep or be in a deep resting state. There may be times where doing this it may seem more difficult then other times and doing so would require effort. If that’s the case, proceed to the next tip I’m about to talk about.

The fifth tip I learned to help you fall asleep and getting a goodnight’s sleep is the “unforced meditation technique.” In this technique, you are trying to simply quiet your mind and not think about anything. Try to clear your mind like a blank slate. When doing this, it’s again important to not try not to think too hard when doing this or else your working your mind instead of rest your mind. To avoid this, like the other exercises, try to do it but if you think about other things, allow yourself but with the motive of trying to get back to quieting your mind if you can. As you do this and relax, you may find yourself wanting to do the “take notice of your thoughts without thinking about them technique.” If that’s the case, switch and do that technique instead. The techniques I’m mentioning will help you do other ones. They key is, is trying to fall asleep and to use whatever technique works best for you .

The sixth tip I learned to help you fall asleep and getting a goodnight’s sleep is to focus on a positive idea for as long as you can but doing so by not forcing it. This technique is a good one because not only can it help you fall asleep, but it can also help benefit your life. To do this, focus on the most positive perspective you can think of that could make you live life in the most happiest, proactive, and peaceful way in every moment. Think of what this state of mind would feel like to you. Then focus on that thought indefinitely until you fall asleep. You will find this state will put you in a kind of euphoric, peaceful, relaxing state that can help enhance your ability to be in a meditative state that can give you rest and help you fall asleep.

The seventh tip I learned to help you fall asleep and getting a goodnight’s sleep is to not get tempted to get up for anything unless it’s very important. Sometimes when you’re about to fall asleep or when you wake up in the middle of the night, there will often be a tendency to get up real quick and do things like move your pillow, check the thermostat, or adjust the blinds. If you get that urge, don’t do it! This can cause you to stay up. Often, when your half-way asleep, you’ll feel like if you were to shut the blind you’ll fall asleep and stay asleep better. However, doing this will increase your chance of staying up. Likewise, ignoring the urges will make you realize it was not as much of an urge as you thought. You’ll be glad once realizing then when you’re up in the morning.

The eighth tip I learned to help you fall asleep and getting a goodnight’s sleep is taking sleeping pills. In spite of what some people might say negatively about taking something in a pill form, don’t underestimate the help of a sleeping pill. I find sleeping pills not only help you become more sleepy, but it helps enhance the ability to get into a semi sleep better; being able to enhance the visuals that your thoughts create that can help relax you and eventually lead to dreams. Sleeping pills help slow your mind down and this in returns rests your mind giving you rest- even if you don’t sleep which will be a rare case. Sleeping pills can however be addicting and your body can become dependent on them. This is not a problem if you just take them only when you need to. Don’t use them every night- only use them during nights you can’t fall asleep.

The ninth tip I learned to help you fall asleep and getting a goodnight’s sleep is going to bed earlier and getting up earlier. Going to bed late often will make you feel pressure to fall asleep and hope to sleep long enough to be up when you need to. Going to bed earlier gives you a cushion to help you feel that if you don’t sleep immediately you still have plenty of sleep time. This is very helpful when you are lacking sleep and need sleep. Oftentimes, when people have sleepless days, they often become more awake in the evening and often don’t feel the need to go to bed early to catch up on the sleep even though they know they’ve felt tired.

The tenth tip I learned to help you fall asleep and getting a goodnight’s sleep is going to bed at a regular routine. Your body has an eternal clock. If you go to bed at a regular schedule, your body will get used to that schedule. This means if you go to bed at a specific time, your body will get used to sleeping at that time and you’ll fall asleep easier. Likewise, if you sleep at different times of the day, you’ll have a harder time falling asleep. Your body also has a specific rhythm called a circadian rhythm. This means your body has a certain daily cycle where there’s a certain time of day where your body naturally sleeps better. It’s beneficial to recognize when it is and try to sleep during that natural schedule.

The eleventh tip I learned to help you fall asleep and getting a goodnight’s sleep is using your bed only to sleep and not anything more. Using your bed as other means like working on your computer, doing homework, chit-chatting on the phone, or laying down to think can cause you to be more alert during that presence when using it to try to fall asleep. Don’t let that space remind you of the fun or work you did earlier that day or what you need to do the next day.
The thirteenth tip I learned to help you fall asleep and getting a goodnight’s sleep is not eating, exercising, or consuming any caffeine before going to bed. After you eat, your body has to digest food and that takes energy. If you eat food before you go to bed, your body will need to digest it. This could make you not sleep as well- especially if the food has a lot of sugar. Exercising right before going to bed also makes you more awake and have a harder time falling asleep. Consuming caffeine before bed is a huge no-no! Caffeine increases your heart rate and gives you more energy. Generally don’t drink any caffeine at least five hours before going to bed- especially if you don’t drink coffee that often.

The twelfth tip I learned to help you fall asleep and getting a goodnight’s sleep is to wear earplugs. The benefits of wearing earplugs are pretty obvious. They block out external noises that can causes you to wake up or worse stay awake. They are inexpensive and comfortable. However, be aware that they can sometimes fall out of your ears during sleep if not inserted properly. If this happens and you wake up, realizing it will give you the erg of wanting to find them. From experience, I found earplugs are very hard to find when they fall out! Don’t let this become an urge factor if you ever wake up in the middle of the night! If you do not want to wear earplugs, running a fan can help block out noises too but it uses electricity and sometime other people may not want it running around them.

Section 2: Tips and Trick in getting through a busy day with little or no sleep:

The first tip I learned to help you get through a busy day with little or no sleep is to drink a cup of coffee at two specific
times during the day. Coffee has a high caffeine content, most coffee actually has a higher caffeine content then colas and even some energy drinks. Coffee is also much healthier than most drinks. Caffeine gives people a temporary boost of energy and it also will make you more mentally alert. This can be helpful when you’re tired and need a boost of physical energy and mental alertness. However, coffee will eventually make you crash and when that happens, you’ll experience a temporary period of feeling more tired then before. Crashes often happen when you drink too much coffee at once. Drinking more coffee during a crash will make you feel even worse later. The negative effects from a crash can be eliminated by drinking less amount of coffee during times that can be most helpful. I found the times of the day you will feel most tired is morning and late afternoon. The times you’ll have the most energy is early afternoon and evening. Drinking coffee in the morning and early evening/late afternoon will help give you a “boost” through the hardest times of the day.

The second tip I learned to help you get through a busy day with little or no sleep is to take short 10-20 minute meditative breaks throughout the day. Taking meditative breaks helps give your mind and body temporary rest breaks which will in return act like an energy boost. This can help you feel more alert and have more physical energy afterwards. You can do this by laying in your car or chair during a break at work, or in your bed during a break at your house. When doing this, quiet your mind using the techniques mentioned earlier in this first section. Your goal is to not fall asleep but to rest your mind and body. You may end up falling asleep for a brief moment and that will be even better! If you do sleep, don’t worry whether it will be hard to wake up or not. When you wake up, you’ll feel better than before. Getting up may only feel more difficult if you sleep more than an hour because your sleep cycle will most likely reach a deeper sleep part of the cycle.

The third tip I learned to help you get through a busy day with little or no sleep is to try to take a quick 10-20 minute nap. Falling asleep for even 20 minutes, will make a huge difference in how you feel for the rest of the day! Do this if there’s a point in the day where you are so tired that you could manage to succeed in doing this during a short period of time such as during a lunch break at work.

The forth tip I learned to help you get through a busy day with little or no sleep is move throughout the day in a semi-fast energetic pace, but not too fast and energetic. When you’re tired, you will often find it will be harder to switch from low level tasks to high level tasks. In other words, if your sitting doing nothing, it will take a lot more effort to do something that’s high energy like doing dishes. You will have to push yourself over a sort of hump. However, once you get busy and work at a high level task, it’s usually easy to stay busy in active tasks for a considerable period of time. Since you are tired and need sleep, you might think being somewhat active and working at a faster pace might make you more tired but I found the opposite is true. Being somewhat active throughout the day and moving in a steady pace instead of a slow pace will actually help keep you awake. Keeping active keeps your blood flowing and keeps you awake and your energy to a sustainable level. If you have to be busy that day, such as working at your job, you will actually find your bodies natural response as a result of being tired is actually work at a faster pace instead of a slow pace in order to maintain an energetic level. This is why some people get kind of hyper and giggly when they don’t have sleep and have to stay awake. If you slow down or sit down, you will often find yourself getting sleepy again and it will take effort to switch to a needed high energy routine again.

The fifth tip I learned to help you get through a busy day with little or no sleep is preparing things in advance to help eliminate things that could make a day with little or no sleep harder. In other words, if there are things that you can do during the day that cause you to feel pressured to get sleep or make a day with less sleep harder you can set them up to try to remove them for that day. For example, if you have a job, it’s wise to try to have an itinerary of a few sick days so they can be used on a day you have trouble falling asleep. The benefit of this is greater than you might realize. If you wake up in the middle of the night, or have trouble sleeping; having the option to have a sick day at work will help you. If your up and know you could use a sick day for work tomorrow if needed, you will have less pressure to sleep because you will know that you can use it. You will be able to fall asleep easier with the reduced pressure, and you’ll find you rarely actually use them! Another thing you can do is only drink coffee on days where you’re tired, so coffee can be more effective because your body will be less used to the caffeine. Another thing you can do is switch any tasks for the day that aren’t urgent except for work and appointments for another day. Doing this frees up potential challenges you have to face with less energy.

The last thing I want to mention in conclusion is that I have found whenever I have sleepless nights, the days that follow are never as bad as I think. Yes many of these kinds of days are difficult- there’s no other way around it, but I am always surprised how I manage to get through them! Many of the days I stay up happen to be the hardest days that follow- ten to twelve hour work days with no sleep at all. So I am mentioning this because there are sometimes times where you just cannot cancel an important meeting, or call out of work sick when there’s an important project deadline. So, it doesn’t matter how tired you might feel in the morning, if you follow these tips, I will assure you, you will be fine and you’ll get through the day!
The struggle to fall asleep, having sleepless nights, and sleepless days is something most of us encounter and have to struggle with from time to time. In this article I have discussed some tips and tricks that help you fall asleep. I have also mentioned some tricks in how to deal with days where you haven’t had sleep. I, as an individual who has always struggled with sleep; especially during days where I have to work, I find will still sometimes struggles with sleep even following these tips, however I have founds these tips to be extremely helpful and have had many more successful nights using them. I hope you find these suggestions helpful too. I am always in the process of thinking of more tips and when I do, I will share those too. If you’ve learned any techniques that your found helpful personally in regards to falling asleep or getting through a sleepless day better please share your tips and incite as well! Thanks for reading!

James Edwin Hackett IV

It happens that the fatigue of the day literally knocks down, you go to bed and can not sleep at midnight. He suffers from insomnia large number of people, and the age of its development is almost irrelevant. She exposed the young and the elderly, it affects even children. For more info please visit undepress.net/exploring-insomnia-causes-symptoms-diagnosis-treatment-medication/

Step one: Benzo.

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