Can’t Sleep? Try These 4 Tips to Fall Asleep Fast & Stay Asleep Longer

Are you finding it hard to unwind at night? Or perhaps you’re waking up still feeling fatigued after a full night’s sleep? You’re not alone. For women between the ages of 35 and 55, especially those going through perimenopause, achieving restful sleep can be a challenge.

Sleep is a foundational part of wellbeing. Your body needs deep, quality sleep to recover and restore your cells after the stresses of a long day. Sleep is especially important for your brain; it’s during sleep that you consolidate memories and repair your neurons.
Here we offer four expert-based strategies to enhance your sleep quality and counter sleep concerns, so you can wake up feeling refreshed and rejuvenated.

1. Black out your room

Transforming your room into a dark sanctuary at night is possibly the most direct way to enhance your sleep quality. Humans have evolved without exposure to much light post-sunset. Our brains get disoriented when exposed to especially blue light at night, impacting our sleep hormone, melatonin, and adjusting our internal circadian rhythm or our internal sleep-wake cycle (1).  Fire, our sole artificial light source for thousands of years, is almost entirely red light — and interestingly, red light does not impact your ability to fall asleep . Some think this may be a sign we were meant to fall asleep next to a fire.

Block every bit of light, especially blue light, from entering your bedroom at night. You want your room dark enough that you can’t see your hand when you hold it in front of your face. Even a small amount of light — from your internet router or computer power button, for example — will affect your sleep.

Get blackout shades for your windows, and use something to cover up every little light source in your room, from your Wifi router to the flashing light on your smoke alarm. Electrical tape is a great way to cover small light sources. You’ll be amazed by how much more deeply you sleep when you black out your room.

And since I mentioned it, make sure that internet router is at least 10-15 feet from your bed!

Related: How to Make Your Bedroom a Toxin-Free Sanctuary

2. Limit blue light before bed

You want to block blue light while you sleep. You also want to limit blue light before you sleep, for the same reasons. Turn off bright artificial lights for the couple hours before bed, switching instead to lights with amber bulbs, like night lights. Doing so will help your melatonin production stay on track and normalize your internal clock, so you can fall asleep at a good hour.

Your phone and computer are also bothersome sources of blue light. If you’re going to use your computer at night, download f.lux; it’s a great free app that syncs with the sunset and replaces all the blue light in your monitor with amber light. It looks a little weird at first, but it’ll improve your sleep.

You can do the same with your phone. Most smartphones have a “night mode” option in their settings that filters out blue light.

3. No caffeine after 2PM

Coffee is great for you in moderation, but for the sake of your sleep, keep your caffeine consumption to the morning. Research shows that having coffee 6 hours before you go to bed still disrupts your sleep . Aim for at least 8 hours between caffeine intake and bedtime. A good rule of thumb is to stop drinking anything caffeinated after 2PM.

If you’re particularly sensitive to caffeine, you may want to cut it out entirely, or switch to something with small amounts of caffeine, like green tea.

4. Take the right sleep supplements

The right supplements can make a world of difference in your sleep quality. I made East West Sleep Savior to help you fall asleep faster, stay asleep without waking up, and get more deep, restorative sleep. It has a combination of three potent sleep supplements, all in the right doses:

• Magnesium is a key mineral that stimulates GABA, your brain’s primary calming neurotransmitter, aiding relaxation, and reducing anxiety and stress at a cellular level (4). Research suggests that close to 80% of people have a magnesium deficiency, making it a beneficial supplement for most.

People who took magnesium an hour before bed saw a major increase in deep, stage 4 sleep . Another study found that women who took magnesium before bed fell asleep faster and woke up fewer times throughout the night . Magnesium also plays an essential part in muscle relaxation. Taking magnesium helps your muscles release tension, helping your mind & body to wind down at night (7).

• Melatonin, when taken as a supplement, can help you fall asleep faster and stay asleep longer (9). You produce melatonin naturally at night, but if you have trouble falling asleep, supplementing with melatonin can make a big difference. It also increases REM sleep (that’s the deep sleep when you dream) .
• Magnolia bark is a staple of Traditional Chinese Medicine, where it’s been used for centuries as a way to promote healthy, natural sleep. A study of 89 women found that magnolia bark helped them fall asleep faster and decreased sleep disturbances .

East West Sleep Savior will ease you into deep, restorative sleep. Combine it with blacking out your room, avoiding blue light in the evening, and limiting your caffeine to the morning. You’ll be amazed by how much better you sleep, and how good you feel when you wake up.

References

1. Tosini, G., Ferguson, I., & Tsubota, K. (2016). Effects of blue light on the circadian system and eye physiology. Molecular vision, 22, 61. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4734149/
2. Figueiro, M. G., & Rea, M. S. (2010). The effects of red and blue lights on circadian variations in cortisol, alpha amylase, and melatonin. International journal of endocrinology, 2010. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2905913/
3. Drake, C., Roehrs, T., Shambroom, J., & Roth, T. (2013). Caffeine effects on sleep taken 0, 3, or 6 hours before going to bed. Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine, 9(11), 1195-1200. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3805807/
4. Galland, L. (1993). Magnesium, stress and neuropsychiatric disorders. Magnesium and trace elements, 10, 287-287. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1844561
5. Held, K., Antonijevic, I. A., Künzel, H., Uhr, M., Wetter, T. C., Golly, I. C., … & Murck, H. (2002). Oral Mg2+ supplementation reverses age-related neuroendocrine and sleep EEG changes in humans. Pharmacopsychiatry, 35(04), 135-143. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12163983
6. Nielsen, F. H., Johnson, L. K., & Zeng, H. (2010). Magnesium supplementation improves indicators of low magnesium status and inflammatory stress in adults older than 51 years with poor quality sleep. Magnesium Research, 23(4), 158-168. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21199787
7. Altura, B. M., & Altura, B. T. (2001). Tension headaches and muscle tension: is there a role for magnesium?. Medical hypotheses, 57(6), 705-713. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11918431
8. Ford, E. S., & Mokdad, A. H. (2003). Dietary magnesium intake in a national sample of US adults. The Journal of Nutrition, 133(9), 2879-2882. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12949381
9. Ferracioli-Oda, E., Qawasmi, A., & Bloch, M. H. (2013). Meta-analysis: melatonin for the treatment of primary sleep disorders. PloS one, 8(5), e63773. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23691095
10. Dijk, D. J., & Cajochen, C. (1997). Melatonin and the circadian regulation of sleep initiation, consolidation, structure, and the sleep EEG. Journal of biological rhythms, 12(6), 627-635. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9406038
11. Mucci, M., Carraro, C., Mancino, P., Monti, M., Papadia, L. S., Volpini, G., & Benvenuti, C. (2006). Soy isoflavones, lactobacilli, Magnolia bark extract, vitamin D3 and calcium. Controlled clinical study in menopause. Minerva ginecologica, 58(4), 323-334. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16957676