7 Natural Methods To Fall Asleep More Easily

by Susan D'Addario,
Certified Sleep Science Coach
Certified Mind Body Eating Coach
Licensed HeartMath Certified Coach

Introduction

As a Certified Sleep Science Coach, I work with people who have difficulty falling and/or staying asleep. As for the time it should take to fall asleep, known as sleep latency, the National Sleep Foundation indicates 10-20 minutes is appropriate. Conking out in less than 5 minutes can be a sign of sleep deprivation, while 30+ minutes is too long. Unfortunately, people frequently find themselves awake an hour or 2 or 3 after getting into bed.

Delayed sleep onset or falling asleep is problematic as it can create severe anxiety in people. I’ve worked with adults who have dreaded going to sleep for fear of not being able to sleep. Nighttime dread is a cause for stress hormones to be released which is counter to everything related to sweet dreams and lullabies. If you have challenges falling asleep and have gotten to the point of dread and sleep performance anxiety this article is intended for you.

Why is this happening and what can we do about it?

When working with clients, I always refer to the hunter/gatherer days when our ancestors lived outdoors. Life was very different back then including the amount of natural light exposure they got, as well as that sunset was followed by darkness. As it turns out, greater exposure to natural daylight and nighttime darkness is a very importance influence on sleep latency and overall sleep. Our brains were and are wired to connect with and get sleep cueing from the sun from sunrise to sun down.

A big part of falling asleep more quickly and easily, is to get more daylight each day – especially in the morning – and more dimming, then darkness at night. That plus sleeping in a cool environment all greatly assist our ability to fall asleep and stay asleep. These are the foundations to improve sleep latency and sleep in general. There’s much more to the better sleep story though as you’ll see below.

What Else Can We Do?

Given the accessibility to keep artificial lights on at night, thereby delaying nighttime, most adults continue their daytime activities frequently up until getting into bed. What do I mean by daytime activities? Anything that keeps us active physically, cognitively, mentally and/or emotionally. Working on job-related tasks, housework, working out, watching action-packed television, scrolling social media, reading/writing emails or texts, dining out, etc. all fall under the daytime activities category.

I’m not suggesting we never venture out in the evenings to meet with family and friends. I am proposing though that socializing or engaging in such daytime actions at night several times weekly will have a significant and challenging impact on our ability to fall asleep and on sleep quality in general. If we instead took cues from the sun, our original guiding star, where evening is the time to set and nighttime is the time to sleep, we’d be providing our brain with recognizable cueing.

Public Self vs. Private Self

Looked at another way, being involved in morning/daytime activities engages our public self with the outside world. Upon waking, we may turn on the morning news, check out emails, engage in work and interact with colleagues throughout the day, as well as connect with friends, family, service people at

stores and on and on. All these actions involve thought, energy and our public persona interacting with the world at large. This is appropriate and best suited for daytime.

Our private self instead should resurface in the evening when the sun sets and the workday has concluded. The private self is about who we are on the inside – our thoughts, values, beliefs, personal likes and dislikes. It is separate and apart from our public self or at least should be.

In essence, the public self is about daytime, energy and action while the private self is about winding down, connecting with our inner self and embracing the restorative night. Too often, people neglect to differentiate between their two selves and remain in their public self – alert, energetic and action-oriented - into the night. This can make falling asleep quite a challenge.

Evening Wind-Down

What people are missing in their evening into nighttime is a routinized, reliable and enjoyable 30-60 minute wind-down. That means engaging in nighttime actions. What are they? First and foremost, whatever the activity, it should be something you enjoy. Second, the action, beyond being enjoyable, most have winding you down vs winding you up as its focus. What actions might this include and how do you discover the best ones?

Once you’re done with dinner and clean up, prepare things you need for the morning like getting your clothes and work documents in order. Then wash up and change from daytime clothing to nightwear to clearly define that daytime is over and evening/nighttime has arrived. This preparation should also include turning down your bed and dimming the lights.

Next, think about things you enjoy doing. Perhaps reading and/or watching TV is just what the doctor ordered? With either of these activities, content is an important factor. The key question: Is what you’re about to read or watch on tv going to help you to wind down or will it wind you up? If the book is so riveting it’s hard to put down, that might be better as a daytime read. If the television program is action-packed or the nightly news which can agitate, that too is most likely not a great sleep supportive choice.

On the other hand, if what you’re reading is of interest and helps to make you feel relaxed, go for it. If watching TV, (while wearing blue light blocking glasses), also removes you from stressful thoughts, enjoy. Personally speaking, I enjoy viewing the Antiques Road Show in the evenings which neither bores nor agitates me. Others I know, love following old-time favorite sitcoms such as Friends or The Office.

There are many other options out there when it comes to evening/nighttime wind-down activities. Coloring, sketching, journaling, knitting, puzzles, light stretching, restorative yoga, meditating, prayer, deep/slow breathing, guided imagery, pink noise, listening to certain podcasts, using apps for relaxation including Calm and Headspace can all enhance our ability to slow down and become restful.

Another tip to enhance your evening/nighttime winddown is to activate your vagus nerve . In short, the vagus nerve is directly associated with the parasympathetic nervous system or rest/digest state which is opposite the fight/flight/freeze center also known as the sympathetic nervous system. Cooling your body is just one way to stimulate the vagus nerve. For a subtle shift from stress to relax place a cool pack behind your neck for 20-minutes before going to sleep.

Sleep Schedule Consistency

Some experts in the sleep field advise that your evening/nighttime routine be the same night after night. By repeating the same actions, the belief is that your brain will start associating those actions with upcoming sleep. While I won’t disagree with this, I also feel there can be flexibility in our wind down actions. I’ve witnessed many who can relax consistently at night just by enjoying one calming activity or another in a dimly lit, blue light blocking, cool environment.  That includes me!

When it comes to consistency, more important in my view is to maintain a consistent wake up/bedtime schedule 7-days a week. As brilliant as our brains are, they do not distinguish between a weekday and weekend. Try therefore not to deviate more than an hour at night or in the morning from your standard weekday sleep schedule. Doing so will allow you to avoid social jet lag, another sleep latency deterrent.

In Short

To improve your ability to fall asleep and stay asleep naturally, remember:

1 Get morning daylight exposure

2 Dim all lighting in the evening 

3 Block blue light

4 Wash up and get into nightwear early eve

5 Wind-down with quieting, calming nighttime activities

6 Make your sleep environment cool and pitch dark

7 Maintain a consistent sleep schedule 

By following the above recommendations, you are almost guaranteed to shift your current sleep latency challenges to sleeping pleasures and treasures. Enjoy!