Are you one of those people who can fall asleep almost instantly and can sleep like a rock throughout the night?

If so, you’re one of the lucky ones…

Because a whole lot of folks out there have trouble getting to sleep and staying to sleep.

People who can fall asleep in a flash talk about how they do it.

Let’s take a look.

As easy as that.

“I’m so exhausted all the time.

If I have no responsibilities to wake up for, I’ll easily sleep 15 – 20 hours. I’ll fall asleep at my desk, on the bus, on the toilet. As a kid I’d come home from school and just make it through the front door before falling asleep on the floor fully clothed with my backpack still on.

I paid for a sightseeing bus tour along the river Nile in Egypt and slept through most of it because I always sleep on car rides. I read books 3 pages at a time with lots of accidental naps in between.

My big question is how do people stay awake and alert for a whole day? My flatmates sleep 5-6 hours a night and I get tired just thinking about it!”

Not bad at all.

“I’m a firefighter and my one partner says what he likes least about me is my ability to fall asleep so fast after returning from a call.

It helps to be physically tired. Much easier to fall asleep when your body has been engaged in physical activity during the day.

I try to lay perfectly still, and not allow myself to scratch my nose if it itches, for example. I just ignore the itch and next thing I know, it’s time to get up.

I just discovered that there are people with an inner monologue and this voice in their head allows them to have silent discussions and worry about decisions and whatnot. I don’t have this. I don’t have any voices talking to me.

My preference is also to listen to a documentary on YouTube or Netflix. I set my timer On my phone to stop playing after 20 mins and rarely stay awake till the end. I am very well versed on the first 10 minutes of WWII.”

Nothing going on up there.

“My brother is one of these people, and I asked him this recently.

Him: “The trick is a clean conscience. I got nothing to think about.”

Me: “How do you not think about anything?”

Him: “I dunno… I just stop thinking.”

He’s 16.”

That was quick.

“I turn on Netflix or Hulu to a show I’ve seen a million times.

I turn away from the screen and fall asleep.”

Learned it in the Army.

“For me it was a learned skill, thank you US Army. They pushed me to work from reveille to taps,

and only allowed for 5-6 hours of sleep, and I need 7-8. I wore an alarm watch. Any break during the day…”oh I have 25 minutes?” Set alarm watch, prop against a tree or lay down anywhere I could, BAM asleep.

My wife is still amazed at how I do it.”

Just relax.

“I use a meditation method I learned in a yoga class.

Lay flat on your back, take deep breaths through your nose. As you exhale mentally relax each muscle group starting with your face and working down to your toes.

Try to imagine exhaling through your muscles and out through your toes. Imagine your body slowly melting into your bed. This usually takes about 30 seconds to 1 minute.

Next imagine as vividly as possible a river. It helps if you use one from memory. I personally use a combination of The River Wild movie and memories from a family trip to the Green River.

Imagine yourself walking out to the middle of the river. Let yourself get lost in the flow around you. Try to imagine any stray thoughts as floating to you on the river. As you think of things, set them in the water and watch them float away.

This process without fail gets me to sleep within 10 minutes, if I am having trouble sleeping. But like Ralph Wiggum, sleep is where I am a Viking.”

Try it out.

“You can’t “think”

Don’t think of anything real or about falling asleep. Once you do you’ll never go to sleep.

Best trick I’ve found when I don’t fall asleep easy is to put myself in a movie. Like imagine yourself walking through the gates of Hogwarts. What happens next?

All up to you and just let your imagination flow. Eventually you’ll fall asleep without realizing it.”

The routine.

“After years of tossing & turning and having horrible sleeps I’ve come close to nailing my routine:

exercise during the day

wake up & go to bed at the same time every day (if possible), that way your body knows when it’s time to crash

magnesium supplement with melatonin & GABA about an hour before I want to fall asleep

weighted. blanket. For whatever reason helps me relax like nothing else.

I actually can now usually fall asleep within a few minutes of going to bed, but if not I play a little mind game. Body scanning is a solid one, just imagine a ray of sunlight slowly going over you from your toes to your head, and relax your muscles as the “sunlight” goes over them.

I hope that makes sense – there’s a lot of guided meditations on YouTube that can walk you through it. I also pick a category and try to name one thing in that category for every letter of the alphabet (ex. fruits: Apple, Banana, Cantaloupe, zzzzzzz).

And finally I sometimes imagine walking down to the beach near my house and taking a nap there, although I rarely make it far enough to take a nap now.

None of this stuff works right away, but even one can make a huge difference with some commitment, so just give it a bit of time.”

Sounds good!

“I made my bed as comfortable and boring as possible. White cotton sheets, white cotton pillowcases, etc.

I try to make my bed or at least keep it semi-made, because I have an easier time falling asleep when the sheets are straight and my blanket’s lined up properly.

I wear white cotton pajamas without buttons or anything scratchy because if I’m even a little bit uncomfortable it’s much harder to fall asleep.

I braid my hair before bed, which stops my hair from getting in my face (because again, I can’t sleep if I’m uncomfortable.) As an added bonus, keeping my hair braided stops it from wrapping around my neck and throttling me while I sleep.

I use a very heavy blanket. (It’s not weighted, but I knit it myself and handknit blankets weigh more than store-bought blankets.)

I keep my feet warm, because for some reason that helps. Depending on the season, I’ll either use a heated blanket, heating pad, or just wear socks.

I don’t try to go to bed unless I actually feel tired. There’s this sort of wave of sleepiness that hits me at night, and if I get in bed ~20 minutes of that happening, I pass out almost immediately. (If I miss that window, I get an adrenaline rush and will be up forever.)

I try to do soothing, repetitive things at night before bed. Knitting, folding laundry, etc.

Sometimes I wear blue-light filtering glasses because that is supposed to help your body properly produce sleep hormones. And if it doesn’t, well, the placebo affect’s pretty powerful too.

If nothing else works, I take melatonin and slowly drink a cup of tea while reading Calvin and Hobbes. (I’ve got ADHD, caffeine relaxes me.)”

Btw, I get about 5 hours of sleep a night.

I need more, I know.