Help Insomnia: How to Fall Asleep After

Adequate sleep can be a struggle to achieve for most of us, especially the third of Americans with at least one insomnia symptom a night and the 10 percent of people with chronic insomnia. Since sleep is so integral to the health of our minds, constantly having unsatisfactory sleep is a serious issue, one that many have trouble managing.

While you should always visit your doctor to properly address your medical issues, we suggest a three-step process to couple with your doctor’s advice to help you fall back to sleep after a bout of insomnia. 

Instead of lying in bed thinking of how you are waking in the middle of the night, use your mind to transport yourself somewhere that will lull you back to sleep. Through guided visualization you can imagine yourself in a place that relaxes and soothes you.

Whether it’s a beach, your childhood home or a park, pick somewhere to visualize that makes you feel comforted. If you are having trouble focusing your thoughts, you can also try putting on white noise or another version of calming audio to further assist with the visualization.

While it may sound counterproductive, sometimes leaving the bed is your best bet for falling back to sleep. If it’s been 20 or more minutes of restlessness and guided visualization hasn’t helped, get out of bed.

The longer you lie in bed, the more likely you are to stress, making sleep even more difficult to achieve. Go to another room and read or stretch. Reset your body and mind and eventually you may go back to bed and try to sleep.

This last step will not be an in-the-moment fix, but it should help in the nights to come. Once you awake in the morning, note how often you woke up and what you believe caused the disturbances. This will help you get to the root of the problem and possibly avoid waking up at night all-together.

To really address the issue, also note your eating habits and daytime activities and pay attention to any changes or triggers. Do not do this activity when you wake up in the middle of the night, however, as it will be counterproductive to falling back to sleep.

Remember, that children can suffer from insomnia, too. Here is an overview of how insomnia affects kids and how you can help.

At Naturepedic, we also believe that creating a safe and comfy sleep environment helps, too. Safer, healthier sleep begins with certified organic mattresses and bedding made with naturally comfortable materials like organic cotton and wool.