Insomnia? Fall Asleep within 5 Minutes!

How many of you have trouble falling asleep at night? I know that it’s a problem for a lot of people. In my job as an adult mental health case manager, I’ve noticed that many of my clients have difficulty getting to sleep at night. There is something I mention to them (and many others in my life) that I use to help me fall asleep within five minutes. Most of them nod their heads to appear interested, but I know they don’t really believe me. I’m totally serious, though…Do this and you will fall asleep within a few minutes.

What Could It Possibly Be?

Now is the point when many of you will read what I’m about to say and ignore the rest of this post. My close friends and family know that I swear by this, and they think I’m “full of it”…but I don’t care what they think! Some of you (like my son) might say “I’ve tried it and it doesn’t work”. Yes, I’m talking about guided meditation. Yes, it DOES work. There are so many different guided meditation apps for phones, and I’ve tried a large majority of them. Most of them offer a few free meditations with more extensive choices for a fee. I never pay for my guided meditations. If it’s not free, I’m not doing it. Call me cheap, whatever. I’m perfectly happy with the free meditations. If you don’t have a smart phone or don’t want to download an app, there are still a ton of free guided meditations on you tube.

Here are a few good ones…

I don’t always use the same apps, as I like to change up my bedtime routine a bit…but here are some I use and what I like about them.

• Meditainment– I first found this when I listened to “The Secret Garden” guided meditation. I actually don’t have an app for this, but it is www.meditainment.com . This was the first guided meditation I used, and they always have at least two free ones.
• CALM– I listen to this app frequently, as there are a bunch of different free ones with a lot of different categories. There are some specifically for sleep..but I can fall asleep to any of them once I concentrate on my deep breathing. They always offer a nice little inspirational quote at the end of your meditation, like this one…
  
• BREETHE– I like this, but there aren’t a whole lot of free choices. I do listen to these now and then, and they are very good. Just search for the BREETHE app.
• The Honest Guys– I’m not sure if they have an app, but they have a bunch of very good, free guided meditations. I love listening to these. Just google the Honest guys meditations. https://youtu.be/tsuhIwmuzcw
• H*nest Meditation(jasonheadley.com)– Do not confuse this with The Honest Guys, it’s definitely not the same thing! 🙂 If you like to laugh and don’t mind a few very choice words, this is the best guided meditation of all! Truthfully, the guy’s voice is so soothing that I still use this one to fall asleep from time to time..but it’s definitely a fun one! https://youtu.be/92i5m3tV5XY

Just Give them a try!

If you listen to any of these while alone in a calm, quiet place, they really work. Usually they are about 10-20 minutes long, but I never stay awake past the first few minutes. If you don’t believe me, ask my husband or my sister (who has shared a hotel room with me). I’m literally snoring after a couple of minutes! Now, I do have to say this…just because I fall asleep quickly doesn’t mean I stay asleep all night.  I usually wake up after a few hours, but all I have to do is put on another meditation and I don’t have to stay awake with my racing thoughts.  You may recall that I posted a while back about another sleepless night?  Well, obviously I was not taking my own advice and using guided meditation on that night! 🙂

Don’t want to listen, or no access to meditations? Try this..

Maybe you don’t have access to meditations at bedtime. Maybe you just don’t want to try listening to anything. Maybe you don’t want to wake up your significant other that is already asleep. There is another way to fall asleep quickly without medication. I read about this somewhere and tried it out. It really works! It’s called the 4-7-8 method, and it’s very simple. Close your eyes and relax your body. Breathe in deeply for 4 seconds, hold that breath for 7 seconds, and then exhale for a full 8 seconds. Repeat these steps four times. You may possibly be asleep before you finish the fourth round of breathing like this!

Again, none of these will make you stay asleep..but they will help you drift off! If you have a particular meditation or other method that you use to fall asleep, post it in the comments. I’m always open to new ideas. Goodnight and sweet dreams!