NainaLimbekar

Yes there are some techniques you can try to help fall asleep quicker! You mentioned some of them. The key to help promoting sleep is to relax your mind and your brain! You can do this by deep breathing exercises, taking a hot shower before bedtime, distracting your mind with some relaxing sounds or audio book, progressive muscle relaxation, and avoiding dinner or eating heavily too close to bedtime. If your anxious or worry about things, you can try journaling before bedtime to get all of those thoughts out before you hit the sack!

Usually it is a drop in temperature that helps promote sleep. Make sure your bedroom is cool and dark which can help promote sleep. You can check out my podcast below for more tips and tricks!

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/sleep-on-it/id1515992116

I generally do not recommend the long term use of any pharmacological agent including melatonin or benadryl to treat insomnia. Melatonin is a an agent that can be helpful in treating circadian disorders (advanced or delayed sleepers) but it is not recommended by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine to use in people with insomnia.

There are ways we can train our brain to fall asleep faster. One of the less known ways is use to light as important gatekeeper of sleep. By getting plenty of sunlight exposure throughout the day, we are priming our brains to fall asleep faster at night! In the same way we want lots of daytime light exposure, we want to strategically avoid bright lights before bedtime that can have an arousing or alerting effect on the brain instead.

Additionally, the timing of meals and exercise is also important. Avoiding eating anything to spicy or heavy before bedtime which can trigger insomnia, and also dinner should be at least 2 hours before bedtime. Avoiding exercising late into the evening is also important as it can have an alerting effect on the mind and body.

Excellent question! "Catching up" on sleep is real and important way you can pay off your " sleep debt". Research suggests that you can make up for sleep time lost during the weekdays over the weekends and this can have a positive impact on your overall health. However, ideally, try to optimize a consistent sleep routine where you can get between 6-8 hours of sleep a night!

Keeping a consistent sleep routine, avoiding caffeine after early morning hours , avoiding alcohol before bedtime, getting plenty of day light exposure in the morning and afternoon, avoiding bright light at night, and exercising routinely ideally in the morning!

Great question. Although many notice that drinking alcohol can help you fall asleep faster, it does have a few negative impacts on sleep. Alcohol causes greater awakenings throughout the night and can also suppress REM stage of sleep which is important to feel refreshed. A poor night of sleep can definitely cause some symptoms of anxiety so best to avoid alcohol close to bed time.