My dear,

You are the love of my life. You are an amazing person who has always stood by me and super caring. But, that is only true for daytime. Every night I want to kick you out of your sleep when you doze off as soon as your head hits the pillow and I am just laying next to you feeling lonely, unable to sleep!

Love,
The unrested person sleeping next to you.

If you are this ‘unrested person’ who envies, despises or resents his/her partner for getting into a deep annoying slumber right away, then it’s time to explore some creative yet simple strategies to snooze quicker.

1. Keep cool in the room and mind too

Turn the temperature in your room to 60-67 degrees! Our body temperature drops when we sleep, so give this process a kick-start by cooling the room.

2. Follow a breathing pattern

They don’t say “take a deep breath” for nothing! Relaxed breathing patterns lowers the heart rate and nervous systems, whereas shallow and quick breaths can create anxiety.

The 4-7-8 breathing method can put you to sleep in just 60 seconds. Yes, just 60 seconds! Try these 3 steps: First, close your dropped jaw and inhale through your nose to a count of four. Secondly, hold your breath for seven counts. Thirdly, exhale slowly making a whooshing sound through mouth to a count of eight. Give it a try!

3. Complete darkness in the room

Both cool temperatures and pitch darkness are conducive to falling asleep fast. Put off that television, laptops, tablets, smartphones and even lamps when you want to sleep.

4. Trick your brain

Sadly, you can’t hypnotize your brain to sleep. Sometimes when you try too hard, your stubborn mind back fires and does the bang opposite. Use reverse psychology instead. Take thoughts about sleep off of your radar and try  putting on some calming music in a dark, quiet room and relax.

5. White noise

A small mosquito buzzing near your ear, or the honking outside can be especially maddening when you are trying to sleep. Here comes “white noise” to the rescue! White noise is the constant ambient sound of fan, humidifier, cooler etc. that can mellow down the surround sound and help you sleep undisturbed.

6. Exercise & Meditation

That’s common knowledge you would say! Regular exercise helps reduce negative emotions like anxiety, stress, and depression. Post exercise, body temperature drops and promote falling asleep. Put these exercises on your list- aerobic exercises, like running, jogging and swimming. Meditation calms the mind and stops cluttering of thoughts.

7. Limit caffeine

Caffeine is what you need to keep your eyes open. It can take up to 6 hours to flush it out your body system. Now you can do the math, as to when to stop gulping down more of that caffeine.

8. Same place, same time

Not just wise words from mom, for dinner or bed time. Routine conditions the mind and body for quicker and better sleep. But it works, so go off to bed at the same time every day, including “weekends”, to train your mind better.

9. Eat carbs at night

If you are trying to minimize carbs, it may be a reason, you are not getting good sleep. Eat carbs that are quickly and easily digested for dinner, to help you sleep better.

10. Mattress

Your mattress could be a culprit for your tossing and turning in bed. Try a mattress with therapeutic layer that relieves pressure points and prevents motion transfer along with a high density foam, like in SleepyCat mattresses.

Have a purr-fect sleep!