Faster, Longer, Deeper: How to Get Better Sleep Once and for All

Have you ever wondered to yourself: how can I fall asleep fast? 

Millions of people who  have trouble sleeping don’t realize that their difficulty is because they are not getting high-quality sleep. 

Need a few tips on how to fall asleep faster?

Your difficulty sleeping may be one of the biggest contributors to your stress levels, chronic health problems, and low performance abilities.

When you have difficulty sleeping, you struggle to focus on the job at hand and work more slowly. You have less stamina for working hard no matter how long the task takes.

Overall, your performance and the general experience of your day will suffer from it, big time.

What’s the solution? You need to learn how to get better sleep.

Once you learn how to get better sleep, you will have more energy throughout the day to work on your goals, be more creative, and focus more intensely.

These 3 tips on how to fall asleep faster are the key for you to finally know how better sleep can improve the quality of your entire life.

Tip #1 for a Faster & Deeper Sleep: Exercise Regularly During the Day

If you exercise on a regular basis, not only will you feel better during the day, but your sleep at night is likely to improve as well. 

This means you’ll know how better sleep will affect you throughout the day and night.

Regular exercise enhances healthy sleep patterns, contributing to a great night of sleep. Exercise can also be used for treating sleep insomnia and other sleep issues.

Exercise can give a boost to sleep in several ways. Making time to exercise can:

• Improve sleep quality. Exercise helps you sleep better and more deeply. Physical activity increases time spent in deep sleep, which is most physically restorative phase of sleep. Deep sleep helps to boost immune function, support cardiovascular health and control stress and anxiety.

• Increase sleep amounts. Exercise can help you sleep better at night, as it requires more energy to be physically active. Regular exercise and a consistent routine can result in improved sleep duration, as well as quality of sleep during the day.

• Reduce stress and relieve anxiety. Experts suggest that regular exercise, especially if it's aerobic, can help reduce stress levels. Exercise reduces anxiety and improves moods. Exercise just for 5 minutes has been shown to release anti-anxiety reactions in the body.

Studies have also found that exercise can help lower the severity of sleep disordered breathing and may help to reduce the severity for those who suffer from obstructive sleep apnea.

Get out for a jog, cycle around your neighborhood, hit the gym for some weight training, or get in a quick cardio session on the treadmill. 

Every bit of exercise can help you feel better and get better sleep at all times of the day and night!

Tip #2 for a Faster & Deeper Sleep: Avoid Alcohol Before Bed

You may want to lay off the alcohol before bed, if that’s your thing, because it’s probably the reason you can't sleep!

Alcohol is a depressant, and can have a negative effect on sleep. Alcohol interferes with the natural progression of sleep stages that occur during deep sleep:

• Sleep Stage 1: This initial stage is essentially the transition period between wakefulness and sleep, during which the body will begin to shut down.

• Sleep Stage 2: The sleeper’s heartbeat and breathing rates continue to slow down as they progress toward deeper sleep.

• Sleep Stage 3: Heartbeat, breathing rates, and brain activity all reach their lowest levels of the sleep cycle.

• Sleep Stage 4: REM sleep kicks in about 90 minutes after the individual initially falls asleep.

This change in brain activity often causes people to wake up after only four or five hours, before their bodies enter the deepest stage of non-REM (non rapid eye movement) sleep where dreaming happens.  

People who suffer from sleep insomnia or sleep apnea are more at risk for alcohol related sleep disturbances. Alcohol use can lead to fragmented sleep patterns that may be linked to excessive daytime drowsiness and poor performance on cognitive tests. 

If you drink before bed and have ever wondered why you can’t fall asleep fast,  alcohol may be the issue.

Drinking alcohol before bed can add to the suppression of REM sleep during the first two cycles. 

Since alcohol is a sedative, sleep onset is often shorter for drinkers and some fall into deep sleep rather quickly. 

As the night progresses, this can create an imbalance between slow-wave sleep and REM sleep, resulting in less of the latter and more of the former. 

This decreases overall sleep quality, which can result in shorter sleep duration and more sleep issues.

Tip #3 for a Faster & Deeper Sleep: Invest in a Comfortable Mattress

When you think about quality sleep, think about a quality mattress as well. 

Many people buy new mattresses when what they have is completely worn out, or have back issues but rarely because investing in one has many versatile benefits to your health.

Investing in a new mattress has a variety of benefits, including improving sleep quality and duration:

• It’s an investment on your sleep. Buying a mattress should be top priority because it gives you good quality sleep and the life that follows. 

A worn-out mattress will lead to health issues such as back pains and fatigue, so be sure to upgrade your mattress in order to prevent any problems from happening.

Boosts your overall happiness. Since humans spend an average of one-third of their lives asleep, it is essential to invest in a high quality mattress. Not only will you experience a better sleep on a quality mattress, but you'll also decrease your total years spent unhappy with poor bedding. 

A good mattress will be expensive but the money spent will pay off in better health, less pain, and other sleep-related benefits.

Serves you for a long time. Investing money in a quality mattress can have two benefits. It will provide you with a comfortable bed for many years and also help save your back from the pain of lying on an inferior mattress day after day. 

As the hours add up, it's worth investing when you consider how much time you'll spend sleeping nightly in bed.

Finally Get the Sleep You Deserve

If you have ever wondered to yourself, how can I fall asleep fast, these tips and tricks on how to fall asleep faster will help you get high-quality rest you deserve.

This way, waking up in the morning will be fun, rather than feel like abuse. 

We promise that getting your ZZZs won't ever seem too hard again!

Instead, you can benefit from feeling energized so you have hours of focused and productive mornings and days that will help your productivity level rise.

In order to maximize the effectiveness of these sleep tips, take action on them right away. Let us know in the comments which tips you have tried. To learn how better sleep affects you, go to Fix My Sleep!