HEALTH

 

There’s nothing worse than getting cozy under the covers and turning off the light...and still being awake over an hour later, wanting more than anything to be asleep. You toss and turn, cover your head with a pillow, glare at the ceiling and nothing. You’re as wide awake as you were this afternoon, chatting with your friends at lunch. This happens to everyone from time to time, but it's frustrating when it happens every night. While some people fall asleep within five minutes of lying down, the rest of us need a lot more time and a lot more effort. Here are some tips to help you speed up your sleep:

1. Avoid screens. Don’t climb into bed and immediately use your phone to scroll through your best friend’s brother’s ex-girlfriend’s Insta for two hours and then get frustrated when you're no longer tired. The light from your screen tricks your body that it's still daytime, and it can actually keep you awake. So when it’s time to hit the hay, put the electronics away.

2. Take a warm shower before bed. Rinse away all the stress from your day and relax your bod in a steamy shower. Showering is also when we get a lot of our deep thinking done, so you’ll be able to do it now rather than while you’re laying in bed.

3. Turn on background noise. When you're struggling to fall asleep, every little creak of the house and snore from our brother down the hall drives us up the wall. Often, a constant noise can drown all those other distractions out and calm our wired systems down. A dehumidifier, an air conditioner, or even playing some white noise on your phone (try this app) can work wonders.

4. Listen to music. We don’t mean playing “Don’t Let Me Down” and dancing in your bed everytime the beat drops. Playing calming classical music has the same effect that white noise does, and can soothe any of those thoughts or feelings that are preventing you from sleeping.

5. Cool off. It turns out that being “too warm” is a common reason why we can’t sleep, since our body wants to be a little chilly. Ask your parents to lower the heat in your room a few degrees, or turn on the fan if you have one. The ideal sleep temp? Around 65 degrees.

What do you do when you can’t sleep? Tell us in the comments!

by Amy Garcia | 10/14/2016