My Weird-But-Amazing Trick for Falling Asleep

I also do this!!! It always makes me calm down and fall asleep. So interesting that this is a method others use too….

I list all the states in alphabetical order.

Love this!

I don’t have trouble falling asleep, but staying asleep is a different matter – as one of the many gifts of perimenopause, I regularly wake up at 2-3 am and can’t shut off my brain. I use this trick, and it almost always works to help me go back to sleep: pick a 4 letter word (let’s say “CHIP”) and come up with as many words as you can using the first letter (cap, candy, craigs, cane, cord, carrot, candle…), then move on to the next (hot, hat, happy, hound, hand…), then the next, etc. I don’t usually make it past the 2nd or 3rd letter!

I list all the ice cream flavors I can think of in categories. Like all the nut flavors: butter pecan, black walnut, pistachio…. Puts me right to sleep and makes me happy.

I like to imagine my grandmother’s home (or any other family member/interesting house I’ve seen) and think about if I inherited it, what I would do to renovate.

I love all these suggestions. What works most consistently for me is Jim Dale reading Harry Potter, or if I’m on the road and watching TV, Friends or Golden Girls knock me right out. When my kids were little and I desperately needed a nap during their nap, chanting “baby-free sleep” worked like a safety-charm.

Ha I used to do this also! I somehow moved away from it but might start again after reading this!

I have no trouble falling asleep but if I wake up and can not get back to sleep. I use the 4 6 8 rule. Take a deep breath for 4 seconds …hold it for 6 seconds …and breath out slowly for. 8 seconds. Repeat if necessary…. Next thing you know it is 7 A.M. Works every time for me

To fall asleep I first say the word “sleep” and then I name all of the characters in order of appearance in the most recent novel I have read. Works most of the time.

I mentally win a HUGE sum in the lottery, like $25 million and then spend it in specific ways…$250,000 to Habitat for Humanity to sponsor 250 people going on global builds, $15,000 for at risk kids Christmas wish lists, $15,000 to take family and friends on safari to celebrate (make guest list), $20,000 booster for local food bank and make Costco list for it…..snooze.

I picture and mentally walk through every house I’ve ever lived in, spent time in, can remember. I’ll start at the front door and walk through. I used to wake from nightmares sometimes and this would always calm me and bore me back to sleep. xo

Id also suggest Yoga Nidra for falling asleep – Amy on Youtube does a good job

I realize this goes against every piece of sleep advise out there, but it works for me almost immediately. I have a Kindle Fire I read on, but I also stream shows on it if I have trouble falling asleep – I put on blue shade, sink the brightness and volume and ONLY stream 90’s sitcoms (Fraizer, Will & Grace, Friends). The shows are familiar and light, not riveting so I’m not invested, but enough to focus on to distract my brain from spinning and within minutes I’m always asleep. The Kindle is also tiny and light and shuts itself off, so not startling if I wake up… and it’s not my phone, so no temptation to check email or socials – I only have books and streaming apps on the Kindle.

I have a baby and a 4 year old so I get to the end of the day exhausted and I’m asleep within a couple of minutes, but the I wake up to feed the baby or because my older daughter needs something and my mind starts racing and I’m up for an hour, thinking about work, money, parenting, aging parents, when we’ll have to replace the roof… any tricks for that?

This reminds me of the trick I used when I was pregnant, when I needed to fall back asleep after getting up to pee in the night (what felt like 100 times, ha). I would think about my gardening list and what I wanted to do next in the garden. Always knocked me out

I have somewhat of a similar technique, although, instead of picking out what I would wear the following day, I think of an item of of clothing, like a sweater, and design in my head what I think the perfect sweater would look like. I’ve also done it for rooms in my house, like what would I want my perfect kitchen to look like. Knocks me right out.

This is so fascinating to me. I suspect that I have (undiagnosed) ADHD and that that might be why this technique or the similar ones others have suggested will not work for me. If I start thinking about something like what to wear tomorrow I will quickly start of a million other tangential things: what clothing I need to replace and when and where to shop for it and what clothes urgently needs to be washed or mended and why am I even holding on to the pokey bras and will my daughter need a first bra soon and how mortifying it was when my mother took me bra shopping as a tween and we ran into my longtime crush, our arms full of lingerie. I would be WIDE awake after this thought exercise.

I did cognitive behavioral therapy after years of insomnia and it was very challenging but it helped. I recommend for people with chronic refractory insomnia. Best of luck!

My Father in Law – who suffered from bouts of insomnia like myself – gave me this trick. If I am having trouble falling asleep, I just tell myself “if Im not asleep in 20 minutes then I will get up and do some housework” I think think about what task Im going to do and 9 times out of 10 by the time 20 minutes rolls around I am fast asleep!

I pick a random topic or thing and try to come up with an example of that thing for every letter of the alphabet. Last night’s Italian first names for men. The night before that was generic drugs. Other nights: pasta shape names, flowers, colors that have more than syllables. I usually never make it past H.

Mine is similar in concept. I envision everything I would change/upgrade about my house – realistically – should I have a couple hundred thousand dollars at my disposal. I mentally walk through room to room. For instance, I’d tear down the garage and add a new one with a small apartment-like living space on top for my mother. Usually, I make it to the garage and backyard landscaping only before I’m out.

I appreciate how snuggly, warm and wait for it… horizontal I am. I picture how awful it is when I’m exhausted and trying to sleep upright on an airplane and think – lucky me! I am not on a plane right now. I’m at home in my cozy bed. It works almost every time.

I tried this years ago, but it is not a good idea for a person with OCD like me, because I always ended up staying up all night reorganizing my closer, polishing my shoes, changing the bag I want to use, rearranging my jewelry, even trying on lipstick to match the scarf I was planning to wear the next day. Still fun, but no sleep. At all.

Someone may have already mentioned this, but I learned this from Anne Bogel, and it is to count backwards by 3 starting at 300. It works every time and for number nerds like me, it’s awesome to think about its genius in the middle of the day.

I do this, but I also plan house renovations and what to plant in my garden beds. It’s like watching HGTV to fall asleep.

I think about my childhood home and plot out how I would drive from there to a different location. I go step-by-step, literally starting from reversing out of the driveway. There was a stop sign at the end of the road – usually I’m fast asleep by the time I have to make a turn at that stop sign.

Similar visualization trick: go through your day in slow motion moment by moment from waking up to stretching to putting on slippers to drinking water to brushing teeth… I almost never make it past brushing teeth!

I do this too! And if I’m not asleep once I’ve planned outfits for my next few work days I will move on to planning outfits for my next vacation.

There is an old WWI exercise for soldiers falling asleep despite overhead artillery fire. Roll eyes up, to right, down and left repeatedly. This induces a yawn reflex and may help with initial insomnia.

Love it! I pretend I’m sitting at the gate in an airport, headphones on, drinking a coffee, listening to chill music, and waiting for my flight. I inventory all the things I’ve packed for my trip. zzzzzzzzzzzzzz

So funny, because I’ve been doing this for years – not only picking out my outfit for the next day, but also thinking about my wardrobe in general and trends, what I should buy, and how it would look. I once told my mum about this, and she responded that she does the same thing before going to sleep. So, I guess there’s some magic to it when it comes to not trying too hard to fall asleep. :)

Probably someone has mentioned this already, but enough daily exercise is key for sleep.

A wish for women everywhere: May all your bras be “good” bras! Life is too short for the pokey ones.

I am so grateful for this tip. It worked on the first try. I went through a list of the places I have lived and I fell asleep before I made it through the list. Thank you Kelsey!

There are sleep training programs for adults! There are intensive in-person ones for more extreme cases, but my Dr. recommended I start at home on my own as there are a myriad of CBT-based sleep training apps. I ended up using Stellar Sleep, as it was affordable, user-friendly, and backed by Harvard. It wasn’t quick or fun, but it worked when nothing else was working. Do check with your Dr. as they may have different recommendations based on exactly what you’re having trouble with (falling asleep, staying asleep, waking too early, etc.).

Same idea here,deciding what I will eat for breakfast. Do we have english muffins? We have peaches now,yum. And I’m happy I finally made some granola to have with my yogurt Also, floor plans. My neighbors, my friends, mine but improved. These two usually work like a charm..

Since October I have been setting my Libby app to play 30 minutes of the Pride and Prejudice audiobook to help me fall asleep. When my library loan expires I just check it out again–it’s one of the books that’s always available. And when I finsh I just go back to the beginning. It works like a charm.

I do this too!

When I was younger and couldn’t sleep, my dad (a therapist) would recommend that I create a Christmas list for Santa Claus — suggesting that the act of creating a list is the equivalent to counting sheep to sleep. Now, when I REALLY can’t sleep and my usual nightly “prayers” don’t work, I name each Real Housewives franchise and their housewives (there have been over 100 of them) — it sounds ridiculous, but it works!

I lovvvvvvvve reading about people’s sleep habits. Why? Who knows. One of my kids was a TERRIBLE sleeper for years. Just as his sleeping improved…..perimenopause torpedoed mine. So far, what works really well? A cold, cold room + weighted blanket. When I travel alone, I always reserve a room with two beds: I set the thermostat to 67 and layer the two duvets over me and have the softest slumber. The stuff of middle-aged dreams!

I gave up my pillow for sleeping on my back and stomach and I sleep longer stretches now. You know how good you feel during shavasana (corpse pose) at the end of yoga? No pillow needed. I do roll up a hand towel for under my neck as a cozy security blanket, but don’t miss the pillow one bit. My next project is to learn to side-sleep without a pillow…

My tried-and-true method, from my childhood til adulthood, would be to tell myself a story in my head. I was a prolific writer until I hit my twenties and I’d just start composing a story in my head. I had a few go-to openings or tropes I’d return to over and over and to this day, at 35, if I’m really struggling to fall asleep I just start one of my old stories again. A newer method I’ve tried that’s similar to Kelsey’s is to picture your route going somewhere. If I start mapping my morning commute from the first step out my front door, I will be asleep before I hit dream-state Grand Central Terminal.

My husband does this thing where he gets into bed behind me, puts both his arms around me and pulls my body back into his in one quick, strong motion, then just spoons me like that. I immediately feel all the cortisol leave my body and the stress of my day melt away. I’m feel so safe, warm, loved and tired that I fall asleep right away.

My kids have always been bad at falling asleep. My daughter loves art so I give her a picture to draw. Like a big tree with a rainbow and a dog sleeping under the tree. For my son, he loves sports. I have him create his all star team for whatever sport is current.

My number 1 sleep tip is ZERO caffeine after 7am and only one half portion, at that. (I’m an early riser, usually 5am most mornings because I love the peace and quiet.) I have 1/4 tsp matcha tea followed by about 4 cups of my special herbal tea, mixed to taste like black tea, (otherwise I am not satisfied.). Then at night, a couple pages of a bedtime book and I am out. Another VERY important tip is to start winding down around 4pm, (for me) but at least two hours before bedtime and if you have kids, let them know that after 6pm it’s wind down time – no loud anything, get ready for bed with showers/teeth cleaning/pajama’s, etc. All that prep prepares the brain and begins to work like a trigger for future sleeps. – Obviously no sugar or chocolate for the last 4 hours before bed. Also, do not expect to sleep if you have had too much food for dinner. Your body will be trying to digest all that, and then sometimes, will give you energy because of all the fuel you just gave it. I keep banana’s on the counter just for evening snacks as they are soporific. It all works for me. Hope this helps someone else too!

I think of every single place I’ve lived, and what direction it faced, and what direction (N, S, W, E) my feet must have pointed when I slept in that bed, in that bedroom, in that house. Takes me awhile to figure out, and I rarely make it past college dorm rooms into adulthood (nor do I remember the correct answers from night to night)

I walk myself through a house that I’ve lived in at some point in my life – sometimes childhood, sometimes one as an adult – remembering furniture placement, etc. I usually don’t get past the first 3 rooms.

I’m actually very good at falling asleep, but TERRIBLE at planning what I’m going to wear to work in the morning, so I may implement this in my bedtime routine anyway!

My trick, which works amazingly well – when I wake up in the night, I turn on an audiobook. I usually pick one I’ve already listened to, so it’s just engaging enough to distract me from trying to sleep but not so engaging that I want to stay awake listening to it.

I have done this for years without even realizing it’s a trick! Another variation — mentally pack for an upcoming trip

Does anyone actually have only “good” bras???

Occasionally I wake up in the middle of the night feeling tight and anxious and wired. I’ve tried all sort of mental tricks but the only thing that works for me in that situation is getting up, dragging my pillow out to the couch, and reading my Kindle in the dark on the couch. Within 30min, I usually fall asleep on the couch and sleep there until morning. Something about changing location interrupts the anxiety!

My trick is to pick a category – like books, bands, or vegetables – and then go through the alphabet. A is for ABBA, B is for Beastie Boys, etc. I almost never make it to Z!

I will try this! I do something similar, which I hadn’t really thought about as a sleep strategy, but it does help me fall asleep: I think about what we’re having for dinner for the next night and think about the steps and plan out what order I should do things in. Like, “OK, we’re having mini pizzas. First I’ll need to pre-heat the oven, then I’ll grate the cheese and slice the tomatoes while the oven’s preheating. Oh, we’re having salad too, I should prep that first. Maybe we can use up the cucumber in the fridge…etc.” I have suffered from insomnia and one thing that has helped is–instead of looking at the clock and feeling stressed out about how late it is and how little sleep I’m getting–really making an effort to re-frame it as “I have five whole hours to sleep. I’m going to feel so much better after I sleep for five hours.” (or however long it is.) It does help!

I roll my eyes back in their sockets. Something about that trigger to the brain or the synapses says its ok to fall asleep. I thought I was the only one to do this and then my best friend just told me she does it too!

What a delightful article! I am so glad you found your own unique solution to sleep troubles.

I do this, too, and never really thought about it as a sleep trick but it is! My actual sleep trick when I need one is to go to a house in my mind and visit it, like my grandmother’s house or the house I grew up in, and walk around and see the details.

I listen to audiobooks, but they can’t be things I’m vitally interested in. Either I listen to books I’ve reread so often that I can drift in and out of them with ease, or I listen to Great Courses on subjects I find interesting but not enthralling. The geology one is excellent. I’ll sort of wake up in the night and hear a little bit about tectonic plates and nod right off again.

This is so charming, thanks for sharing!

I play tennis :) (it can be any sport)

So interesting! I believe there’s a sleep researcher in Canada who has done work on this kind of low-stakes/pleasant visualisation exercise where you pick a word visualise the visualise it, then visualise objects the names of which start with each letter of the original word. Something about tacking between words/logic and visuals. And low stakes. Sounds like the outfit exercise would do some very similar brain stuff with the added bonus of not being a labelled sleep exercise, genius.

I’ve been learning Spanish for a few years and go through vocabulary in my head. It always works!

I have had trouble sleeping for years, going from not falling asleep, waking up at night, not falling back asleep, and waking up too early (not all at once, but some of it consistently). My doctor sent me to a sleep clinic, but nothing was wrong. So the doctor at the clinic gave me a rigid regiment to train my body and brain again to sleep well. If anyone wants to try it, here’s the schedule: – Only lay in bed for 6 hours (I did midnight to 6 am), don’t sleep during the day. Track how long it takes you to fall asleep (approximately), if you wake up at night and how long you’ve been awake, and what time you woke up and what time you got up. This gives you two numbers: 1. The time you were laying in bed, and the time you were asleep. Calculate the percentage of time you were asleep (e.g. 360 min in bed, and you were sleeping 320 min of that time, which gives you 89% (the formula for that is 320 / 360 * 100 = 88.9%)). You want to achieve >90%. – After two weeks, when you’ve consistently reached 90% or higher, you increase your bed-laying-time by 30 min. Same regiment as before. – Repeat that until you have reached your needed amount of sleep. The first two weeks are GRUELING, but it works really really well, and your sleep gets better within a few days. If you can’t do 6 hours to start with, you can do 7, but keep it up for 4 weeks before you increase. Please note that I am not a doctor, I am just telling you what my doctor told me to do, and it has worked for me.

All I need is a book I really want to keep reading and I’ll usually be asleep within minutes. few years ago I worked as regional manager for a school district and when I had trouble falling asleep I would list the 40-odd schools I was in charge of in alphabetical order in my head. worked like a charm.

As a person whose brain won’t shut off I need external noise to keep me out of my own head. “Sleep with me” podcast is perfection- rambling and nonsensical, can’t follow it if you try, rambling stories made to lull you to sleep. I also love a Sally Rooney audiobook— love them when awake but the dialogue heavy plot and soothing Irish accents are so lovely. I’ll shift in and out of sleep and be comforted by the familiar characters and cadence of the story.

Equal parts CBD and THC. 5mg has been my sweet spot for years. I know that THC can impact quality of sleep, but it stops me from dreaming. A god send for coping with PTSD nightmares. Any lingering grogginess the next day is nothing compared to the disorientation of sleep deprivation! It’s not for everyone, but I’m so thankful this combo works for me!

Reciting the alphabet … backwards! Bonus points for doing it in anher language (French, anyone?). Or trying to give your phone number in as many different languages as you’re able to. Greetings from Switzerland a

If I wake up at night and can’t fall back to sleep and my partner is also awake (from my thrashing around) I ask them to switch sides of the bed with me and 100% of the time it resets my brain enough to go back to sleep. Changing spaces is good for anxiety.

My husband taught me a trick to fall asleep – pick any word (knit) and list ALL the words you can think of that start with K. Once you think you have them all, go to N, etc etc. works every time!