Lying in bed for hours before you eventually are able to fall asleep? Tossing and turning, wondering why it is so hard for you to sleep quickly?

Here is what you don’t want to do:

Work on falling asleep faster!

There are many reasons for this but it breaks down to control. Trying to consciously control sleep which is controlled by our unconscious will not deliver the results you are seeking for.

Even worse – it can create additional psychological pressure which may lead to an even longer time period between moving into bed and actually falling asleep.

Trying to speed up the process of falling asleep is a bit like trying to move out of Quicksand using fast and heavy movements. You know the result!

So, how can we get out of the sand?

Set your focus right

Now you might be asking yourself where to focus instead if you shouldn’t do so on your sleep…

Let’s look at which factors we can improve rather than thinking about the time it will take us to fall asleep.

The Sleeptrust Sleepmap (download now) gives great guidance here.

Following it, there are only three aspects of our life that we can practice when it comes to our sleep.
Your body, nutrition, and mind.

And for each of the given we can do things that will lead to quicker sleep.

So here are some straight to the point tips:

body

# catch at least 30 minutes of sunlight before lunchtime
# keep your bedroom cosy, dark, quite and cool

nutrition

# avoid caffeine in the afternoon
# don’t drink alcohol to fall asleep faster

mind

# don’t fall asleep on the sofa before you go to bed
# go to bed when you are tired (don’t move over your dead point)
# enter your bed with the intention to rest (not the intention to sleep)

What will happen next

There is no rule that you need to fall asleep in 5 minutes. Rather you should enjoy your bedtime. Keep in mind that this is your time to rest – whether you are sleeping right away or not.

Going to bed with that positive intention and implementing the tips above will most certainly lead to quicker sleep.

Even though this might seem counterintuitive to you.

Enjoying your bedtime (= resting time) and implementing the tips above are the best route to quick sleep. You might even fall asleep faster than you wish to.

You wouldn’t be the first to experience this.

Take care and sleep quickly

Michael Hildebrandt