There’s nothing worse than lying in bed and realising your body is definitely not interested in sleeping – especially when you know you’ve got to be up early for work.
If you’re prone to lying there for hours at a time without drifting off, a doctor has shared the simple trick he uses when he can’t fall asleep.
Dr Myro Figura, a Los Angeles-based anesthesiologist and medical school educator, said in a TikTok video: “The number one thing you do not want to do is stay in bed.
“If, after 30 minutes, you can’t fall asleep, your brain is too activated and you need to change the environment. Go to another room and do something boring in a low light environment – things like knitting, reading, staring out of a window.
“You need to restart the secretion of melatonin by your pineal gland.”
If you do get up and move to another place, he warned that you shouldn’t look at your phone (or another screen) as the blue light will disrupt your cycle.
“If you’re still not feeling tired, try deep breathing techniques, super-somnolent mentation, look these up,” he added.
One method you could try is known as the 4-7-8 breathing technique: place your tongue against the ridge of tissue just behind your upper front teeth and exhale completely through your mouth.
Close your mouth and inhale through your nose while counting to four before holding your breath for a count of seven. Finally, exhale through your mouth making a “whoosh” sound for the count of eight. Repeat the cycle three more times.
If you simply can’t switch your racing thoughts off at night, it might be worth trying the ‘cognitive shuffle’.
First, choose a word. From there, for each letter of that word, think of another word starting with that letter and visualise it.
So, for example, for the letter ‘B’, you could choose words like bear, brace, bones, bench, etc. Keep doing that until you’re out of words or bored and then move on to the next letter.
And if all that doesn’t work, Dr Figura recommends taking melatonin (although it’s important to note it’s not suitable for everyone) and repeating the cycle again.
He warns people not to get back into bed until they actually feel sleepy.
