Stop Buying Sleeping Pills and Fancy Pillows, Here Are Eight Free Ways to Sleep Better Stop washing down your late night Jumbo Slice with Red Bull and vodkas, and cut out the midnight web surfing, and you might feel a little more rested in the morning. [Consumer Reports Health]
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Contra the not eating late at night, gut-bombing is a time-honored strategy for getting to sleep … eating a ton of warm carbs (like, say, pizza) and then wrapping up in a dark room. All the warm and digestion makes you sleepy.
It works great with little kids. Gut-bomb them, put them in a dark room in front of a Disney movie with the sound turned down low, and they’ll be out like a light in 20 minutes.
@Eyebrows McGee (now with more baby!): And being hungry is something that can keep you up
@edwardso: But eating a ton of food right before bed can keep you up just as bad, and it’s also very unhealthy for you (consumerist commenters sure like to rail against obesity, yeah?).
If you’re hungry, a small snack, like a bowl of cereal or toast, should do the trick. Stuffing yourself full of food is not the answer.
Also, keep your room COOL, not warm. You’ll sleep better.
@nakedscience: probably for most people. I fall asleep in about 30 seconds. It drives my husband nuts. Sometimes I say “I can’t sleep” only to be reminded that I have only been in bed for 3 minutes
@nakedscience: Oh, sure. And if you do have heartburn or indigestion, eating right before bed would be an awful idea.
But gut-bombing is great for wound-up small children and looooong meetings that won’t end. (Order pizza, and suddenly everyone wants to make a decision so they can go home and sleep.)
@Eyebrows McGee (now with more baby!): I have a bowl of ice cream about 30 minutes before I go to bed a couple times a week, and have never noticed any difference.
@farcedude: A small snack is fine, but a large meal is a no-no.
@Eyebrows McGee (now with more baby!): So what bottle does pureed pizza go best in?
I know exactly what gives me an excellent night sleep. It’s either being drunk, having someone else in the bed, or a mixture of the two.
@SupremeCourtNominee_GitEmSteveDave: Drinking does not help you sleep.
@nakedscience: sure does. I sleep like a baby after a few drinks.
@nakedscience: For some strange reason, I wake up 30 minutes after I fall asleep, sometimes to freaky sleep paraylsis, and then must turn over. If I am pretty buzzed/drunk, I seem to bypass this phase, and get a more restful night sleep. I also sleep through the night if there is someone in the passenger side of my bed. Maybe it’s psychosymatic, but it’s the truth for me.
“‚Ä¢ Pick a bed time (and a wake up time) and stick to it. Going to sleep at different times every night-10:00 p.m. one night and 1:00 a.m. the next-disrupts optimal sleep. Try to go to sleep at around the same time every night, even on the weekends. And wake up around the same time every day (with not more than an hour’s difference on the weekends). “
Hellz no. I have to be at work by 7am every day, sometimes 6:30. I am not getting up by 6am on weekends unless I have to.
@nakedscience: I simply love these recommendations that invariably tell you to go to bed and wake up at the same time each day. I guess that works for my 55 year old parents. Me, I actually like to hang out with my friends past 10:30 PM on Friday evenings. As far as getting up at the same time every morning, I get up when my dog wakes me because he has to pee, and he really doesn’t grasp the concept of proper sleep hygiene.
A very hot shower always makes me sleepy. Never fails.
Keep in mind that if you’ve still got issues after trying this stuff, *see your doctor*. Some people do have serious, serious sleep conditions that these tips just will not fix, and often times get told that they’re “just not trying hard enough.”
Late-night TV watching and surfing the web will stimulate you.
Not for me, helps me fall asleep.
As for the “light snack” a trick is to have some turkey and a glass of milk. It will go a long way to helping you sleep. You can substitute the milk for a cup of chamomile tea as well.
You mean if I don’t want to drag ass out of bed every morning I shouldn’t be playing WoW and enjoying Mountain Dew and Cheetos until 2:30 AM? Maaaaaaaaan. I would have never thought.
@Ratty: 2:30am? Pssh… noob.
@dohtem: I have to be up for work at 8:30 and can’t neglect the spouse too much.
My husband’s a massage therapist, so I get a massage every night before we go to bed. Anything that works better than that probably requires a prescription!
Link is busted, so I can’t see the list, but if it doesn’t include orgasm, then prudishness won out over utility.
@6502programmer: For real. Rub one out then curl up under a blanket.
“…and cut out the midnight web surfing…”
Yeeeaaah Riiight.
So no TV or computer right before bedtime. No exercise several hours before bedtime. I’ve also heard reading is out, because that can also be too stimulating. So what, exactly, am I supposed to do before bed, stare at a wall?
@Kelly Lum: I used to take my mother’s old decorating magazines and read those before I went to sleep. They’re very mildly pleasant, pretty boring, and they’re not likely to get me worked up–either angry or excited–like other things might.
Oh, that’s a good paint color. Hmm. A transom. Maybe I should get a chair like that someday…zzzzzzzzzz
So yeah. It’s like staring at a wall, except it’s actually pictures of other people’s walls.
Or you can put a brick in your pillowcase and fall asleep as soon as your head hits the pillow.
I have to take 3mg of melatonin to get to sleep (and stay asleep). I’ve been doing this for years.
I’m an addict.
Recently started biking for about two hours every evening and even without the four hours between exercise and sleep I definitely have had amazingly good, restful nights.