5 things to do when you can’t sleep

If you’re having trouble sleeping, you’re not alone: Approximately 1 in 3 adults don’t get enough sleep, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (C.D.C.).

“For something that sounds so easy, sleep is quite difficult,” says former American Academy of Sleep Medicine spokesperson Raj Dasgupta, M.D., associate professor of sleep medicine at Huntington Health.

Make sure you’re doing all the basic recommendations for good sleep hygiene: maintaining a consistent sleep/wake schedule and a bedtime wind-down routine; exercising regularly; and avoiding caffeine, alcohol, heavy meals, and light exposure late in the day.

If you still toss and turn, try these tips when you’re up in the night.

It may seem counterproductive, but lying in bed frustrated can make it harder to drift off, says Dasgupta. “If you can’t fall asleep in the first 15 to 20 minutes of trying, do things that are non-stimulating, in dim light,” he says. That could mean taking a warm bath, doing gentle stretching or yoga (which can also reduce anxiety, if that’s what is keeping you up), or relocating to the couch and listening to soft music or podcasts, meditating, or journaling to clear your mind.

Reading can help you fall asleep, as long as the story isn’t stress-inducing, says W. Christopher Winter, M.D., author of The Sleep Solution: Why Your Sleep Is Broken and How to Fix It. Make sure it’s a physical book, because blue light emitted from most electronics can suppress the secretion of melatonin, the hormone that tells your body it’s time to fall asleep.

Ruminating about how you can’t sleep doesn’t help, so take the pressure off with a pep talk: There isn’t much difference between getting really great rest and a good night’s sleep, says Winter. If you can remind yourself it’s just one night and remove the pressure, “that’s when people sleep really well,” he says.

Visualizing (doing a detailed walk-through) of what it’s like to practice your hobby can help you fall asleep, says Winter. That could be imagining you’re golfing, knitting, or dancing. Closing your eyes and placing yourself in that situation could help you fall asleep in minutes, he says.

When you focus on breathing, it takes your full attention — and cutting out some of the noise in your mind is an important step toward falling asleep, says Winter. Whether you choose a breathing technique that involves controlling or counting your breath, or you just focus on your natural inhalation and exhalation, you’ll feel more relaxed and better able to fall asleep.

Learn about how sleep can impact weight