5-Minute Sleep Solutions: How to Drift Off Quickly
Getting a good night’s sleep is vital for your overall well-being and physical health. Unfortunately, for many people, falling asleep quickly and staying asleep the whole night can be challenging. This is where quick, 5-minute sleep solutions come into play.
Adding a few fast techniques to your regular bedtime routine can encourage your body to relax and your mind to stop racing so you can drift off more easily. Below, we’ll touch on some easy sleep solutions you can try in five minutes or less.
Practice Slow, Deep Breathing Patterns With the 4-7-8 Method
Your breathing patterns can affect your nervous system, which regulates your muscle tension, heart rate, motivation, mood, and excitement or relaxation. Taking shallow, rapid breaths or having shortness of breath can cause muscle tension, anxiety or pain while taking deep, slow breaths can calm you down and relax. The 4-7-8 method is straightforward and great for helping you drift off. To practice it, you’ll:
- Put the tip of your tongue up against your upper teeth ridge
- Exhale through your mouth
- 4 - Close your mouth, inhale through your nose, and slowly count to four
- 7 - Stop and hold your breath while you count to seven
- 8 - Count to eight while you slowly exhale from your mouth
Related: CBD to Help Manage Pain
Design Your Bedroom to Promote Sleep
Nights were initially cold and dark before smartphones came around. Light from your electronics and artificial lighting can disrupt your sleep quality and biological clock. So, keeping your bedroom free of noise and artificial light will slowly teach your brain that your bedroom is a sleep-only zone instead of being a place where you fixate on world events or social media. As you train your brain, it’ll start to relax before bed.
So, consider setting up your bedroom as the perfect sleep zone. Don’t have laptops, television, smartphones, or tablets when it’s time to sleep. If you can’t get total darkness, consider wearing an eye mask or getting blackout shades.
Incorporate CBD Products
It’s very common to use CBD products to help you sleep and lower anxiety levels. Along with helping you fall asleep quicker, these products may also help improve how long you sleep and how restful your sleep is. CBD can encourage your body to progress through the natural rest and REM stages without making you wake up and be restless between them, which is helpful for people with circadian rhythm disorders.
As a bonus, it’s very easy to use CBD products to help you sleep. For example, soft gels are a very common way to ingest CBD, and all you have to do is take one or two soft gels for 15 to 20 minutes before you want to go to sleep. This will give it time to get into your system and start relaxing you when it’s time to go to sleep. If that’s not your cup of tea, you could try CBD-infused gummies, bath bombs, or tinctures.
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Practice Guided Imagery
Creating a mental image of a peaceful setting or recalling a relaxing memory can help your body and mind prepare for sleep and reduce stressors. Take deep, slow breaths and focus on all of your image’s small details, including smells, sights, and sounds. This will help you immerse yourself in your imagined scene. In addition, it could be helpful to use a pre-recorded podcast or soundtrack to help guide your thoughts.
Related: Full Spectrum CBD for Insomnia
Play Peaceful Music or White Noise
Sleeping with a lot of background noise can make it difficult to relax your brain and fall into a deep sleep. Start by reducing annoying or unnecessary sounds, then consider listening to soothing music that helps you block out the external noise and relax.
Try preparing a playlist that you play 15 to 20 minutes before you sleep to help create a routine for yourself. Add soothing sounds, like rainfall, waves at the beach, or thunderstorms, to your list. A white noise machine is another option if you try it and get too distracted by the sounds.
Try the Military Method
Military members commonly have less-than-ideal sleeping spaces and inconsistent schedules that can disrupt their sleep patterns. Soldiers developed this technique to fall asleep in two minutes, and it includes:
- Get comfortable and slowly relax every part of your face, like your brow, jaw, lips, and eyelids.
- Rest your arms at your sides, making sure you drop your shoulders.
- Start taking deep breaths to help relax your chest.
- Focus on relaxing the lower part of your body, starting at your hips and working through every part of your legs to your feet.
- Imagine a peaceful setting to relax your mind, like a quiet lake, beautiful countryside, or a comfortable room at home. If intrusive thoughts creep in, recognize them and try to push them out. If you struggle with creating a relaxing image, repeat a simple phrase like “don’t think” to yourself.
Is making your mind create images or focus difficult? If so, Triple Crown Organics has CBD Capsules that can safely help you relax and drift off to sleep.
Start Winding Down an Hour Before You Want to Sleep
For many people, falling asleep in five minutes seems impossible or daunting. So, instead of going straight to bed and trying to sleep, make a point to start winding down an hour before your bedtime. Slowly set up a sleep-friendly space by relaxing your body, dimming the lights, playing soft ambient noise, and lowering the temperature. Doing so can help calm your mind so you’re ready to drift off; it’s a natural progression.
Falling asleep and staying asleep doesn’t have to be a frustrating nightly battle. Luckily, there are tips and techniques you can try to help ensure you get a full night’s sleep naturally, without the help of prescription medications. Along with meditation and deep breathing, CBD products are very popular in the correct dosage because they’re safe, effective, and proven to help you fall asleep and wake feeling refreshed.