So, there you are, lying in bed. It’s some time around midnight, if not later. You’re dead tired from a full day of doing whatever it is that you do, and all you want at this point is to get a good night’s sleep. You’re exhausted. And yet, you just lie there, unable to fall asleep. Oh, I’ve been there. Way more times than I care to count… so, how can we overcome insomnia?

I roll over and see that my wife is fast asleep. She has this uncanny superpower where she can be lights out mere moments after her head touches down on her pillow. For the life of me, I can’t do that, but I’m working on it. If you’re anything like me, then you might find some of these following tips helpful. We could all use more sleep, right?

Common Tips to Vanquish Insomnia

Just as having a consistent bedtime routine is great for babies and children, the same is very much true for adults as well. If you’ve ever struggled with insomnia, and you’ve turned to the Internet for help, you may have come across a few of these tips already. Even so, they’re well worth reiterating.

But coffee is life!
  • No Phone in Bed: For a time, I charged my phone next to my bed. This would lead to the inevitable temptation to check on every notification, scrolling mindlessly when I couldn’t fall asleep. But that just made it harder to fall asleep. Make it a point to keep your phone (and any other device for that matter)
  • No Caffeine After 4: Some people might say that they’re not affected by caffeine. They’ll say they can have coffee after dinner and still sleep fine. I say all the more power to them. I’ll also say I’m not some people. My soft cutoff time now is around 4 o’clock. Yours may differ.
  • No Sugar After Dinner: This falls under a similar kind of approach as the cutting off of caffeine. Sugar is a stimulant, as you know, so I try to avoid it after dinner. This includes both more artificial sources (like candy) and more natural sources (like fruit), if I can help it.
  • Calming Herbal Tea: I’m a coffee person, through and through, but a caffeine-free relaxing tea can be a great way to overcome insomnia too. You’ll find several varieties positioned as a sleepytime herbal tea; the most common typically involve mint or chamomile.
  • Melatonin: You could say that melatonin pills are natural sleeping pills, since your body naturally produces the hormone to help you sleep. Taking a pill now and then won’t hurt, but try not to make it a habit as you might develop a tolerance and be unable to sleep at all without it.

Less Obvious Advice for Falling Asleep More Easily

Maybe you’re already familiar with the five tips above. Many one or more of them is new to you. In either case, you might still be looking for tips to battle insomnia. That’s where some of these additional tidbits of advice might come in handy.

Running from my problems?
  • Daytime Light Therapy: You know those light therapy lamps for seasonal affective disorder (SAD) and depression? They’re actually useful for overcoming insomnia too. Just as you should try to avoid blue light closer to bedtime, you should try to get as much of it as you can in the earlier hours of the day. It helps to establish and regulate your natural circadian rhythms better.
  • Device Night Mode: Ideally, you avoid interacting with any screens — phone, tablet, TV, whatever — as you approach your usual bedtime. However, if you must (or you just want to), try to enable the “night mode” or similar. For a time, I used f.lux on my PC, but now I just use the built-in Night Light function in Windows 10. On the TV, we use “movie mode” instead of “standard mode” at night too. It lowers the brightness and contrast.
  • Morning Exercise Routine: The rationale behind this tip aligns with the daytime light therapy described above. To be honest, I should just exercise (way) more in general. If you can, it’s best to be active in the earlier part of the day, because going to the gym at night might make it harder to wind down for bedtime.
  • One-Hour Wind Down: We are all subject to inertia. An object in motion tends to stay in motion. That’s true of both your body and your mind. You can’t expect to flip a switch from being super active to being totally asleep. Me, I try to read a book for about 30 minutes before going to sleep.
  • Military Relaxation Trick: The origin of this “secret method” is unclear. Some people say it’s an Air Force thing, others say it’s a US Army thing. Whatever the case, the mindful meditation technique is purported to put people out cold in two minutes flat. Basically, it’s about progressive, intentional relaxation. I find just doing the face scrunch-and-relax can help.

What’s Your Sleep Pattern Like?

Now, I don’t know about you, but I’d be perfectly satisfied with sleeping an entire weekend away… or at least until my FOMO kicks in and I feel compelled to do something. For me, after a period of sleep deprivation, it’s become much more about improving my sleep quality rather than quantity. It is getting better, I think, and these tips have helped me tremendously.

What does a typical night’s sleep look like for you? Do you think you’re getting enough quality sleep each night or have you been suffering from insomnia for years?