Sleep Tips: These Are The 7 Best Tricks

Who doesn’t know it: at night you toss and turn for hours and sleep simply won’t come. Our 7 tips for falling asleep will help!

Many Americans sleep badly

About 50 to 70 million people in the US suffer from sleep problems and roll from one side to the other at night. The causes of poor sleep are many and varied: mental stress can be just as responsible for this as physical illness. But how do you get back to rest – and to sleep? Our sleep tips can help!

Sleeping aids: The best tips for falling asleep at a glance

You want to get a good night’s sleep? Then try our tips! But remember: As different as the causes for bad sleep are, as varied are the methods that help. Not all of our tips will help everyone equally well. A good sign is when you noticeably relax and your thoughts come to rest when implementing the tips for falling asleep. The following tips are easy to implement and help with acute sleep problems during the night:

• Lavender bag: Lavender is known for its relaxing and calming effect and is also frequently used in sleeping pills. To be lulled into sweet dreams by the scent of lavender, simply place a small lavender bag under your pillow. Alternatively, you can also dribble one or two drops of lavender oil on a cloth and place it next to the pillow.
• Warm milk: the absolute classic among the tips for falling asleep – and not without reason. Because milk contains both melatonin, known as the sleep hormone, and the amino acid tryptophan, which promotes sleep. But: Actually, the amount of both contained in a cup of milk is too small to achieve great effects. It is assumed that the milk has more of a placebo effect and the sedation it induces will eventually help you sleep. By the way, whether you drink it pure or mixed with honey, for example, is up to you.

• Relaxation music and sounds: There is a good reason why, as children, we so often listened to radio plays at bedtime! Soft music, radio plays and books, white noise, podcasts and the like distract us from our circulating thoughts and help us relax. So the next time you stare brightly awake at the dark ceiling, just let some music or something similar play in the background.
• Breathing exercises: Breathing exercises are not only great for literally breathing away stress in hectic everyday life, they also help us fall asleep. The so-called 4-7-8 technique is said to be particularly helpful. To do this, lie on your mattress in a comfortable lying position, move your tongue back towards your palate and press lightly against it. Then breathe in slowly and count to four in your mind. Now hold your breath and count again mentally, but this time to seven. Breathe out and count to eight, then start again from the beginning.

• Carry out sleep ritual: A personal ritual to end the day and prepare for the night helps you sleep better. Because monotony, which one usually tries to avoid, relaxes. Which ritual is the best one, everyone has to decide for himself: Some prefer to read a few more pages in a book, others practice some Hatha Yoga before going to bed. The main thing is to perform the ritual daily.
• Move: Exercise in everyday life is always good for us: it helps us cope with stress, keeps us fit – and makes us tired. But that doesn’t mean that you should attend a spinning class late in the evening to fall into bed exhausted. This tends to produce the opposite effect: The body is then in a complete adrenaline rush and does not come to rest. In order to be able to fall asleep well in the evening, one should instead exhaust oneself in the late afternoon so that the body has enough time to go down until bedtime. But then one is still tired.

Why should I do anything at all about sleep disorders?

Anyone who has problems falling asleep or sleeping through the night should definitely take them seriously and rely on our sleep tips – because in the long run, lack of sleep can make us ill. During sleep, the body regenerates so that we are fit and rested again the next day. Only healthy sleep enables us to live a long and happy life. Chronic sleep disorders can also have these consequences:

• Tiredness and concentration problems during the day: The body needs its nightly sleep. If it doesn’t get it, it tries to make up for it during the day – and reacts with tiredness. Not only does this cause us problems concentrating on our tasks, but we are also significantly less efficient.

• Weight gain: Sleep deprivation has negative effects on the metabolism and hormone balance. For example, it ensures that the production of the appetite-enhancing hormone ghrelin is increased. As a result, we are hungrier during the day and tend to eat more.
• Mood swings: Tiredness also irritates the mood. If sleep disorders persist, we tend to be in an excessively bad mood and have much less patience.
• Depression: Studies show a connection between sleep disorders and an increased risk of mental illness. However, it is not yet fully understood what role genetic factors play in this.
• Weakened immune system: Our immune system also needs a regenerating night’s sleep. If it is missing, we become more susceptible to infections like the common cold.
• Cardiovascular disease: Cardiovascular diseases are directly related to sleep disorders. Chronic sleep deprivation increases the risk of suffering a heart attack by almost 50 percent. The probability of stroke and diabetes also increases significantly.

And if nothing helps?

If the tips on how to fall asleep do not solve the problem, one should promptly go to your doctor to investigate the cause. Because apart from the possible consequences, in the worst case there could also be a disease behind the sleep disturbances, for example a metabolic disorder such as hypothyroidism. This must then be treated.

Reading tips: You’re wondering: What helps against snoring? We have the answer here! We also explain what you should know about sleep disorders, sleep through disorders and burnout and how sleepwalking occurs. And here we tell you what you should know about nightmares and the night terror.