How to Fall Asleep

There are lots of reasons that prevent you from falling asleep easy. Stress, anxiety and depression are among the main causes of insomnia. If sheep counting doesn’t help, try really effective tricks to fall asleep easier and faster.
How to Beat Insomnia
It is quite real to beat insomnia naturally without sleeping draughts. You need just learn several tricks on what to do in order to fall asleep.
Stay Active
Get active and do the things that make you tired. Exercising is the great way to reduce anxiety and improve the quality of your sleep. However, be sure not to exercise at least 3 hours before you go to sleep. Otherwise you’ll get a reverse effect.
Create Favorable Sleep Atmosphere
Before to go to bed make sure your bedroom is dark enough and you have a good bedside lamp at arm’s length. Besides, it is recommended to ventilate and chill your room a bit. Cooler temperature works like a charm for a good sound sleep. An ideal sleep temperature is 60.8ºF – 64.4ºF (16ºC – 18ºC).

Opt for Sleep-Improving Diet
Be sure to avoid caffeinated drinks just before the bedtime. Everything that contains caffeine will make it difficult to fall asleep. Instead of it opt for a cup of warm milk and a pair of crackers. Heavy meals before the bedtime are also contra-indicated for those who want to have a good healthy sleep.
Wear Comfortable Sleep Clothes or Nothing
Sleep clothes first of all should be comfortable. Clothes for sleeping are best when loose and not restrictive. Besides, it shouldn’t leave you feeling chilly as well as too hot. Wearing nothing can also work great for a good sound sleep.
Establish Your Sleeping Regimen
Sleeping and waking up at one and the same time is of great importance if you’d like to fall asleep easier and faster. Keep to the established sleeping regimen and soon you will see the difference.

Foods to Help You Sleep (II)

Herbal supplements

Valerian :600 milligrams an hour before bedtime helps some people, but give it a full month to be effective.

Melatonin :Is a hormone that works for short term sleep issues such as those from jet lag or for people whose circadian rhythms are out of whack. It doesn't seem to be super effective for other kinds of insomnia.

St. John's Wort : This is relatively safe to try, especially at low doses, but in some cases it can interfere with other: medications (some antidepressants), so check with your doctor before taking it.

Chamomile: Is very safe, and though it won't put you to sleep like a sleeping pill will, it's relaxing and gentle.

Foods to Avoid

Caffeine, spicy foods, heavy meals, alcohol right before bed, and some medications may contain caffeine so check your prescription.

People think of alcohol as a sedative, and it does cause an immediate drowsiness. But it leads to bad quality sleep that won't leave you rested. Try avoiding all caffeinated beverages after one in the afternoon. Even a three o'clock pick me up could still be causing sleep trouble at night.

The other thing to throw in here is gas-producing foods, which might cause some people to lose sleep. Everyone's sensitivity to these foods is different, but some common gas-producing foods are: apples, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, legumes, lentils, split peas, and green peppers. Try avoiding these foods after lunch time. Also, the size of the meal can impact sleep, like large evening meals can cause sleep disturbances. If getting to sleep is an issue, make your biggest meal at midday and have a lighter dinner. 

 

As a final note, Aronica says that meditation is also a great way to relax both the brain and body. Since stress is the number one reason for insomnia, meditation and yoga can be great for helping in that area. Just be sure the yoga is not strenuous at night because activity that gets you moving can sometimes be counterproductive in inducing sleep. Exercise earlier in the day is really important. You can also try taking an  Epsom salt bath. These magnesium salts allow magnesium to be absorbed through the skin, and the relaxing effect of the magnesium as well as the soak in hot water can help sleep.

Foods to Help You Sleep

Stressful, busy days and the constant bombardment of technology can make it difficult to shut off the outside world and get to bed. Instead of reaching for that Ambien or Tylenol PM pill to knock yourself out, try one of these easy and more natural ways to help you fall asleep. Nutritionist kelly Aronica shares some tips on how to ease yourself into a gentle and peaceful slumber that won’t leave you feeling groggy or sluggish the next day (a side effect of many sleeping pills). Plus what to avoid if you’re having trouble sleeping.
Aronica says that there's definitely a connection between carbs and the release of serotonin  (your body’s feel-good hormone) in the brain, so a snack within an hour of bedtime that is mostly carbohydrates with a little protein can boost serotonin levels. Why?
To maximize the release of serotonin (which helps you sleep), you need two things. Tryptophan, the amino acid that is the raw material for serotonin found in protein sources, is one. But if you eat a high-protein meal, all the various amino acid levels go up, and they all fight for entry across the blood-brain barrier, and tryptophan levels actually go down in the brain. When you eat carbohydrates (the second thing you need), the body releases insulin whose job it is to put excess glucose, amino acids, and fatty acids to work or into storage. So when there's insulin in the blood, it empties out of all amino acids except for tryptophan, clearing the way for tryptophan to enter the brain.
So what's the bottom line? Try eating a light meal with a little protein and a little carbohydrate within an hour of bed. (It takes about an hour for serotonin levels to go up after a meal.) Try toast with peanut butter, half an egg salad sandwich, or some of the ideas below.
 

Oatmeal with Milk or Walnuts

A good snack to have before bedtime because it combines carbohydrates with protein. 

 
Yogurt 

A great food because it’s about half carbohydrates and half protein.

 
Hummus
Eat this with some pita for a perfect mix of both protein (from the chickpeas) and carbohydrates.
 
Warm Milk
Has tryptophan, and there's also the soothing aspect of sipping a warm beverage. 


Bananas
Contain tryptophan, melatonin, seratonin, and magnesium, which can act as a muscle relaxant. Try them with some peanut butter and toast.
 
Turkey 
While it’s a well-known source of tryptophan, almost any type of poultry has similar amounts of it. Try eating half a turkey or chicken sandwich. 

Potatoes

Contain both tryptophan and carbohydrates, so eating a few as a small snack before bed could help you sleep.

Almonds
Have both tryptophan and magnesium, so you could also try adding these to your oatmeal.
Tart Cherries
Contain melatonin, which helps regulate sleep. These are the sour ones used in pies, not so much the sweet Bing cherries that you can eat plain. 

The Worst Sleeping Habits To Never Ever Do

We Sparkitors have a lot of terrible sleeping habits. We're trying to kick them—they result in neck cramps and no boyfriends. Come to think of it, you probably shouldn't do these things either. Here are our top three least-recommended sleeping habits:

1. Sleeping with your phone in your hand
What you think will happen:In the middle of the night, you will receive a text message from the one person on the planet who makes your butt sweat and your mouth barfy —your CRUSH. "Thank Aphrodite I'm close enough to my phone to hear it buzz!" you will think. And then you will text romantical emoticons until sunrise, when you and your crush will turn into cartoon bunnies and get married on a rainbow.
What will actually happen: You will sleep text your crush in the middle of the night, imploring him to bring a vial of his blood to school tomorrow because :D. Then you will drool on your phone, rendering the letter "A" forever unusble.
Sleeping on the couch
What you think will happen: You will wake up at some reasonable time, such as 30 minutes after the moment you fall asleep. Newly energized, you will floss, brush your perfect teeth, and carefully apply a mint lily face mask to ensure a healthy glow in the morning.
What will actually happen: You will wake up at 4:26 a.m. The TV will be on. For some reason, you will start crying. You will stop only when you become distracted by the chalky taste in your mouth, the product of not wearing your night guard and slowly pulverizing your own teeth into worthless tooth dust. Your eye boogers will begin to cause itchiness and general discomfort about Life and Everything. You realize you should take your contacts out. Instead, you fall back asleep, shivering, with one arm over your head.
Sleeping when you have to pee
What you think will happen: Nothing. Everything will be fine.
What will actually happen: You will not wet the bed. You will have a dream in which your physics teacher turns into a physics-teacher-shaped balloon clown who expands and then finally explodes on your homework, soaking it. You will wake up, run to the bathroom, and stub a toe on a doorframe before desperately relieving yourself. You will not be able to look at balloons for the rest of your life. Your toe will heal, crookedly.
Do you have any bad sleeping habits? 

3 Things You Should Do When You Wake Up

What's the first thing you do when you  wake up in the morning? If it's a work day, you probably hit the snooze button a few times, then spring out of bed in a panic, propelling yourself into your day with your mind on everything you have to do to get out the door. Or maybe you find yourself in the shower, without any real memory of how you got there. Sound familiar?
Turns out, just a few simple movements can help you relax and ground yourself for your day, rather than zooming through your morning full of stress  and a racing mind.
Jack Wiener, a certified and licensed psychoanalyst, founder of the former School for Creative Movement in NYC and author of The way of the 4 Toe: Into the Feeling Body, believes that the most important thing you can do as soon as you wake up is to gently bring your awareness fully into your body, so that as you move through the rest of the day, you maintain a sense of grounding that can help you cope with the physical and mental stresses of daily life.
"When you sleep, your body goes into itself," says Weiner, explaining that while you're snoozing, the sensations of your muscles become very minimal. In other words, you're not consciously aware of your body; you're not in a physically or mentally grounded state of being.

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This state of being works for the purposes of sleep, but not for your waking hours. You want to be "in" and aware of your body during the day. When you experience stress or anxiety throughout the day, says Weiner, these emotions and sensations can cause you to instinctively "pull in" to yourself, which, ironically, is the opposite of being grounded in your body. Weiner describes this process as a literal contraction and tension of your muscles. If you're not aware, this happens automatically, and can affect everything from your breathing to your circulation to how the events of your day affect you.

If you can bring yourself back into your body and release the tension in your muscles, then, says Weiner, you're more able to cope with stress, and you're more emotionally aware and alive. Not only are you carrying less tension in your neck and shoulders, but if you can maintain an awareness of being in your body, then it's easier to not get caught up and swept away in the worries and anxieties. "It's so simple, yet so profound," says Weiner.

So, how should you start the day? By doing these three simple things:
Before you even get out of bed ...

1. Gently flex and point your feet for 15-30 seconds. This, says Weiner, is a good way to gently begin to activate your musculature and to bring your awareness to your feet, which is literally grounding. Then, wiggle your fingers and gently open and close you hands into a fist shape for 15-30 seconds. "Those are small little things," says Weiner, but they can really help you if your standard MO is to immediately activate your whole body by springing out of bed with your mind on what you have to get done.

Next, as you get out of bed ...

2. Consciously place your feet on the floor. Stand there for a moment, fully aware of the floor beneath you, and concentrate on feeling grounded.

Finally ...

3. Do a gentle hamstring stretch. "This will sustain your connection to the ground," Weiner says, and delay the pulling up into your upper body that leads not only to a lack of feeling grounded, but to tension in your neck and shoulders. The more grounded and "in your body" you can start your day, says Weiner, the more you will be able to carry this feeling and awareness into the rest of your day. Good morning, indeed
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