if you're anything like me your night
goes something like this after an
exhausting day you brush your teeth get
into your zelda themed pajamas snuggle
up in bed turn the lights off and then
nothing
no not the good kind of nothing the
literally 10 seconds ago i felt like i
would die if i didn't get into my bed
and now i'm perfectly awake kind of
nothing so you try to squeeze your eyes
tighter or maybe i'm just not in a
comfortable position yeah that'll solve
it
but no
the clock ticks and you become
increasingly more aware of every waking
second of sleep time that you're losing
and how increasingly bad tomorrow will
be
if only you could have just slept at
school or work it was so easy then but
now in the solitude of night all you
have is your deepest darkest thoughts
and that damn clock that oh my god it's
been three hours if this sounds familiar
to you then this video is for you
because we've compiled some of the best
advice and practices to increase your
odds of falling asleep in minutes and
while we're going to start off with the
stuff you should do before hitting your
bed we also have a technique used by the
us navy to fall asleep in two minutes
when you're stuck there lying awake so
let's start with seven things you should
do before you sleep number one is to
sleep in a colder environment your
thermal environment especially
surrounding your head and body is
perhaps the most underappreciated factor
determining not only the ease with which
you'll fall asleep tonight but also your
sleep quality whether you're overheating
because of heavy blankets pajamas or
just a hot room it's been shown to
decrease slow wave sleep and rem sleep
even just to initiate sleep your body
has to drop two to three degrees
fahrenheit or 1.5 degrees celsius and so
being colder actually helps bring your
temperature down faster it might shock
you but the recommended temperature is
around 65 degrees fahrenheit or 18.3
degrees celsius for your room going too
cold isn't great either but it doesn't
have the same disruptive effects on
falling asleep or your sleep quality as
a hot room does number two is to take a
hot shower or bath before bed you might
think being all warm and fuzzy is what
makes you sleep but it's actually kind
of the opposite when you're exposed to
hot temperature the body can't hold on
to the heat and sends blood to the
surface of your skin giving you that
flushed red appearance once you step out
of the warmth the dilated blood vessels
radiate out the inner heat to your
environment and your core body
temperature plummets this triggers the
body and brain to think it's sleepy time
number three is to put away the clock
simply having the ability to look at and
see the time and find out how much you
haven't slept is not helpful and will
honestly only stress you out in fact
time monitoring is strongly linked to
stress and waking arousal four you
should minimize or avoid caffeine and
nicotine coffee colas some tea and even
chocolate can take as long as eight
hours to wear out fully and nicotine is
a stimulant so avoid them too late in
the day it's also worth avoiding eating
too close to bed while some studies show
avoiding diets that are excessively
biased towards carbs will help it's
better to just avoid being too hungry or
too full before bed number five
exercising and being physically tired
can help you fall asleep faster but
working out two to three hours before
bed can keep you up longer so earlier in
the day is better and same goes with
naps actually they're great but don't
take them after 3 pm or it'll be harder
to fall asleep at night number six is to
make sure you're actually relaxing
before bed if you try to sleep and
you're wired or on your brain just won't
be ready a relaxing activity within the
hour before bed like reading is the
perfect ritual to put you in the right
mindset and finally number seven is to
make sure you're getting sun exposure
during the day and minimizing your light
exposure during the evening you've
probably been told not to use your
screen before bed which is true but it's
equally as important to get natural
sunlight for at least 30 minutes a day
if you have problems falling asleep this
helps to condition your body's schedule
and trigger tiredness at the right times
so now that we've set up some conditions
for optimizing your experience of
falling asleep
you're still awake
in fact maybe you've already done those
things and you're lying in bed right now
desperately looking up how to fall
asleep faster on youtube which led you
to this very video
don't lie
in which case you have broken rule seven
of not looking at your phone but i'll
forgive you if it was in pure
desperation i mean i won't complain
about the ex review but in all
seriousness if you're laying in bed
after all that there's a technique that
the navy allegedly used that if
practiced can literally have you falling
asleep in two minutes no matter where
you are i say allegedly because the
studies are not publicly available but
they claim they were used on fighter
pilots who would often make avoidable
mistakes as a result of stress and
ultimately sleeplessness in fact they
were designed to allow them to fall
asleep even while sitting up and after
six weeks they claim that 96 of the
pilots could fall asleep in less than
two minutes it goes like this first you
need to systematically relax each part
of your body take a deep breath
close your eyes and begin to focus on
your face
picture every muscle slowly relaxing if
you need help squish and squint your
face first and then let it relax
breathe out as you feel your cheeks
tongue mouth and jaw relax
even imagining your eyes sinking into
their sockets
then slowly make your way down your body
and do the same thing to each muscle
group tighten and then relax your
shoulders then arms from forearms to
fingers chest and legs and finally your
feet all while breathing deeply and
focusing on the relaxation once you've
gone through the whole body focus on
clearing your mind into a meditative
state as thoughts about your day or
images pop into your mind try not to
dwell on them and let them pass simply
thinking through motions can stimulate
your muscles to involuntarily contract
much like meditation don't let the
thoughts consume you try to focus on
breathing in and out or you can
visualize yourself in a calming location
like on a warm summer's day in a hammock
swing slowly back and forth if you can't
stop your thoughts they suggest
repeating don't think don't think don't
think for 10 seconds
it may sound silly or fairly simple but
it's the practice that makes perfect and
anecdotally online people have found it
to work after dedicating time to it but
the key like most things is to
consistently practice each night it
won't be a simple solution on your first
night but weeks in you'll be much more
likely to fall asleep instantly assuming
you don't have a sleep disorder or other
condition now there is one more
suggestion that is considered the single
most important tip to falling asleep
immediately and if you can't follow any
others follow this
go to bed and wake up at the same time
of day no matter what even the weekends
i know it sucks but we're creatures of
habit and if you want to be able to fall
asleep immediately getting in a good
routine will set up your body to
literally work like clockwork and after
all that if you still can't fall asleep
don't lie awake in bed studies show that
not falling asleep for an extended
period of time causes anxiety and only
makes things worse so just get up and do
a relaxing or slightly boring activity
until you feel sleepy thank you guys for
watching we played around with the
animation style a little bit in this
video it's a little longer so let us
know in the comments what you thought of
it and we're going to make a playlist of
a lot more sleep videos over there
because it's a common theme because it's
very important make sure you're
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