How to Fall Asleep Fast: 7 Expert-Recommended Strategies

Key Takeaways

• 10–20 minutes is the average time it takes to fall asleep.
• Falling asleep more quickly can help you achieve the recommended 7–9 hours of sleep per night.
• An estimated 50 to 70 million Americans have chronic, or ongoing, sleep disorders that make it difficult to fall asleep.
• Poor-quality sleep has been associated with multiple health problems, including obesity, diabetes, and high blood pressure.
• Techniques to help you fall asleep include breathwork, meditation, music, and guided imagery.

Good sleep is essential for general health and well-being. But even if you head to bed early with the best intentions of a full night’s sleep, issues like back discomfort, acid reflux, or chronic pain can make falling asleep (and staying asleep) challenging. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, sleeping less than the recommended seven hours of sleep each night has been associated with a higher risk of health problems, like high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, obesity, heart attack, and depression.

But there are techniques to help you fall asleep. Read on to learn more about how to fall asleep faster and improve your overall sleep hygiene.

Factors to consider for falling asleep fast

When considering techniques to fall asleep fast, your environment and health factors have an impact. The average time it takes to fall asleep, also called sleep onset latency, is between 10–20 minutes. If you haven’t fallen asleep after 20 minutes, you should get out of bed and do something relaxing. Take action to get a better night’s sleep by following these sleep tips:

• Establish and maintain a bedtime sleep routine: Go to bed and get up at the same time every day, including weekends.
• Find ways to relax before bed: Do something calming before you head to bed. Reading, taking a warm bath or shower, deep breathing, or drinking chamomile tea (which has antioxidants that promote sleepiness) can help you fall asleep.
• Unplug from screens and blue light: Keep cellphones, computers, and televisions out of the bedroom.
• Keep up a regular exercise routine: Maintain your workouts, but ensure they’re at least three hours before bedtime.
• Limit naps: Make sure naps are only 30 minutes or less and not late in the day.
• Keep your bedroom quiet and comfortable: Eliminate background noise and adjust your thermostat to achieve your optimum room temperature.
• Avoid certain substances: Do not consume substances, like caffeine or alcohol, that may negatively impact your sleep, or use only in moderation.
• Use sleep medicine as needed: Be sure you only use sleep aids as directed by your health care provider. 
• Consider integrating sleep supplements: Melatonin, which helps regulate your circadian rhythm, can be purchased as a supplement to help you get to sleep faster.
• Consult a professional: Contact your health care provider, pharmacist, or sleep specialist if you consistently have trouble sleeping.
• Explore relaxation techniques: Try breathing techniques, meditation, progressive muscle relaxation, or guided imagery to help you fall asleep.
• Integrate cognitive behavior therapy for insomnia (CBT-I): CBT-I can help with insomnia and may be able to treat prolonged sleep problems.
• Purchase an adjustable bed base: An adjustable bed can help if you have limited mobility, sleep apnea, chronic pain, and other issues that compromise the safety and quality of your sleep. But always talk to your health care provider to make sure this is the right choice for you.
• Ensure you have good mattress support: Having the best mattress is crucial for falling asleep quickly, as it provides optimal comfort and support, ensuring a restful night’s sleep.

Methods for falling asleep fast

Several methods are available to help you fall asleep, including breathwork, meditation, acupressure, and guided imagery. Below we explore some of the more common methods used to help people fall asleep.

4-7-8 breathing technique

Various methods can be used to control your breathing and help you relax. One way is called 4-7-8 breathing control, created by American doctor Andrew Weil. The 4‐7‐8 method of breathing control involves inhaling for a count of four seconds, holding your breath for a count of seven, and exhaling for a count of eight. This breathing method aims to reduce anxiety and make it easier to fall asleep. A recent study found that this technique improved rest and relaxation (in the parasympathetic nervous system) and decreased stress response (in the sympathetic nervous system), including heart rate variability and blood pressure. 

Weil described the process using the following steps:

1. With a whoosh sound, let out all of your breath through your mouth.
2. Close your mouth and take a quiet, four-count breath via your nose.
3. For seven counts, hold your breath.
4. In a single exhale, make a whoosh sound and let out all of your air through your mouth, counting to eight.
5. Repeat the above cycle three more times.

Military method

Bud Winter, a former American track and field coach, originally described one of the most common methods for falling asleep fast in his book Relax & Win. Winter wrote that he used the technique on U.S. Naval Pre-Flight School cadets and was successful, even when they were sitting up in their chairs. Winter’s method is now referred to as the military method. The relaxation sequence follows these steps:

• Breathe slow, deep, and regular breaths.
• Focus on removing the wrinkles from your forehead, relax your scalp.
• Let your jaw drop open.
• Relax the tongue and lips.
• Continue breathing slowly.
• Relax your eyes, not focusing on anything, just let them go limp.
• Drop your shoulders and release tension in your neck.
• Relax the chest.
• Take a deep breath, hold it, and then exhale, letting all the air out.
• Relax your arms, speak directly to your muscles, telling them to relax.
• Relax your hands and fingers.
• Once your upper body is relaxed, move to your lower body and ask your thighs to relax.
• Continue down through your legs down to your ankles and feet.

According to Winter, following these steps will relax you mentally and physically, allowing you to fall asleep quickly. Winter’s method also includes using imagery, like visualizing a blue sky and serene lake to help with the process. 

Meditation

The practice of mindfulness meditation has grown in popularity in recent years as a complementary therapy for sleep disturbances. To be mindful is to pay attention consciously, in the here and now, and without passing judgment. Mindfulness meditation addresses a variety of cognitive issues that can cause wakefulness by lessening intrusive and repetitive thoughts and reducing emotional stress, all of which may help you go to sleep. Mindfulness meditation techniques, like mindfulness–based stress reduction (MBSR) and mindfulness-based therapy for insomnia (MBTI), have both been proven effective for the treatment of chronic insomnia. 

Peaceful music

The effectiveness of music as a regular sleep aid may be explained by its impact on physical, psychological, and emotional states. Music’s numerous positive neurological and physiological benefits may indicate that it can effectively treat sleep deprivation. Some regard music as a substance-free treatment option to lessen anxiety and potentially decrease the perception of pain. Music has been used to reduce negative thoughts and to help overall mood. One recent study found music could be a good strategy to combat insomnia.

Acupressure for sleep

Acupressure is when particular body locations, or acupoints, are stimulated with pressure. Self-acupressure is a highly useful tool for body and mind relaxation. This can help the body recover and encourage more peaceful sleep. The following acupoints can be treated with light to moderate pressure for 10–15 minutes to help you fall asleep more quickly and return to sleep if you wake up during the night. Using these tips more frequently will yield better outcomes:

• Yintang: This acupoint is located between the eyebrows. Massaging this site is said to help calm the mind.
• Joining Valley (LI 4): This acupoint is located between the thumb and index finger, in the middle of the fleshy part of the hand. Massaging or holding pressure on this area may help to relieve tension in the shoulders, upper back, and neck.
• Bubbling Spring (K 1): This acupoint is the depression located on the bottom of the foot, between the first and second toes, about one-third the way from the base of the second toe to the heel. Massaging or holding this point may help achieve a calm mind and relaxed body.

Researchers who completed a clinical trial evaluating the effectiveness of self-administered acupressure (SAA) for insomnia concluded that this was an effective approach to improving sleep. 

Progressive muscle relaxation

Progressive muscle relaxation, sometimes known as deep muscle relaxation or Jacobson’s technique, involves purposefully tensing each muscle group in the body one at a time and then releasing it. You can use an audio training course or attend an in-person session to learn muscle relaxation. Progressive muscle relaxation has several emotional and physical benefits, which include reducing the negative effects of stress and anxiety, alleviating pain, reducing exhaustion, and promoting sleep. In a study of people with epilepsy, progressive muscle relaxation decreased symptoms of depression and improved sleep quality. 

Guided imagery

Another popular method of relaxation training is guided imagery, which involves visualization of serene, pleasant scenes or imagining yourself breathing deeply, slowly drifting off to sleep, and enjoying a restful night’s sleep. Researchers completed a study to explore the effects on anxiety reduction. Participants were provided with nature-based or non-nature-based guided imagery during the study. The results indicated both guided imagery techniques significantly reduced anxiety. 

Finding a mattress for your sleep needs

Sometimes sleep difficulties stem from mattress discomfort. We researched and tested many mattresses, consulted health experts, examined industry standards, and interviewed mattress shoppers to bring you the best mattress for back pain and the best mattress for side sleepers.

Falling asleep faster and overall sleep health

Getting good sleep can be challenging, especially if you have trouble with anxiety, insomnia, or other sleep disorders. Anxiety usually serves as an internal alarm system alerting the person to possible danger, and to a certain extent, anxiety can be helpful. But a person suffering from anxiety disorder is subjected to acute, frequent, or even constant false alarms. False alarms can create ongoing problems with your sleep cycle and lead to trouble falling asleep. Anxiety is present in about 24%–35% of people who experience insomnia.

“Poor quality sleep can be associated with heart disease, and, in the long run, may have some impact on the incidence of heart attacks,” said Rakesh V. Alva, MD, board-certified in sleep and a member of the LeBauer pulmonary team at Cone Health in Greensboro, North Carolina.

Additional considerations to help you get the best sleep possible include:

• Don’t go to bed if you’re not sleepy. Going to bed when you are not sleepy can lead to frustration, making it even harder to get to sleep.
• Use a blue-light filter for electronic devices, like phones, tablets, and computers.
• Keep the use of your bed for sleep and sex. Working, watching TV, or other activities in the bedroom can be stimulating and negatively affect your sleep environment.

“We think about sleep quantity and quality. If your quantity is good, which is six to eight hours in adults, you may positively impact your health,” Alva added.

Bottom line

Sleep is vital to your overall health and well-being. But poor-quality sleep can raise your risk for obesity, diabetes, and high blood pressure, and it can negatively impact your mental health. Practicing good sleep hygiene can help you achieve the recommended seven hours of sleep each night. Several techniques may help you fall asleep faster to achieve your sleep goals. These techniques include the 4-7-8 breathing technique, the military method, meditation, peaceful music, acupressure, progressive muscle relaxation, and guided imagery. Combining your method of choice with an established bedtime routine and sleep schedule will allow you to maximize your sleep quality and minimize any negative effects from lack of sleep.

Additional sleep resources

• Best mattresses for back pain
• Best mattress for side sleepers
• Best adjustable beds for seniors
• Mattress sizes guide
• Guide on sleep stages
• Ideal sleeping temperature

Have questions about this review? Email us at reviewsteam@ncoa.org.

Sources

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