Sleep is incredibly important to human beings and any sort of lacking in it can turn our mood upside down in no time. But like all good things in life, sleep often strays as far away from us as we want it. To help you avoid the dilemma of chasing sleep every night, we have come up with a detailed guide to help you sleep through the night.
Have you been wondering what to do when you can’t sleep and are bored? Do you want to know fun things to do when you can’t sleep? Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered on how to fall asleep when you can’t. Read on ahead to find out things to do when you can’t sleep on a school night and solve all our sleep dilemmas.
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Why Can’t I Sleep Even Though I’m Tired?
The biggest question everyone keeps asking when it co9mes to sleeping routines is why can’t I sleep even though I’m tired. The problem here is in the terminology used. A lot of times when we are tired, it doesn’t necessarily equate to us being sleepy as well.
Your mind works in different ways. When you are exhausted, you might be running out of energy to perform any hardcore task but that does not mean you are ready for your nap. For you to be able to sleep properly, consecutively, and through the night you need to make sure that you are sleepy and tired.
Moreover, you are sleepy when you think you can lie down and doze off in no time. This is the biggest indicator of being sleepy instead of being tired or feeling any kind of fatigue. There are also a few reasons when you might be sleepy and tired but can’t seem to go to sleep. These include the basic elements of stress, extreme exhaustion, thoughts, and anxiety, etc.
- When a person is stressed about a situation, there are 100% chances that they might not be able to sleep properly because their mind is distracted elsewhere. This direction is an obstacle to their sleep. To sleep it is important to have a clear mind.
- Next up, being extremely exhausted can also make it hard for you to sleep. T may sound weird to you but when your body is overworked and extremely fatigued you might not be able to sleep better or for long. This is because you are so overworked, your mind is distraught and stuck in a different phase. Similarly, being too tired can also ache in some part of your body which might result in turning into a hurdle for sleep.
- Furthermore, people who have a lot of thoughts racing in their minds find it hard to sleep. These thoughts don’t necessarily have to be negative ones. Have you ever stayed up on the night of a big day? This is because even though you want to sleep, your mind is too excited over what is yet to come and your thoughts are diverting your sleep.
- Similar is the case with anxiety. We all know how it feels to be anxious.when one is anxious there are hundreds and hundreds of negative thoughts running through their mind. These thoughts are often without a direction and it is hard to find somewhere to focus. People having anxiety attacks tend to find it hard to sleep for a longer amount of time because their mind keeps distracting and diverting the sleep away.
How To Fall Asleep When You Can’t
Tossing and turning in bed can be extremely annoying. You might not get to sleep the whole night and then wake up agitated and irritated the next day. This is why you sometimes need to produce your body with stimulants that can help you sleep. These can be a bunch of different things from what you can eat, to sleeping positions, and working on the environment. Read on below to find out how to fall asleep when you can’t.
1. Imagination
This is the most common tip suggested by people all over the world for those who struggle with insomnia or tend to find it difficult to sleep properly. The name pretty much suggests how it works. You have let your imagination run wild.
Start by thinking of one of your favorite places or just peaceful scenery. While you’re doing so contrate on your breathing and make sure that you take deep breaths in and out. As you are doing this, keep working on the same place and make it as elaborate as you can. Add tiny details to it and make sure that you contrate on each minute aspect of the imaginary scene. Allocate voices, sounds, tastes, and smells.
2. No Tech
This is a no brainer. Technology has taken over every aspect of our lives and is now destroying or sleeping schedules as well. If you want to fall asleep, then you must force yourself to put your cell phones away and contrate on sleeping.
Make sure that your phone is in silent mode and no notification pings are grabbing your attention while you’re trying to sleep. It is suggested to keep your phones at a distance so that you would be annoyed at the aspect of getting up and reaching for it again and again.
3. Warm Showers
This is a great way to fall asleep. You will be killing two birds with one stone. Taking a shower before bed will help you get clean while also giving you a great sleeping session. There have been several reports from all over the world that taking showers before sleep can help you pass out comfortably for a good 8 hours.
Make sure that you shower with warm water. It is emphasized again and again to aim for warm water showers because they are the best way to make your body feel relaxed. A lot of showers might be good if you want to wake up. Furthermore, warm showers are also helpful because after taking a warm shower, your body temperature drops a little. This is a great way to induce sleep and can give you a good night’s sleep without doing much.
4. Aromatherapy
The trick to falling asleep is to ensure that your mind is calm and relieved. A proven way to do this is by aromatherapy. With aromatherapy, you can use tons of essential oils which are often suggested to people who have insomnia issues. There are tons of essential oils, but the few very famous and effective ones are Lavender oil, chamomile oil, sweet marjoram, peppermint, and sandalwood.
All these essential oils have a soothing effect on them but lavender is the one that steals the show when it comes to getting proper sleep. These not only help to calm your mind but they lessen anxiety and can help people get peace of mind and tackle depression as well.
5. Peaceful Environment
The environment plays a huge role in your inability to fall asleep. The first and foremost thing is to block out any lights that might be glaring. Start by getting a dark-colored curtain, shades. Etc. At night make sure you don’t have any white lights glaring in your face. If you like you can opt for warm hues.
If there are too many unblockable sounds around you then you can opt for earmuffs. These are also eye covers which you can put on complete blackout. A peaceful environment is extremely important for a good 8 hours of sleep. You also need to make sure that your bed is clean and there is no unnecessary clutter on it. Anything poking you from the sides or rolling underneath you can be irritating.
6. Reading
A lot of us doze off while we are studying. This is a very common thing that happens to all of us. You can use this to make yourself fall asleep. When we are reading anything, we are moving our eyes and working our brain side by side. There is going to be a point when the muscles in your eyes will get tired and ask for breaks. You will see that you are starting to get sleepy when you get watery eyes and start to yawn. This is one of the best things to do when you can’t sleep on a school night.
After a while of reading constantly, you will see that your eyes will start to droop, and in no time, you will be off to the wonderland of sleep.
7. Cool Your Room
When we focus on aromatherapy and dim lights, we are asking you to make the environment peaceful for your nose and your eyes. Next up, you can work on making sure that the temperature of your room is cool. A room that is too warm will result in your sweating and eventually losing whatever sleep you had. An extremely cold room will disturb you as well. Make sure that the temperature of your room is moderate.
Keep the windows open to have some source of fresh air. Also, this will help in ventilating your room.
8. Take A Break
Lastly, don’t make yourself fall asleep forcefully. If you have been in bed for a while and still can’t seem to doze off then it might be time to take a break from trying. Forcing yourself to sleep can frustrate you even more and leave you agitated. Try to get out of bed and move around the house. Let your mind wander a little. You can even grab a quick snack or drink. Make sure that it’s light and not too sweet.
What To Do When You Can’t Sleep At Night
We all know how agitating it is when we can’t go to sleep. Even after trying lots of tactics such as making sure you have a peaceful environment, etc sometimes you still might not be able to sleep. Teens also get agitated when they are bored. Here are some things to do when you can’t sleep on a school night. We’ve made sure to capture some fun things to do when you can’t sleep so that you won’t be bored out of your mind.
1. Listen To Music
We doubt there’s anyone out there who doesn’t like listening to music. Listening to music before sleeping can also make you sleepy while also working as a fun thing to do when you can’t sleep. Don’t take this the wrong way though, blasting and blaring music will just result in causing you a headache and make you lose whatever little amount of sleep you have left.
Put on some soothing music and let it play while you relax. There is a parasympathetic nervous system in our body that is directly responsible for relaxing the bus and for the sleep-related functions. Soothing music can have a direct impact on the nervous system and help you in falling asleep faster and for longer periods. This sleep is also said to be uninterrupted and peaceful.
2. Light Exercise
If you are used to having trouble at going to sleep then some workout might be in your favor. Light or moderate level exercise can help in exhausting you enough that you won’t have trouble sleeping. It will not elevate your heartbeat to an extreme level so you don’t have to worry about that. This is one of the great things to do when you can’t sleep on a school night because when you wake up you will have an energized mind and body.
Always include warm-up sessions and make sure that you work out at least an hour before you want to sleep. Adding in a warm shower right after the workout session will help in lowering your body temperature and make it even easier to fall asleep.
3. Journaling
A lot of times we have trouble going to sleep because there’s too much on our minds. Now we can’t expect to call someone in the middle of the night, every time we can’t fall asleep. This is where journaling and diary entries come in to help.
Journaling has been proved to be an effective tactic for all those people who have anxiety and can’t seem to get their thoughts arranged. It can also be taken as a reflective activity to gather your thoughts and figure out what it is that’s bothering you and preventing you from sleeping. Jot down the activities of your day, your thoughts, anything you like.
4. Organize Something
Now that we have a solution for arranging and managing your thoughts in an easy manner, next up is something for our body. Feeling restless and hyperactive can also prevent you from falling asleep. An easy way to get both the mind and the boys at work is to organize something. The point isn’t to stack things on top of each other calling it a day, no. you need to make up a systematic way of organizing your bookshelf or CD collection, be it in ascending order or alphabetically.
This way you will be engaging both your mind and your body. After a while of following this system, you might be tempted to get back in bed. Think of all the things you can sort around with this trick.
5. Cleaning
Cleaning is another effective thing to do. This might not be the best fun thing to do when you can’t sleep but it is pretty effective. Clutter or mess can trick your mind into feeling restless and agitated. By cleaning you manage a lot of tasks at one time. Meaning, you get rid of the clutter, organize your thoughts, and tire yourself enough to fall asleep quickly.
A lot of us aren’t fans of writing, and this might be helpful for them. Having some time to yourself while you work on cleaning can help in arranging your thoughts, and aid you in the process of thinking over things. When you are done, you will be left with a clean room, organized mind, and be exhausted enough to go sleep. Catch
Conclusion
In conclusion, we know how annoying it is when we can’t go to sleep as soon as we hit the bed but it’s okay. There are lots of ways you can convince your mind into helping you speak. If you have tried all of these and still can’t sleep then we suggest visiting a professional and letting them guide you. A change in diet or lifestyle might be needed to relax you more and help you sleep.