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Relaxed slumber, restful sleep. Whether it’s music to fall asleep to, counting sheep or meditation – there are many ways to find healthy sleep. But which tips for falling asleep actually work? How can you fall into sleep better? There are many tips. But we’ll show you what really helps.
Tips for falling asleep: Your evening ritual
If you want to fall asleep better, you can’t avoid a relaxing evening ritual. Everyone has their own secret recipe – one person goes for a short walk, another drinks a glass of warm milk or reads a book. Most of these little rituals have a placebo effect: warm milk contains sleep-inducing substances, but not enough of them to have a significant effect. However, the warmth relaxes and calms you, which in turn does you good and prepares you for a good night’s sleep.
It is similar with walks or reading in the evening: the establishment of a fixed habit links your brain with a restful sleep. A programming is created, so to speak, that connects your chosen pleasant, quiet activity before sleep with the upcoming night’s rest. [1]
Meditation to fall asleep: counting sheep and bedtime music
Once you are in bed, the night can begin. But often enough you are not completely relaxed or restless thoughts keep you awake. Don’t let this put you off – there are tips for falling asleep that really help. Counting sheep is high on the list of the most popular tricks. This is because counting is a particularly monotonous and stimulus-free process. It gives the brain a really good rest. Of course, it’s not the number of lambs that counts, but the relaxing effect. You could also imagine a beautiful landscape instead. [1]
However, at the beginning it is often not easy to concentrate on such a stimulus-free performance. After all, distracting thoughts tend to return precisely when your mind has nothing else to occupy itself with. This is where a meditation app like sonamedic can help. Sleep-promoting sound journeys bring your mind to calming thoughts without waking you up. Add to that binaural beats that gently steer your brain waves towards sleep without causing side effects. Falling asleep better becomes easy – because you don’t have to do anything, just listen.
You can download the app for free from the Apple Store or Google Play. Thanks to the binaural beats, the dense sound carpets and nature sounds are just like other music for falling asleep – only better.
The right sleep hygiene: 4 important tips for falling asleep
Sleep hygiene refers to all behaviours that enable restful sleep – the best-of the sleep tips, so to speak. Good sleep hygiene not only promotes healthy sleep, but can also prevent or even remedy sleep disorders. What many people do not know: The relevant tricks begin well before the bedroom door. So you can already do a lot today to wake up full of energy tomorrow.
1. Use your chemistry
The most important neurotransmitters that influence your sleep are called norepinephrine, adenosine and melatonin. Put simply, norepinephrine activates, adenosine makes you tired and melatonin acts as a timer that tells your body when it’s time for bed. However, melatonin production is inhibited by bright light. So we sleep better and longer in the dark. For you, that means turning off the lights when you sleep. In the summer, you can close the curtains or put on sleep goggles. [2]
2. Make yourself comfortable
An often underestimated tip for falling asleep: design your surroundings harmoniously and make yourself really comfortable. This includes not only a good mattress and soft bedding, but also the right sleeping temperature. The guideline here is about 18 degrees. [2]
To help you fall asleep and relax in the evening, you can paint your bedroom in appealing, soft colours. Stimulating tones and signal colours such as yellow, orange or red should, however, be left outside. Calming green, relaxing blue or warm earthy tones, on the other hand, will immediately bring cosiness into your bedroom. [3]
If you don’t like pastel colours or simply don’t want to do without stronger colours, you can cleverly set accents with small accessories. Cushions or rugs, for example, are suitable for this purpose, as they bring your favourite colour into the room without overloading it with garish colours. [4]
3. Be active at the right time
You can fall asleep better with exercise and fresh air during the day. Both promote the release of adenosine. Sport, especially outdoors, makes you tired earlier in the evening. But be careful: It also raises blood pressure, pulse and breathing rate. The same applies to exciting films. So if you keep yourself busy in the evening in this way, you won’t get much rest. [2]
Shift active phases to earlier hours so that you don’t lie awake in bed. You should finish your sports programme at least two to three hours before going to bed so that you have enough time to switch off. [1]
4. Avoid sleep killers in the evening
The good old rule should not be missing from our tips for falling asleep: No caffeine and no heavy food in the evening. Drinks containing caffeine, such as coffee, cola or black tea, should disappear from your menu after lunch. You should also avoid fatty foods in the evening, because they keep your digestive tract busy and make you sleep more restlessly.
You should completely avoid using alcohol to help you fall asleep, because although it can speed up falling asleep, it suppresses the deep and REM sleep phases – so this is not healthy sleep. It also ensures that you wake up again and again in the morning. [5]
By the way: Watching TV or surfing the internet for a long time in the evening keeps you awake. Find out why and how you can save your sleep in front of the screen in our article on the perfect morning and evening routine.
Sources
[1] Soutschek, Stephan: Was beim Einschlafen wirklich hilft. ApothekenUmschau, aktualisiert am 07.06.2018. Letzter Zugriff: 25.01.21, Online
[2] Schlafhygiene: 8 wertvolle Tipps zum Einschlafen. Helios Magazin, aktualisiert am 22.10.2020. Letzter Zugriff: 25.01.21, Online
[3] Hery-Moßmann, Nicole: Wandfarben im Schlafzimmer: Diese Farben sorgen für einen gesunden Schlaf, 07.12.2018. Letzter Zugriff: 25.01.21, Online
[4] Welche Farben sorgen für einen entspannten, ruhigen und vor allem gesunden Schlaf? Einfach. Gesund. Schlafen. Das Online-Magazin für perfekten Schlaf, 25.07.2016. Letzter Zugriff: 25.01.21, Online
[5] Arkac, Muzaffer: Schlafhygiene: 15 Tipps für besseren Schlaf von Dr. med. Muzaffer Arkac. Oberbergkliniken. Letzter Zugriff: 25.01.21, Online
