How do I fall asleep faster?

Sleep cannot be forced, and effort makes it worse — trying to sleep is arousing rather than relaxing. Everything effective works indirectly, by building the association between bed and sleep and by lowering arousal before you get in.

Safety

What you'll need

• A dim lamp (optional)
• Somewhere to sit that is not bed (optional)

Step by step

1. Get up if you are still awake after about twenty minutes.Counter-intuitive and the most effective single change. Lying awake in bed builds an association between bed and frustration, which makes every subsequent night harder.
2. Do something quiet and dull in dim light.Read something undemanding, listen to something calm. Not a screen, not anything engaging, not the news. Return to bed when you feel sleepy.
3. Keep the same wake-up time regardless.The wake time anchors the body clock. Sleeping in after a bad night shifts it and makes the following night harder.
4. Wind down for half an hour before bed.Dim lights, no screens if you can, nothing stimulating. The transition matters — going from a screen to a dark room asks a lot of your nervous system.
5. Use slow breathing to lower arousal.A longer out-breath than in-breath, for a few minutes. It measurably reduces the physical arousal that keeps you awake.
6. Write down what is going round your head.Two minutes on paper before bed. It works because the brain stops rehearsing something once it is recorded somewhere reliable.
7. Keep the room cool, dark and quiet.Body temperature needs to drop to initiate sleep, so a cool room helps more than most people expect.
8. Stop caffeine early enough.It has a half-life of five to six hours, so an afternoon coffee is still active at bedtime even if you fall asleep fine.

Tips

• The bed should be for sleep only. Working, scrolling and watching in bed all weaken the association that makes falling asleep automatic.
• Clock-watching increases arousal and makes it worse. Turn the clock away or put the phone out of reach.
• One bad night is unimportant. The anxiety about it usually does more harm than the lost sleep, which is worth knowing at three in the morning.

Common mistakes

• Lying in bed trying harder to sleep — Effort is arousing, and it builds an association between bed and frustration. Getting up is the counter-intuitive fix that works.
• Using a phone when you cannot sleep — It is engaging and bright, both of which raise arousal. Something dull in dim light is what lets sleepiness return.
• Sleeping in to compensate — It shifts the body clock and makes the next night harder, which is how one bad night becomes a pattern.

Questions people ask