Thread: I have a hard time falling asleep?

Are you tired at bedtime? Have you investigated the possibility of medical causes? Do you have an active, racing mind? Maybe you need more unwinding time? Do you eat large, greasy meals right before bed (haha, sounds funny but I used to sometimes, and I'm not surprised now that I couldn't fall asleep then). There are many resources on the internet for things to do to help falling asleep, maybe try some of those. (things like: keep your room neat, do not do anything but sleep in bed [no reading, TV watching, etc.]). One suggestion is that if you can't fall asleep in about 20 minutes, just get up, and sit quietly in a different room in the dark. The idea is to train you mind to know that "bed equals sleep", not lying awake for hours.

While I do not have problems falling asleep quickly at bedtime most of the time, I do have trouble returning to sleep after about 5-6 hours of sleep a lot of the time.

One thing I discovered is that the anxiety that comes from worrying about not sleeping can be the single thing keeping you awake! Not sleeping -> more anxiety -> still not sleeping is a vicious feedback cycle. So stop "trying to sleep." Do not "try" to "do" anything. Just "be" -- relaxed! Don't move around too much, unless there is discomfort that is bothering you. Remaining still helps your body to fall asleep.

I'd look in to sleep friendly foods and supplements as well. Almonds, valerian root, melatonin (small quantities).

But the single most important thing for getting to sleep is learning how to relax. Both physically and mentally. Listening to a meditation for sleep audio may be very helpful. I sometimes recite to myself the key phrases from a "hypnosis for sleep" tape that I used to listen to: "You're more and more relaxed, with every breath, all the tension seeps out of your body, <etc.>". What usually works for me is focusing on the breath. But sometimes I need something a little different, so I do "relaxing SSILD," where you focus your attention in cycles between sight, hearing, and body.

Daytime seated meditation is great practice for learning how to tame the unruly "monkey" mind, building focus and attention & calm.

So at bedtime, resolve just to drift in relaxation, acknowledge and let go any thoughts that arise, focus on something like your breathing, try to relax and "go deeper" more and more on every exhale. Be completely happy to just be there, relaxing and resting.

Good luck! Let us know how it goes!

Do you exercise right before or are you talking about earlier in the day?

I would try exercising right before if you're doing it much earlier so that you feel more fatigued. The relaxation tip is also great, sounds simple but very true from my experience as at one point I was really stressed out and this kept me awake despite feeling tired.

I have serious trouble falling asleep sometimes, too.

Here’s what I’ve found really helps:

Go to bed only when you’re tired enough to fall asleep. I used to go to bed and just lie there for about 2 hours thinking “eugh, WHEN am I gonna fall asleep” and ended up feeling so lethargic the next day as a result. So what I did was I started staying up later until I was genuinely tired. Then I would fall asleep within 20 minutes!

I don’t know if this applies or not, but I’ll mention it anyway…don’t have anything to eat too close to bedtime and certainly no caffeine or anything too sugary. In my experience this tends to keep me awake even if I’m tired.

One of the biggest things though is not to worry about not being able to fall asleep. This will only put added pressure on you. Just let your mind wander, daydream and don’t worry too much ABOUT not being able to sleep.

Hope this helps!

I'm the same.
45 minutes at best to fall asleep, 3 hours+ at worst, usually 1.5-2 hours.

And I go to bed tired all the time. So it doesn't make any sense to me.