How you prepare for bed can determine how easily you’ll be able to fall asleep. A pre-sleep playbook including some of these tips can put you at ease and make it easier to fall asleep when you want to.

➡️Keep your routine consistent.

Following the same steps each night, including things like putting on your pajamas and brushing your teeth, can reinforce in your mind that it’s bedtime.

➡️Budget 30 minutes for winding down.

Take advantage of whatever puts you in a state of calm such as soft music, light stretching, reading, and/or relaxation exercises.

➡️Dim your lights.

Try to keep away from bright lights because they can hinder the production of melatonin, a hormone that the body creates to facilitate sleep.

➡️Unplug from electronics.

Build in a 30-60 minute pre-bed buffer time that is device-free. Cell phones, tablets, and laptops cause mental stimulation that is hard to shut off and also generate blue light that may decrease melatonin production.

➡️Test methods of relaxation.

Instead of making falling asleep your goal, it’s often easier to focus on relaxation. Meditation, mindfulness, paced breathing, and other relaxation techniques can put you in the right mindset for bed.

➡️Don’t toss and turn.

It helps to have a healthy mental connection between being in bed and actually being asleep. For that reason, if after 20 minutes you haven’t gotten to sleep, get up and stretch, read, or do something else calming in low light before trying to fall asleep again.

Sources - https://www.sleepfoundation.org/sleep-hygiene

Photo Credits - https://www.healthline.com/health/healthy-sleep/fall-asleep-fast