If you’re one of the millions of Americans who struggle with insomnia, you may find your mind racing and your body tossing and turning when you just want to be asleep.
With the right approach, you can reliably fall asleep within a matter of minutes. One of the keys to smoothly falling asleep is relaxation. Research shows that the relaxation response is a physiological process that positively affects both the mind and body.
By reducing stress and anxiety, the relaxation response can enable you to peacefully drift off to sleep. Our step-by-step guides offer proven relaxation methods that may help with insomnia and other sleep problems.
Experts emphasize that it can take time to master these techniques, but the practice pays off. Even better, these methods are customizable, so you can adjust them over time to make them work for you.
For thousands of years, relaxation has been a central focus of spiritual and cultural practices, enabling a sense of calm and connection with oneself and the surrounding world.
Only in recent decades, though, have meditative practices for relaxation become a focus of scientific research, which has come to identify four key elements for fostering the relaxation response.
All of the following methods are ways of achieving these core elements so that you can calmly fall asleep. Keeping these basics in mind empowers you to adjust these methods to suit your preferences.
Once you’re lying comfortably in bed, try one of these techniques to put yourself at ease and settle gently into sleep.
Why It Works:
A series of slow, deep breaths can enable a sense of calm. This method, also known as pranayamic breathing, is believed to help reduce stress in the nervous system and may prepare the brain for sleep by reducing excitatory stimulus.
How to Do It:
Option 1: Counting Breaths
Option 2: Dr. Andrew Weil’s 4-7-8 Method
Who It’s Great For:
Controlled breathing is excellent for people just getting started with relaxation techniques or who have difficulty using other objects of focus like imagery or mantras.
Why It Works:
Mindfulness is centered around slow, steady breathing and a non-judgmental focus on the present moment. By reducing anxiety and rumination, it has been found to have sweeping health benefits, including an ability to help reduce insomnia.
How to Do It:
There are many variations of mindfulness meditation for different situations. One easy to use style is the body scan meditation.
This version is adapted from UC-Berkeley’s Greater Good in Action (GGIA) program that offers audio recordings for this and other mindfulness meditations.
Who It’s Great For:
Anyone can meditate, including with mindfulness meditation, but it can take more practice to get used to. As a result, it usually works best for people who can devote at least five minutes per day to increase their comfort with it.
Why It Works:
Progressive muscle relaxation (PMR) creates a calming effect by gradually tightening and releasing muscles throughout the body in conjunction with controlled breathing.
How to Do It:
Who it’s Great For:
Studies have found that PMR can help people with insomnia, and when done carefully, may be beneficial for people who are bothered by arthritis or other forms of physical pain. PMR is not recommended for people with uncontrolled cardiovascular problems.
Why It Works:
Visualizing a peaceful image from your past and all of its details engages your attention in order to promote relaxation.
How to Do It:
Who it’s Great For:
Visual thinkers who easily recall past scenes replete with details are ideally suited to using imagery as part of their bedtime relaxation.
Negative consequences are rare for relaxation techniques, but a small number of people find that they can provoke anxiety. Anyone with concerns about trying these methods should talk with their doctor for specific advice before getting started.
Even experts in meditation find that their minds can wander during these relaxation techniques, so don’t worry if it happens to you. Instead, stay calm, keep breathing slowly, and try to bring your mind back to the main focus of attention.
If you get into bed and cannot fall asleep after 20 minutes, get up, go to another part of your house, and do something soothing, such as reading or listening to quiet music.
Lying awake in bed for too long can create an unhealthy mental connection between your sleeping environment and wakefulness. Instead, you want your bed to conjure thoughts and feelings conducive to sleep.
Before you actually get into bed, a few simple tips can help make sure your mind and body are prepared to fall asleep easily:
Beyond the immediate run-up to bedtime, incorporating fundamental sleep tips can aid in falling asleep and prevent serious sleeping problems.