Most sleep disorders can be detected while you are awake. If you don’t feel well even if you sleep 8 hours or more, you might be sleeping wrong. It is true that some scientist and even celebrities (yes, I am talking about Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson) can get away with 5-4 hours or less sleep a day even if they have to live a crazy busy life. However, some people feel exhausted and can’t find enough energy to get off the couch even if they sleep more than 7-8 hours a day. There are several things affecting our sleep but just like everything else, some of those factors are more dominant than the others.

How long does it take you to fall asleep? Is it more than 20 minutes? There are two major reasons why you can’t fall asleep; physical and psychological. People with desk jobs can’t fully wear themselves out physically and what’s worse they tend to have more psychological problems than people with other professions. Apparently, when you sit all day in front of a computer, even the smallest details getting so annoying. If you can’t wear yourself out, what about a rough sex with your partner? If your partner says “I’m not in the mood” or you don’t have a partner at all, you know what to do…

Let’s start with physical activities which you can increase your simply by drinking more water – so that you have to pee more frequently. I wouldn’t say coffee because I am not sure if you are drinking coffee without sugar and milk but if you are, go for it! Drinking more fluid doesn’t just make you pee, it also boosts your metabolism which is a good thing when you are trying to wear yourself out. Studies say people blessed with a fast metabolism don’t have any difficulty while trying to sleep.

What do you do after work? There are better things to do than watching Netflix but the real challenge is persuade yourself to do that. I know just the answer you are looking for – exercise while watching Netflix. You also might not want to work out after work – I get it but you can do small exercises like stretching. If you are looking for a reason, I can give you one right away. People with office jobs usually suffer from anterior or posterior pelvic tilt. Anterior pelvic tilt is more common than posterior pelvic tilt and they are both caused by a lot of sitting that we do. If you have pelvic tilt, you’d have exaggerated arch in your back so when you lie on your back, your hip and your shoulders will carry all the weight while your back doesn’t. I won’t go into details but you can easily search and find necessary stretches to fix anterior pelvic tilt.

This little stretches will be a starting point and once you feel the positive effects of exercising on your life and health, you will even increase the intensity of your exercises, I am sure of it. I think we’ve solved physical problems and now we can focus on physiological problems. Family, colleagues, work, boss… there might be reasons I can’t even think of so it is pointless to mention all of these problems and try to figure out how to solve them but it is clear that you can’t fall asleep because you think all of the bad decisions you made just after you go to bed.

You may hate people who meditate and share their pictures on Instagram using #mood or #goals tags. Don’t worry, I won’t tell you to meditate on the beach but I will tell you an interesting fact about meditation you can use as a life hack. Do you know why people don’t meditate lying down in bed? Because they fall asleep trying to meditate. Your time is precious, no doubt about it so you don’t want to spend it with exercising and meditating after work but you can meditate while lying down in your bed. This will also help you to spend your time more productive even if you can’t fall asleep easily but as I told you earlier, it will definitely work.

Herbal Teas Work In Most Cases

Some of these teas contain ingredients that soothe your body and mind. So just by drinking tea instead of coffee, you can solve both physical and psychological problems. The most effective teas to relax your body and mind;

• Chamomile
• Lemon balm
• Lavender
• Peppermint
• Sage

Sleep In Total Darkness

When you sleep, your body doesn’t. It just slows down a bit and keeps working just like it always do, including your sensory nerves. If you have a noisy neighbor, you keep listening to that jerk’s TV while you sleep. If there is a light leaking through your window, your eyes will sense it even if you sleep. In short, you shouldn’t stimulate your sensory nerves by any means necessary. If your room is warm enough and your pajamas are not comfortable, you can try to sleep naked. Not totally naked, for obvious reasons, but underwear seems to be a good starting point.

Have you heard about melatonin? This hormone is also known as “happiness hormone” and it is secreted by the pineal gland in the brain. Its secretion increase at night in total darkness and even a weak beam of light prevent its secretion.

One more thing about sleep before I finish the article. Just like insufficient sleep, excessive sleep will also make you feel exhausted all day long. Everything has an optimal point and you shouldn’t do more or less than that point. You can try finding your optimum

TL; DR

1. Drink more water and pee more often to boost your metabolism.

2. Like most people, you might have anterior pelvic tilt so you need to exercise.

3. If you don’t want to leave Netflix, then exercise while watching Netflix.

4. People tend to fall asleep while meditating in bed, just the thing we need.

5. Herbal teas can help you both physically and physiologically for better sleep.

6. Sleep in total darkness and try not to stimulate any of your sensory nerves.