At one point, you might have wondered how long it should take you to fall asleep. Truly, getting adequate sleep is crucial for the quality of your life. Sleeping well is a major concern to many people particularly in this digital era.
Many endsup tossing and turning at night but they never get a befitting sleep. However, some lucky individuals will fall asleep as they hit the pillow.
If you are among those struggling to fall asleep, this article is perfect for you. It will answer your questions about the average time to fall asleep among others. Then we also give you 8 simple tips to sleep faster to help you take advantage of sleeping early.
How Long Should It Take To Sleep?
On average, an adult human being should be able to enjoy 7-8 hours of uninterrupted sleep. Nevertheless, this does not mean you struggle to geteight hours. You can still enjoy a cozy night sleep in a few hours.
Notably, there is not a succinct answer to the question about the average time to fall asleep when you get to bed. For some, it may take a while but to others falling asleep could be a real hassle.
But all things considered, one should be able to fall asleep within 7 minutes, a sleep stage called Alpha stage. Within the first 7 minutes,the brain is in a latentstate as it prepares to activate the sleep mode.Important to note is that the alpha stage is not only limited to sleep but also for meditation.
Furthermore, the normal sleep cycle can fall anywhere from 7 to 20 minutes. This means that you should fall asleep in less than 7 minutes or more than 20 minutes, then there is something wrong.
For a clearer understanding, check my breakdown for sleep stages.
Stage 1: Alpha stage
The alpha stage is the restful state that the brain enters during periods of inactivity. This stage is characterized by hypnogogic hallucinations. At this stage, you will feel dreamy but you will not be asleep.
Stage 2: Theta stage
Theta stage is part of sleep between full wakefulness and true sleep. At this stage, the heart rate slows, the body temperature drops, and a strange brainwave begins at this point.
Stage 3 & 4: Delta stage
As you drift into the delta stage, the brain begins producing delta waves (slow-movingwaves that signalthe transition from light to deep sleep). Notably, the deep sleep occurs at the fourth stage despite the slow-moving brainwaves beginning in the third stage.
Stage 5: REM stage
Its name is derived from the ‘rapid eye movements’ that characterizes it. At this stage, your muscles are relaxed and the brain is more active. This is the stage when your dream comes.
What If It Takes You Long Time to Fall Asleep?
Sometimes it may take longerthan you expected you to fall asleep. If you are a victim then it means you have not trained your brain to fall asleep faster. You need to train your brain to fall asleep faster by relaxing and relieving a lot on my mind.
While this training may take some time, what is important for you is to maintain consistency to get results. For instance,if you have drifted off while watching a movie it is an indication that your brain knows how to fall asleep faster you just need to train it to do it consistently.
By incentivizing your brain to drop all other activity and immediately drift to sleep when you want this will work miracles for you. Remember that your commitment will play a big role towards the results you are going to get.
A lazy approach yields poor results. Your conscious mind receives a commandfrom your subconscious mind. what this means is that even if your conscious mind wants to sleep but your subconscious mind does not signal it then it may take long before you drift off.
Research shows that a trained subconscious mind is very obedient and very fast so when commanded by the conscious mind to sleep, it will activate the sleep mode instantly. Another important thing during this training is for you to train your brain that a certain amount of hours is all it can get at night.
This ensures that the brain transitions immediately to sleep to make the most out of the number of hours you will spend in bed.
Why You Can’t Fall Asleep Quick?
If you are unable to fall asleep within 10-20 minutes as soon as you climb on to your bed, then there are somethings you might be doing that are harming your sleep. Possible causes include but not limited to:
- Uncomfortable bed
- Exercising too close to bedtime
- Taking heavy supper close to bedtime
- Taking a lot of caffeine too close to bedtime
- Leaving bright lights on
- Leaving a thermostat on while sleeping
- Using electronics like laptops and smartphones or watching movies close to bedtime
- Irregular sleeping hours
Tips To Fall Asleep Faster
If it is taking you long to fall asleep, the following tips may help you fall asleep as soon as you hit the pillow.
Make your bed comfortable: uncomfortable will subject parts of your body to excessive pressure thus obstructing circulation and overall comfort. For this reason, you need to ensure that your bed (your mattress, topper, pillow),… is comfortable; as it will help, you relax and fall asleep faster.
Avoid exercising too close to bedtime: exercises stimulateyour body and keepyou alert even when you should be sleeping.
Avoid technology like laptops cellphone and TVs before bedtime: the human body is conditioned such that it will want to sleep as soon as the sunset. Using electronics like laptops and smartphones at bed may prevent you falling asleep. The blue screen light activates the body to keep alert.
Avoid taking a lot of caffeine and other stimulants near bedtime: Caffeine is a strong stimulant and therefore stimulates the brain keeping you wakeful at the expense of sleep.
Taking a warm bath: bathing before bed can really help you sleep faster. A warm bath massages your muscles and allows you to relax easily once you crawl into bed. Besides, taking a bath promotes sleepiness as it causes the sudden drop in body temperature, which mimics what happens during sleep.
Keep your room cool: a cool bedroom can significantly help you sleep quickly. Naturally, the body temperature drops during sleep and a deeper sleep can be achieved by mimicking this effect. Sleeping in a warm room will cause you to kick the covers off through the night.
Dim the lights, as you get ready for bed: bright lights increase alertness and can prevent you from falling asleep. It is therefore advisable to dim lights minutes to bed to soothe you to sleep quickly.
Establish a regular sleep time: our brains workas we condition them to work. Irregular sleep hours may make it difficult for the brain to master your sleep cycle and this can inhibit your ability to fall asleep faster.
Conclusion
There you have it, analyze your situation and find out what is it that is inhibiting your sleep. Remember that if it takes more than 20 minutes to fall asleep, this is a signal that something is wrong. Again, if you are falling asleep quickly, then this could point outthat you are not getting adequate sleep or that you need to rest more. To this end, it is my hope you have found this reticle helpful.
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