by Josh

For practically all my life I’ve had trouble going to sleep. I’m not an insomniac…I just think a lot. I’ll lie in bed thinking about what I want to do tomorrow or what I should have done today or how much I love eating cold pizza or how absurdly messy my desk is….you get the idea. And when I say I have trouble going to sleep…I’m not talking 20 or 30 minutes…I’m talking 2 or 3 hours. Because what will happen is after about 45 minutes to an hour of trying to go to sleep, I start thinking about how I’m not asleep but I should be…and thus the cycle begins.

Now, I may be a bit of an extreme case here, but I know for a fact that there are others out there who have trouble going to sleep. So, I’ve pieced together various bits of advice I’ve received over the past few months that have not only helps me get to sleep faster, but helps me get a better nights sleep.

  1. Don’t watch TV or even so much as look at a computer screen atleast 30 minutes before you lie down. The light from both a television as well as a computer monitor mimic the same intensity of light as sunlight. This fools your body and brain into thinking it’s nowhere near time for sleep.
  2. Drink milk. Milk has an amino acid in it called Tryptophan that increase the levels of serotonin and/or melatonin in the brain which slow down brain activity. It’s science folks.
  3. Go to bed when you are tired. Different strokes for different folks here. Just because your wife goes to bed at 9PM doesn’t mean you are ready. You might only require seven and half hours of sleep while she might require ten. If you aren’t tired, do something low-key until you are, like read a book, play solitaire (NOT on your computer), or play with some legos.
  4. Reserve the bed for bed things (ie sleep and sex). I for one don’t strictly follow this rule as I’ll read some before I go to sleep, but for some people this is a must.
  5. Meditate. No, don’t cross your legs and hum, but focus on relaxing…if that makes sense. Take deep, long breaths. Tense each muscle one at a time from head to toe. Focusing on doing this takes your mind off of other things and you’ll be in lala land in no time.
  6. Excercise during the day. I emphasize during the day. Excercising at night just gets everything going instead of shutting down for sleep. But excercising during the day tires the muscles out and makes for a solid nights sleep.

These are the majority of the things I have either tried or actually do routinely. What are some things that have worked for you?

157 Comments on Tips for getting to sleep faster & sleeping better

  1. Alberto says:

    It happens to me that 2 or 3 times per week I remain eyes open (alreday in bed) for 1 to 3 hours before finally sleep. I try to relax and try to not to think nor to use my mind. I whish I could have just a list of steps I should follow so that I could sleep then. I MISS THOSE DAYS WHEN I WAS 10 YEARS OLD WHEN I GOT TO BED AND JUST AFTER 5 MINUTES I WAS ALREADY SLEEPING.

  2. THESE ARE REALLY GOOD TIPS THAT WORK…
    1 GO TO BED (OBVIOUS)

    2 REMAIN WITH EYES OPEN FOR 5 MINUTES (DONT
    TRAY TO SLEEP)

    3 START THINKING OF ANYTHING BEAUTIFUL (ie. a nude girl)

    4 START JIRKING IT OFF AND JUST WHEN YOU ARE ABOUT TO DROP IT OFF, THEN SCREAM AND HANG YOUR NUTS LIKE IF IT WHERE UR LAST NIGHT WITH THEM.

    5 ONCE U’RE HOT… GO FUCK THE GIRL NEXDOOR :)

    6 FUCK OFF

  3. Chuck Norris says:

    SLEEP!!! IT’S AN ORDER!!! MTF’S

  4. ChristieBarbie says:

    I suggest smoking some (crappy) weed. The good stuff gets you high and makes your mind wander and expands creativity but low-quality weed just makes you sleepy. I am dependent on marijuana, and have been for years in order to cope with insomnia. I tried taking NyQuil, sleeping pills with diphenhydramine in them, valerian root, melatonin pills, everything. Nothing was strong enough. Nothing but weed. I am so glad God put it on this earth.

  5. King says:

    I’m experimenting a polyphasic sleep schedule and the last 2-3 days have been horrible because it always takes me 20-30 minutes to fall asleep (Polyphasic sleeping is where you sleep for only 20-30 minutes at a time, so I’m sure you can see the problem). I think I’ll try the staying off computer and Crossword(in my case Su-Doku) tips. I don’t drink caffeine anyway, so that’s not a problem.

  6. pee pee weee weee says:

    VVVVVVVVAGINA!

  7. Mark says:

    Something I found really useful was an ebook called Powerful Sleep, by Kasper Postawski.

    It’s more about getting better quality sleep than more sleep.

    Highly recommended!

Leave a Reply