What Helps You Fall Asleep at Night?

Not watching TV. Recently I just switched to watching TV until I yawn, then it's off. I go up to bed and read. That does it.
A warm bath too.

Usually, keeping the lights low for a while before bedtime works for me. When I'm particularly stressed, though, I find it helpful to take melatonin. That always works for me and I've never had side effects.

Sex. Not that I have it every night, but when I do, I sleep better than the nights I don't. lol

I agree with everything B wrote, except we keep the bedroom even a little cooler.

I also need a humming background sound. In the winter it's the humidifier and in the summer it's a fan. And when it rains, I'm all set!

Every night, I take three slow, deep breaths and consciously tense and then relax each part of my body and face. I thank God for my day, and start thinking one or two favorite prayers. Each night I stop when something new occurs to me about a line or phrase, perhaps pertaining to my day. So relaxing. Even if I don't immediately sleep, I enjoy the peaceful state I am in.

I keep the bedrooms at about 65 degrees - we like sleeping in cool rooms (can't keep them that cold in the summer but it's easy to not turn the heat up during the winter).
I try to get up and go to bed at the same times every day whether it's a weekend or not.
Melatonin and sometimes Zzz-quil.
Exercise during the day (like morning or early afternoon) helps.
Once or twice a year I get a 3 day insomnia binge - can't sleep no matter what.
I just read or keep busy and don't try too hard - because I know it'll be over eventually and THEN I'll sleep ok again.

sometimes i will have a rough time getting to sleep, and on those nights i use melatonin. lately i have been soo tired at night that i am sleeping within minutes of lying down.

A hot bath has always helped me. My mother has a cup of warm soy milk with vanilla before bed and it helps her sleep. But since I have a busy medical routine for a family member right before bed and have to be alert and accurate right up till I get in bed, I've learned some relaxing breathing techniques that have helped me go right to sleep.

I get up at 4 every morning. It is a wonder I make it till 9 at night.

If it's a chronic issue, and you frequently feed "wired but tired" at night, your cortisol rhythm may be off. Cortisol should peak in the morning between 6 & 8 AM, which tells your body it's time wake up, then taper off throughout the day and hit it's lowest point after 10 PM and stay low until the morning. Some people, like me, have a cortisol spike in the evening and even though I was tired and sleepy all day, at 10 PM it's like BING! Now I'm up! Let's rearrange the kitchen cabinets, bake a cake and surf the web for the next 2 hours. Before you know it, it's 3 hours later, I'm still awake, and know that I'm going to wake up tired and do it all over again.

As part of an overall hormone-resetting detox program that I did in a group with Dr. Sara Gottfried (author of The Hormone Cure and The Hormone Reset Diet), I reset this cycle two years ago. I took a diurnal cortisol test (paid for out of pocket, it was around $100) and that confirmed that my cortisol levels at night were too high. By following the reset protocol, I was able to correct my sleep pattern so that at 6:30 AM I wake up on my own (even without an alarm) and by 10 PM, I'm ready to go to sleep. My kids play hockey and life gets busy so sometimes things get out of whack from time to time but it's nice to know that when they do, I know how to reset myself.

For me, it takes a few days of really clean eating (basically poultry, fish, vegetables, nuts, seeds, fats, water, herbal tea and a daily protein shake with lots of fiber - no caffeine, grains, sugar, etc.), a few minutes of meditation in the morning, some time outdoors while the sun is out, no eating after 7 PM, no screens for an hour (or more) before bed, and an Epsom salt and lavender bath in the evening. After a few days of this, I'm back into a better sleep rhythm and as long as I don't fall back into bad habits for too long, I can stay in a good rhythm for a long time, even with wacky hockey schedules.

I wish (like osohapi) that it was sex! It sure used to be!

For me, now, a nice bubble bath and a glass of wine helps.

I know many resources say no to 'drink'..but a glass of wine after daughter is in bed in MY bubble bath works for me!

I hope you find something that works for you!

I am usually so tired from not getting enough sleep I have no problem. However, my daughter's friend had a lot of trouble sleeping. Now she takes melatonin supplements and has not had a problem. Also, no electronics after 8 pm unless she is working on a homework assignment. Of course, it also helps if you are able to relax and not constantly worry about what you should have done that day or what you have to do the next. A friend does yoga around 7 pm and is able to relax for the rest of the evening.

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I am usually so tired from not getting enough sleep I have no problem. However, my daughter's friend had a lot of trouble sleeping. Now she takes melatonin supplements and has not had a problem. Also, no electronics after 8 pm unless she is working on a homework assignment. Of course, it also helps if you are able to relax and not constantly worry about what you should have done that day or what you have to do the next.

A cup of tea (no caffeine), and no TV. Just relaxing and reading a book for a bit works best for me.

There are times when I go to bed, & even though I'm tired, I have a hard time falling asleep. I have found meditative breathing to work well for helping my body relax enough to allow sleep to come.

Take a deep breath slowly, counting in your head 1,2,3... as deep as you can, then let it out slowly for the same count 1,2,3... if it took you a count of 3 to breathe in, you should take that long to breathe out (people have a tendency to let their breath out faster).

Repeat this for a few more breaths... if you feel like you need to yawn, (haha I just did it as I typed this!) go ahead, but continue the breath in/out.

You will soon find that you can take in a breath, & get past your previous count with ease... if you counted to 3 on your prior breaths, you can now get to 7, & it feels like your lungs are so elastic. Breathe out for the same longer count of time, & repeat 2 or three more breaths.

We tend to hold a lot of stress subconsciously, and it restricts our movement through tight muscles. This breathing exercise helps us release that tension, & you will be able to feel that in the rest of your body as well.

I will admit, there are nights when it takes me 10 or more breaths before I feel the "release", & they are usually very stressful days, or days when I have a lot of physical pain I've had to deal with. And there will be nights that even though my body is relaxed, my mind is going 100mph, or I accidentally had caffeine in the evening... But overall, it is really helpful to get you to sleep within a few minutes.

If you Google it, you will find variations on the actual technique for breathing, but this is the one I've used for years, & I have told friends & family about it, who have reported that it helped them too. T. :)

i rarely have trouble sleeping, so when i do it's tempting to take something to help. i've learned not to though- even cold medicine makes me feel like a zombie the next day.
my bedtime routine is pretty written in stone at this point. i take a good, hot, bonemelty bubble bath, with a book. luxuriate in it until i'm super-relaxed. then when i go to bed i read some more (i use a flashlight so as not to disturb the ol' man.) i actually get frustrated because i tend to keep really great books on my bedside table and i fall asleep so quickly after the bubbly bath that i don't get to enjoy the book for long enough.
sometimes i fall asleep on the couch in front of the tv, but i hate it when i do. it's not good sleep when the tv is on, and then i have to wake myself up to schlep off to bed, too tired to take my bath, and the sleep is never as good.
oh, and sleepytime tea is amazing. sometimes that comes into my bath with me along with the book.
hint- don't read valuable books in the bathtub. i had a signed first edition out from the library. it's an embarrassment from which i'll never really recover.
khairete
S.

A hot bath at 9 then I read for an hour. If I don't have that bath, I am restless.

I listen to audio books through Audible on my iPad and play Candy Crush or some other game to relax. The audio books really changed my sleep patterns, because I don't have to have a light on ir even do anything other than just listen to distract myself. I can set a sleep timer and just drift off. The talking helps me focus on something other than my racing mind, but there's no chance of keeping myself awake to see what's going on, like with a TV or movie playing. When I wake in the middle of the night, I automatically start my book playing and usually pass out within a minute, as opposed to being awake for hours at a time trying to read or just will myself back to sleep.

I've had a tough time going to bed lately.

If I turn the news on TV I'm out fast... I wake up later to turn the TV off ir just set the timer because I know what's going to happen.

I try not to take anything just in case my daughter who has had done health issues lately calls me and needs me during the night. She lIves about 20 minutes away. IF I take anything, Benedryl wirks fast for me.

Good luck!!

I always read before bed. If that doesn't get me all the way to almost out, I have a few other things I try. I have to shut off all of the "I need to do this, what about this, did I do this, is one of my boys getting sick, are they doing OK in school, etc etc etc.". So I have to give my brain another task. Enough to focus, not enough to cause stress. Examples: Count backward from 8243 by alternating numbers, like 3, 7, and 21. Pick a subject and find a match for every letter of the alphabet. When I was pregnant, I always did this with baby names and picked a girl and boy name for each letter. Sometimes I pick movie titles or places I want to visit... Athens, Bermuda, Costa Rica, etc.
Kava extract is another herbal remedy to try.

Melatonin!! If I'm really struggling I'll listen to a TED talk. Usually does the trick.