How to fall asleep fast
There's no trick that reliably puts you to sleep in 60 seconds. In one leading model of insomnia, trying hard to sleep is part of what keeps people awake.1 What has research behind it: a specific to-do list, written for 5 minutes before bed.2 Then go to bed only when sleepy, and get up if you've lain awake and frustrated for about 15 to 20 minutes.3,4
Tonight: a 5-minute bedtime brain dump
Writing a to-do list for the next few days, for 5 minutes before lights out, got 57 healthy young adults to sleep significantly faster in a sleep lab than writing about tasks they had already finished.2 Half did one, half did the other.
The more specific the list, the faster its writer fell asleep.2
- Paper: A notebook and pen by the bed, not your phone.
- Timer: Set it for 5 minutes.
- Write: Every task you need to remember for the next few days, as specifically as you can.
- Close it: Put the notebook down. The list will be there in the morning.
Specific beats vague.
"Work stuff" gives your mind nothing to put down. "Email Dana the invoice by 10 a.m. Thursday" does.
Bedtime brain dump: write every task you need to remember for the next few days. For each one, add when or how you'll do it. Keep going until the 5 minutes are up.
Answer this with Joy"Call the dentist at 9 to move Friday's appointment. Buy dog food on the way home tomorrow. Finish slide 4 before the 2 p.m. meeting."
The limits: it was one night, in healthy people aged 18 to 30, and the to-do list was compared with another writing task rather than with no writing at all.2
It costs five minutes and a pen, and it may suit you best if what keeps you up is the list of things you haven't done yet.
Use the bed only for sleep
This is stimulus control, one of the parts of cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I). The American Academy of Sleep Medicine suggests it as a treatment on its own for long-term insomnia.5 The idea is to make your bed a cue for sleep again, not for lying awake. These steps follow the academy's patient guide and the NHS.
- Go to bed only when you feel sleepy, not just because it's the usual time.3
- If you can't fall asleep and start to get frustrated, after about 15 to 20 minutes for most people, get up.4
- Do something quiet to pass the time, like reading something dull. Try not to check the clock.4
- Go back to bed when you feel sleepy again.4 Repeat as often as you need to.
- Get up at the same time every morning, even after a bad night.3
"At 12:40 I'd been lying there long enough to feel annoyed. I went to the couch and read the same boring manual until my eyes got heavy, then went back."
It can feel backward to get out of bed when all you want is sleep, but lying there frustrated, night after night, is exactly the habit this breaks.
What to think about in bed
Pushing thoughts away doesn't tend to work. Picturing an engaging, detailed scene got people with insomnia to sleep faster than no instructions at all, in a study of 41 people, while those told only to "distract yourself" did no better than the group given nothing.6
So pick a scene and fill it in: walking a route you know well, step by step, or redesigning a room down to the color of the door handles. It should be interesting enough to hold your attention, and calm enough that it doesn't wake you up.
If the thoughts are worries, give them a time earlier in the evening instead. In one five-night study, writing down possible solutions left students with insomnia less mentally wound up at bedtime than writing the worries alone.7 There's more on that in racing thoughts at night.
Things that help a little, and things that don't
- Caffeine. A review of 24 studies found caffeine made it take 9 minutes longer to fall asleep and cut total sleep by 45 minutes.8 The authors suggest having coffee at least 8.8 hours before bed.8 For an 11 p.m. bedtime, that means no coffee after about 2 p.m.
- Breathing and relaxation. The sleep academy's guideline suggests relaxation as a treatment for long-term insomnia.5 A slow breath out is easy to do lying down. The 4-7-8 breathing timer shows each count as text, so you can follow it with one eye open.
- Sleep hygiene on its own. A dark room, no screens, no late meals: the NHS lists these, and they're reasonable.3 But the sleep academy's guideline advises against using sleep hygiene alone as the treatment for long-term insomnia.5
- Trying harder. In Allison Harvey's model of insomnia, worry about not sleeping raises arousal, then people watch for signs they're not sleeping, which feeds more worry.1 Effort is part of the loop.
- Worry: For example, "If I don't sleep now, tomorrow is ruined."
- Alert body: Your body stays keyed up and your thoughts keep running.
- Checking: You watch the clock and notice every sign you're still awake.
- More worry: What you notice feeds the first thought, and the loop starts again.
The 60-second tricks
The most shared tricks have no studies behind them. We couldn't find any research testing the "military method" (relax your face, drop your shoulders, clear your mind for 10 seconds) or claims of falling asleep in 60 seconds. They may help some people relax, and that's all anyone can say for them yet.
Sleeping in to "catch up" is the other popular move, and the NHS advises the opposite: keep your usual hours after a bad night.3
If it's been months
See a doctor if poor sleep has gone on for months, if changing your habits hasn't helped, or if it's making daily life hard to cope with. The NHS treats 3 months or more as long-term insomnia.3
CBT-I is the first treatment the American College of Physicians recommends for long-term insomnia, ahead of sleeping pills.9 It works online too: a review of 11 trials with 1,460 people found online CBT-I helped about as much as face-to-face CBT-I.10
Questions people ask
How can I fall asleep fast right now?
Of everything here, imagery is the one you can start this second, in the dark, without moving. Choose a walk you know by heart and take it slowly in your head, noticing each door and corner.6 If irritation builds instead of sleep, that's your cue to get up for a while.4
How do military people fall asleep fast?
The "military method" is widely shared online, but we couldn't find a study that tested it. Relaxing your body and picturing a calm scene is close to imagery distraction, which did help people with insomnia fall asleep faster in one study.6
What is the 10-3-2-1 rule for sleep?
It's a popular rule of thumb: no caffeine 10 hours before bed, no food or alcohol 3 hours before, no work 2 hours before, no screens 1 hour before. We couldn't find a study that tested it as a whole. The caffeine part is close to the research: a review suggested coffee at least 8.8 hours before bed.8
Is it normal to take 30 minutes to fall asleep?
The NHS doesn't set a number of minutes. It suggests seeing a GP if trouble sleeping goes on for months, or makes daily life hard to cope with.3
Does reading in bed help you sleep?
If you have insomnia, the sleep academy's rules keep the bed for sleep and sex, so the book moves to a chair until you're drowsy.4
Related
- Racing thoughts at night: when the same worries keep coming back in bed.
- How to stop overthinking: for the loops that start before bedtime.
- 4-7-8 breathing: a timer you can follow lying down.