{"id":173366,"date":"2025-09-27T18:24:08","date_gmt":"2025-09-27T18:24:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/173366\/"},"modified":"2025-09-27T18:24:08","modified_gmt":"2025-09-27T18:24:08","slug":"the-not-so-common-tricks-to-help-you-fall-asleep-faster","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/173366\/","title":{"rendered":"The not-so-common tricks to help you fall asleep faster"},"content":{"rendered":"

One in three adults<\/a> don\u2019t get enough sleep \u2013 and the consequences may be deadly.<\/p>\n

Drowsy driving contributes to hundreds of deaths in the U.S. each year and tens of thousands of crashes, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Not getting enough sleep has also been linked to chronic health problems<\/a> such as heart disease, diabetes, stroke, obesity, and kidney disease.<\/p>\n

Federal health officials recommend getting at least seven hours<\/a> each night to stay healthy, improve memory, and lessen the risk of life-threatening accidents. But smartphones, stress, disruptive noise, and artificial light keep many up past their bedtime.<\/p>\n

Most people know not to stare at screens immediately before bed — but experts have some unusual tips and tricks that can help you fall asleep faster.<\/p>\n

\"Stress,<\/p>\n

Stress, disruptive noise, artificial light, and screens are keeping many up past their bedtime (Getty Images\/iStock)<\/p>\n

Fuzzy socks are your friend<\/p>\n

Warming up your toes is one way to fall asleep more quickly, according to researchers in the U.K.<\/p>\n

Taking a warm bath or wearing socks to bed helps to make you feel drowsier, lowering your core body temperature.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a natural sleep medication,\u201d William Wisden, a professor at Imperial College London, told The Washington Post<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Fight to stay awake<\/p>\n

It may sound counterintuitive, but some researchers say focusing on trying to stay awake will actually help people fall asleep.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a strategy known as paradoxical intention therapy, which is designed to reduce anxious thoughts when people are forcing themselves to fall asleep.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn your mind, you\u2019re actually trying to stay up but sleep will eventually kick in,\u201d Dr. Deirdre Conroy, a sleep psychologist at the University of Michigan Health Sleep Disorders Centers, said<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Anywhere but inside<\/p>\n

Imagining you\u2019re in nature may seem strange in theory, but can help to fight off anxiety-riddled thoughts that often come to us at night.<\/p>\n

Nature has been shown to lower blood pressure and reduce heart rate, according to UC Davis.<\/a><\/p>\n

Even picturing a remote cabin or a cozy campfire could work, Jeffrey Durmer, a sleep coach to the U.S. Olympic Weightlifting Team, told HuffPost<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Behave like a kid\"Blowing<\/p>\n

Blowing bubbles can have the same effects as breathing exercises (Getty Images\/iStock)<\/p>\n

Blowing bubbles to fall asleep sounds ridiculous – but it\u2019s a technique backed by doctors.<\/p>\n

The reason it works is because it\u2019s similar to a breathing exercise, Dr. Rachel Marie Salas, a professor of neurology at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, told The New York Post<\/a>. Breathing exercises can reduce heart rate and lower blood pressure.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s also just pretty silly and easy. However, if you don\u2019t have bubble solution or a wand handy, there are plenty of breathing techniques online that can help.<\/p>\n

Start over<\/p>\n

Get up and get out of bed. Starting the process over after not falling asleep for 20 minutes can help people fall asleep, according to Johns Hopkins Medicine sleep expert Dr. Luis Buenaver<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf your mind is racing (perhaps you\u2019re going over a work presentation you\u2019ll give in the morning or trying to solve a problem in your life), distract yourself by listening to quiet music or a recorded book for a few minutes,\u201d he advised.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"One in three adults don\u2019t get enough sleep \u2013 and the consequences may be deadly. Drowsy driving contributes…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":173367,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[112809,64,63,137,67030,112808],"class_list":["post-173366","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-artificial-light","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-health","tag-imperial-college-london","tag-national-highway-traffic-safety-administration"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/173366","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=173366"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/173366\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/173367"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=173366"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=173366"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=173366"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}