How I Fall Asleep Fast

I often say I am an Olympic level napper. If sleeping was an Olympic sport, I'd be in. I'm good at it. I usually sleep well. I can day-sleep. (Does that make me sound like a vampire?) I can get snatches of power-napping in under pressure. I can fall asleep even if the conditions aren't perfectly comfy, or if I haven't been able to have a bath or read a book or whatever. I sleep well even if I've been on my phone till late.

I can also wake when I need to and be firing on all cylinders. I've always had a bit of a talent for sleeping, which I've practised to a fine art. But the waking up bit was my nemesis for a long time. I was never a morning person. But by honing how I fall alseep, I've also revolutionised the way I wake up.

I firmly believe we've all got to get good at sleeping. It's a keystone of physical and mental health.

If I'm comfortable and already quite sleepy, I can be asleep in three or four breaths.

I prefer not to doze off that fast, because I like to take a moment to picture the stuff I plan to do the following day. But it sometimes happens.

Here's what I do:

First up, I get comfy. I have a position I always fall asleep in - on my right, with my upper leg crooked. Your mileage may vary.

For maximum comfort, I floof my pillow first. Then I tuck the bottom of it where my shoulder joins my neck. When I remember, I also use a body pillow - this stops me from playing keepy-uppy with the kidneys of the person I am sleeping next to.

Next, to get the breath right. I start with deep, full breaths into the tummy, but as you move into sleep, breathing does become more shallow. It's important to let it. A few good breaths with the diaphragm helps release the shoulders - lots of people carry residual tension there.

I do a few in through the nose and out through the mouth - I don't know why this helps kickstart deep relaxation but it does. A physiotherapist once explained it to me, and I completely failed to retain that information. Then I switch to in through the nose and out through the nose. The key here is that (at least to begin with) the exhale needs to be roughly twice as long as the inhale. 4-8 or 5-10 usually works well.

On each out-breath, I repeat an affirmation to myself inside my head. I like to believe I am a cynical, rational person, and maybe that is true on some level. It's what I aspire to be, and what I tell myself about myself. But if I am really honest, I have a suggestible streak a mile wide. I believe most people probably do, although some (lots) won't admit it. More fool them in my opinion. If you are self-aware enough to know about it, you can use it to your advantage. Actual Olympians often use this sort of technique (affirmations and visualisations) to help them achieve their goals, so there is that.

The bottom line is this: if I tell myself something simple that is even halfway believe-able, I start to believe it.

I am a firm believer in the power of Story for a great many things. This is really just a comforting bedtime story that helps me fall asleep. Little kids might appreciate brave children, adventures, princesses, pirates, talking animals, magic, and mythical creatures... But grownups are more comforted by things like, "I'll get my taxes done on time."

A quick word about affirmations:

• make them present tense. This is meant to make them more effective.
• use positive language. For instance, "I am relaxed" instead of "I'm not tense". Your brain will latch on to the key word in the sentence whether it has "not" in front of it or not. Remember that old thing - "don't think of pink elephants!" There! You thought of pink elephants. You can't think of an absence of pink elephants - it's impossible. If you repeat to yourself, "I'm not tense, I'm not tense, I'm not tense", essentially you're just repeating the word "tense" over and over.
• they must resonate with you, or they backfire.

I have a small handful of these little buggers that work well for me. Here's how that looks (I'm using nose-mouth breathing for this bit):

I am calm

I am open

I am sinking further into relaxation with every breath.

I let my breath settle into my own perfect resting rate

I keep each breath slow and steady, really engaging with my diaphragm (feel the tummy inflate and deflate!) While I blow each one out through my mouth, I consciously relax each part of my body. (Those shoulders!) The last one is a reminder to myself to let my breathing change when it needs to.

At this point, if I feel good and soft, I switch to more normal breathing (nose-nose) but still expanding my tummy on the inhale, and making the exhale slower.

I let go of anything I didn't finish today

This step is important - it stops me lying awake thinking about all the things I should have completed that day.

Next - my own inner alarm clock. Don't ask me how it works, but I usually wake myself at the time I need to, give or take ten minutes or so.

I wake at 7am (x7)

If I want to wake at 8am, I'd say, "I wake at 8am" 8x. You get the idea. I keep count with gentle finger presses. I do have an alarm set for 7.30, just in case. These days I hardly ever need it. I do sometimes - if I'm especially tired for some reason, if I'm unwell, or if I fall asleep before I do my alarm clock bit. But I much prefer waking up before my alarm. It's a much nicer way to wake. Possibly because I am waking naturally at the end of the sleep cycle nearest to 7am? I'm not sure. It could be why I feel pretty good and ready to get up and go even if I've had less than the ideal amount of sleep. It's better, in my opinion, to wake at the end of a sleep cycle after 5 hours than smack bang in the middle of one after 7 hours.

I wake feeling refreshed

I wake feeling ready to _____

It might be "get all my invoices done", or "work on my story", or whatever else I am hoping to get done that day. I spend a couple of breaths picturing myself doing the Thing, whatever it is, and everything going well.

This all takes a few minutes at most. I'm usually close to the edge of sleep at this point.

I fall asleep quickly and easily

I sleep deeply and well

I dream only pleasant, restful dreams.

I'm often asleep before I get to the end. If not, I'm so close to sleep I just drift off naturally. If I still feel quite awake, I go back to the beginning (leaving out the alarm clock bit).

To sum up:

- consciously relax every part of the body

- let go of uncompleted tasks

- set intention for the following day, including my wake up time, and laden with heavy reassurance it will all go off without a hitch

- tell myself I'm going to sleep really well and it's going to be great

Of course, it helps to have amazing sex, a hot bath, or read a good book (not too good!) It helps if you have a good mattress and clean sheets. It's definitely a plus if you're able to stay off your phone (good luck). If you've had a soothing drink, so much the better. But being able to put yourself into a deeply relaxed state, or fully asleep, in a short space of time using little more than your breath is *chef's kiss*. Your breath is something that works anywhere. It doesn't get broken, forgotten, or run out of batteries. It isn't dependent on any external factors. It even works reasonably well if you aren't perfectly comfortable.

Give it a try tonight and tell me how you get on!

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Thank you for reading! This isn't my usual content at all - short stories are more my speed! If that's your thing, please give this one a read - it's one of my favourites 😁 If you've already read it, I did a follow up here.