Difficulty Falling Asleep: Avoid The 5 Worst Sleep-Killers
Tick, tick, tick … BING-BONG-BING-BONG … BONG-BING-BONG-BING.
(Assuming you have a chiming clock as I do. If you don’t, then you’re just have your cellphone or electric clock-radio to remind you that another hour has gone by, and you are STILL awake.)
Been there.
It’s a rare individual who has never done the chronic-tossing-and-turning thing.
Not so rare? The long-suffering ones who endure it night after night, week after week. And endure a mind that just won’t switch off.
In this article, we’ll explore the 5 worst sleep-killers there are.
We’ll explore common causes, effective ways to settle down, and steps you can take to enjoy more peaceful nights.
If you’ve been reading anything on this site, or anything at all about insomnia and sleep problems … this article probably won’t tell you anything you haven’t heard before.
But it’s crazy how you sometimes have to see or hear something several times before you realize that it might actually be the source … or at least contributing to … your problem.
Read on.
Why Does Difficulty Falling Asleep Happen?
Chronic difficulty falling asleep comes from many places.
Noisy neighbors one night.
Bright streetlights seeping through your window, the next.
Next after that, your mind is racing with unfinished tasks.
Sometimes your daily habits, like when you drink coffee or how late you watch TV, can also play a role.
But when we talk about “insomnia,” we’re referring to a more long-term problem that involves trouble starting or maintaining sleep on a regular basis.
Before we jump into the details, let’s look at five major “sleep-killers.” Other factors there are, but these are the biggies:
- Stress and Anxiety
- Poor Sleep Environment
- Technology and Screen Time
- Irregular Sleep Schedule
- Lifestyle Factors (diet, exercise, and substance use)
Tossing, turning, waking up in the middle of the night, waking up drained and cranky the next day.
But there are steps you can take to address each one.
And top of the list?
1. Stress and Anxiety
Stress and Anxiety raise levels of cortisol (the stress hormone) in your body, causing racing thoughts and tense muscles that keep you from fully relaxing.
And there’s no beating around the bush. We live in a world that doesn’t make it easy to avoid either one.
Content generation guru Justin Welsh has gone on record as saying:
“Modern luxury is the ability to think clearly, sleep deeply, move slowly, and live quietly …
… in a world designed to prevent all four.”
Oh how he got that right.
How Stress and Anxiety Affect Sleep
- Racing thoughts: When you worry about work, family, or future events, your brain can’t switch off.
- Tension in your muscles: Worry or panic can make you feel physically tight or uncomfortable.
- Light sleep: Even if you manage to doze off, stress might cause you to wake up easily during the night.
What Lifestyle Changes Can Improve Sleep Quality When You’re Stressed?
The most effective change? (If it’s not insulting to ask the question …)
Eliminate the sources.
Change jobs. Change schools or courses of study. Avoid toxic individuals (not so easy if they’re family). Take a different route.
Take minimum one day off per week, where you don’t work, don’t diet, and exercise as much as you feel like.
What do you do if the source of the anxiety is something traumatic that happened in your past, i.e. PTSD?
Much trickier. This calls for advice from someone far smarter than me.
(Although one thing you should do is quit mentally beating yourself up for feeling this way when the cause was beyond your control.)
Assuming you can’t do anything immediate about the above sources of stress … these are good second-bests:
- Set a Relaxing Routine: About 30 minutes before bedtime, stop doing anything stressful. You might try listening to soft music, taking a warm bath, or practicing gentle stretches.
- Try Mindfulness: Guided breathing exercises or journaling can help you process worries before bed. By writing down thoughts, you might free up mental space.
- Consider Therapy: Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia (CBT-I) helps many people deal with underlying worries that keep them awake.
Stress and anxiety are huge factors in trouble sleeping. Addressing them early often makes a big difference.
2. Poor Sleep Environment
If your sleep space is too hot, too bright, or too noisy, you’re not doing yourself any favors. Falling asleep will feel like an uphill battle.
Creating a Sleep-Friendly Space
- Darkness: Bright light, whether from a streetlamp or a phone charger, signals to your brain that it’s still daytime. Blackout curtains or a good sleep mask can help.
- Cool Temperature: A cool room (often suggested between 60-67°F or about 15-19°C) may help your body relax. If your bedroom feels stuffy, try a fan or open the window to improve air flow. There’s something about a slight breeze blowing past your face at night that’s very soothing. (In July and August, when their bedroom was an oven, my grandparents used to sleep in the basement, for just this reason.)
- Noise Control: If sounds outside your room keep you awake, use earplugs or a white noise machine. Soft, steady sounds like rain or gentle static can mask loud or sudden noises.
- Comfortable Bedding: Ditch the old mattress and flat pillow. Very uncomfortable. Investing in a supportive mattress and cozy bedding can make a huge difference.
When you’re trying to fall asleep faster, focusing on small environmental tweaks can offer big rewards.
3. Technology and Screen Time
In the evening, our brains are often too tired to do anything productive, but not tired enough to sleep.
In our modern world, scrolling through social media or watching late-night TV seems to fit where our brains are at. It feels routine. But these habits can keep you up, long after you’re ready to doze off.
How Technology Disrupts Sleep
- Blue Light: Your smartphone, laptop, and TV emit a type of blue light that signals your brain to stay awake. This light can block the release of melatonin, the hormone that helps you feel sleepy.
- Mental Stimulation: Chatting with friends online, playing games, or watching exciting videos can rev up your mind, making it tough to relax.
- Notifications and Alerts: Even if you’re not actively using your phone, dings and buzzes can interrupt your rest.
Reducing Tech-Related Sleep Problems
- Set a Tech Curfew: Aim to stop using electronics about one to two hours before bedtime. Let your mind wind down naturally.
- Use Blue Light Filters: Many devices have a “night mode” to reduce blue light exposure. It’s not as good as just shutting the phone off entirely, but it’s a step in the right direction.
- Keep Devices Out of the Bedroom: I have a friend who literally puts his smartphone in a different room altogether, and lets it charge there. Some people don’t do that, but they do switch it off or put it in Sleep mode (ha-ha!) so’s it can’t ring.
- Pick Calming Activities: Instead of doom-scrolling through social media, read a print book, listen to calm music, or do gentle yoga.
If you’re waking up in the middle of the night unable to go back to sleep, one culprit could be a late-night text or that last social media check.
Reducing screen time can help your mind calm down and settle into deeper rest.
4. Irregular Sleep Schedule
Now this isn’t fully controllable for health workers, cops, firefighters, night security staff, etc.
(I did shift work for over two years. So I get it. Wasn’t fun.)
An irregular sleep schedule throws your body’s internal clock (circadian rhythm) out of sync. If you go to bed and wake up at different times each day, your brain doesn’t know when it’s supposed to be asleep or awake.
Not good.
Staying Consistent
- Regular Bedtime and Wake-Up Time: Try to keep these times close, even on weekends. This helps set your biological clock to a steady rhythm.
- Bedtime Routines: Doing the same activities each night (brushing your teeth, putting on pajamas, maybe reading for a few minutes) signals your body that it’s time to wind down.
- Short Naps: Long naps or late-afternoon naps can throw off your bedtime. If you need a nap, keep it around 20-30 minutes and try to nap earlier in the day.
- Gradual Adjustments: If you need to shift your schedule (for instance, waking up earlier for a new job), do it in small increments. Move your bedtime by 15-30 minutes each night until you reach your target.
When you maintain a consistent routine, your body learns to recognize when it’s time to sleep and when it’s time to wake up, making those middle-of-the-night wake-ups less common.
5. Lifestyle Factors: Diet, Exercise, and Substances
Are there any specific exercises or relaxation techniques that can help with sleep? Absolutely. Regular exercise is known to help with better-quality rest. But the timing matters. Some people can’t fall asleep if they exercise too close to bedtime because their heart rate stays elevated.
Diet and Sleep Quality
What’s the connection between diet and sleep quality? Food can affect your energy levels, hormones, and digestion, all of which play a role in sleep:
- Caffeine: Found in coffee, tea, chocolate, and many sodas. Caffeine’ll stay in your system for hours. Avoid it much past 3pm, unless you’ve got an anatomy like my friend James in England – he can drink 11 cups of coffee a day, and routinely sleeps like a log. Must be nice.
- Heavy Meals: Eating a big dinner or a lot of spicy foods right before bed? No, no, no. Can cause acid reflux. Instead, try to eat earlier in the evening and keep late-night snacks light.
- Alcohol: That nightcap looks tempting, and might make you feel sleepy initially. But it doesn’t do deeper stages of sleep any favors. You might fall asleep quickly but wake up in the early morning feeling restless.
Natural Remedies and Other Common Questions
Are there any natural remedies for insomnia that actually work? While results can vary, here are a few ideas to consider:
- Herbal Teas: Chamomile, lavender, and passionflower teas are popular options that some find calming.
- Aromatherapy: Scents like lavender or sandalwood may help some people feel more relaxed.
- Meditation and Breathing Exercises: Guided audio sessions can slow your thoughts, helping you transition to sleep.
- Weighted Blankets: These blankets apply gentle pressure that might help reduce restlessness and anxiety in some individuals.
- Supplements: If you’ve been lurking around this site at all, you know we’re big believers in supplements. They allow you to experiment with your sleep yourself, to see what works. AND, they’re available over-the-counter, very safe, not addictive … and you don’t build up a tolerance to it (like you could with, say, antihistamines) Good supplements to test for sleep include magnesium, melatonin, ashwaganda, valerian root … we’ve created a list of them here.
Before trying any remedy, natural or otherwise, it’s wise to do a bit of research digging. Or talk with a trusted healthcare professional. (If your sleep problem has been going on for anything beyond a month, maybe start with the health pro.
Putting It All Together: Avoiding the 5 Worst Sleep-Killers
Let’s revisit the “5 worst sleep-killers” and see how you can steer clear of them:
- Stress and Anxiety:
- Journal or write down your worries before bed.
- Explore therapy options, such as CBT-I.
- Practice mindfulness or gentle yoga.
- Poor Sleep Environment:
- Keep your room dark, quiet, and cool.
- Invest in a comfortable mattress and pillows.
- Use earplugs or white noise to block distractions.
- Technology and Screen Time:
- Avoid screens 1-2 hours before bedtime.
- Enable night mode to reduce blue light if you must use devices.
- Charge your phone in another room to minimize alerts and temptations.
- Irregular Sleep Schedule:
- Go to bed and wake up around the same time each day.
- If you nap, keep it short and not too late in the day.
- Adjust your sleep times gradually if your schedule changes.
- Lifestyle Factors:
- Limit caffeine, especially in the late afternoon and evening.
- Avoid heavy meals or alcohol close to bedtime.
- Engage in regular, moderate exercise during the day.
Extra Tips for a Better Night’s Sleep
- Listen to Your Body: This is huge. Western medicine has encouraged a lot of folk to distrust their own bodies. We say: Pay attention to what your body is telling you. It’s not a liar, even if it doesn’t get everything right.
- Physical Activity: Exercise is awesome. Massive cortisol eliminator. I always sleep well after a hard workout. (However, maybe not right before bed – allow wind-down time.)
- Find Your Pre-Sleep Rituals: Everyone is different. You may enjoy a warm bath, reading a novel, or light stretching. Pick activities that calm you and stick with them.
- Relax Before Bed: Make it a habit to spend at least 15-20 minutes unwinding. Listen to quiet music or practice deep breathing.
- Mindfulness Meditation: Close your eyes and focus on your breathing. Whenever your thoughts drift, gently bring them back to your breath. Over time, this might train your mind to stay calm.
- Track Your Sleep Patterns: Consider keeping a sleep diary. Write down what time you went to bed, how long it took to fall asleep, and how you felt the next day. Over time, patterns might emerge that you can address.
- Guided Imagery: Picture a peaceful place in your mind, like a quiet beach or a forest, and imagine yourself there.
- Don’t Force It: If you can’t fall asleep within 20 minutes, get up and do something relaxing, like reading or listening to soft music. Lying in bed worrying about not sleeping often makes the problem worse.
When to See a Professional
Much as we here at GreatSleep would like to believe it, we aren’t sleep, or even health, professionals. We’re just average joe’s who’ve figured out some hacks that work for them supremely well.
If you’ve tried multiple strategies and still can’t shake difficulty falling asleep, it’s time for a healthcare professional. They can check for underlying problems such as sleep apnea or restless legs syndrome.
They may also suggest structured therapy programs like CBT-I (very useful).
They may also recommend prescription sleep medications. Speaking personally, we’re not fans of those. (Check out some of what we’ve already published on benzodiazepines and antidepressants). They might work short-term, but there’s a long-term risk of addiction. And once you’re hooked? You’ve got two problems: insomnia and addiction. Oh great.
Frequently Asked Questions Recap
Below are 10 questions people often ask when dealing with trouble falling asleep or staying asleep. We’ve covered many of these points, but here’s a quick reference:
- What are the most common causes of insomnia?
- Stress, anxiety, poor sleep habits, and certain medical conditions can all be culprits.
- How can I fall asleep faster at night?
- Create a bedtime routine, keep your room cool and dark, and limit screen time before bed.
- Why do I wake up in the middle of the night and can’t go back to sleep?
- Stress, irregular sleep schedules, and environmental disruptions can cause mid-night awakenings.
- Are there any natural remedies for insomnia that actually work?
- Herbal teas, breathing exercises, aromatherapy, and Melatonin can help massively (although they don’t fix everybody).
- What lifestyle changes can improve my sleep quality?
- Regular exercise, healthy eating habits, cutting down on caffeine, and a set sleep schedule.
- How do stress and anxiety affect sleep, and how can I manage them?
- They increase mental and physical tension. Relaxation techniques, mindfulness, and therapy can help.
- Is it safe to use over-the-counter sleep aids regularly?
- Outside of supplements like Melatonin and Magnesium, they can be okay for short-term use only. (You know what I’m going to say next: Check with a healthcare provider if you need help often.)
- What’s the connection between diet and sleep quality?
- Foods rich in caffeine or large meals before bed can keep you awake or cause discomfort. Alcohol can also interrupt deep sleep.
- How does screen time before bed impact sleep, and what can I do about it?
- Blue light can disrupt melatonin production. Avoid screens, use night mode, or switch to a calm activity before bed.
- Are there any specific exercises or relaxation techniques that can help with sleep?
- Gentle yoga, stretching, and mindfulness exercises can calm the mind and relax the body.
Conclusion
Difficulty falling asleep doesn’t have to be a life sentence.
By addressing stress, setting the right environment, reducing screen time, following a consistent sleep schedule, and making smart lifestyle choices, you can give your body the best chance at restful nights. Remember, if problems persist or worsen, seeking professional advice is always a good idea.
Sleep is essential for your energy, mood, and overall health. Even small changes can add up over time, leading you to the deep, restorative sleep you need. With patience and practice, you can conquer those restless nights and wake up feeling fresh and ready to tackle the day.
