6 Holistic Hacks to Fall Asleep & Stay Asleep

Some people have no problemo turning off the mental lights & dozing off into fantastyland. However, many of us fall victim to restless heads or legs through the night. Maybe we're missing something? Perhaps an excess? Either way, the suspension of consciousness can fluently happen with these hacks!

1. Ditch the Blue Light

BEWARE! IT'S EVERYWHERE! Your cell phone, laptop, TV, iPad, LEDs in car headlights, in the fridge, in the bathroom, even the sun! Anywhere you go in this modern era, nine times out of ten you are bathing in blue light. I’m not trying to scare you because it isn’t all bad—it’s only harmful when constantly staring into all day long from these diode-loaded screens, or at night before you try to fall asleep.

Blue light emitted from these techy things inhibits melatonin production and can jack up your cortisol (aka your stress response). That’s No Beuno for falling asleep fast.

What to do!

1. Download f.lux on your laptop or computer to decrease blue and increase amber light. Also, turn on night shift and dark mode on your iPhone.

2. Get a pair of blue-light blocking glasses! You can get prescription-based ones if your eyesight is doo-doo like mine from www.eyebuydirect.com or the best blue light blockers backed by real science and clinical testing, https://raoptics.com

2. Meditation & Breathwork

4-7-8 breathing by Dr. Andrew Weil has changed my life. If I have a racing mind in bed about to go to sleep, I’ll immediately hit up this form of breathwork to calm my nervous system and heart rate down well below 60 beats per minute.

Meditation tied to this will also help immensely with falling asleep fast. My form of meditation varies day-to-day depending on how I’m feeling, but for the most part if I’m in bed trying to go to sleep I’ll take it advantage of four second breath in, seven second breath hold, and eight second breath out. Within five minutes I noticed a tremendous calmness overcome my aura. Peaceful mindfulness brings forth the sleep spindles, and I begin to dose off before I know it.

Meditation works synergistically with your lungs. You truly cannot have one without the other.

3. Book & Journal

Although having amber light on and f.lux downloaded on your devices will help you catch those zzzzzs much quicker, I still recommend sticking to the ole traditional way of slowing your eyes down—paper-ridden words. Yes, words being read from a real life book or words being expressed from your real life thoughts.

There is something empowering about reading a little bit at night before turning your lights off. A meager 15 minutes in bed with my calming book, my Himalayan salt lamp and my blue-light blockers is all I need to prepare for Dreamville in Restland. Now I specifically mentioned calming books because you don’t wanna be reading a book that excites you, or gets you too deep in the trenches on critical thinking. For example, during the day I will read more of a science-heavy book about nutrition vs at night I’ll settle down to philosophy or self-help or simple psychology.

Journaling is the same way. If I write about invigorating and deep stuff like tension in relationships or something that is burdening mean, it could be healthy but maybe not the best thing to settle down at night unless it is something about empowerment. Maybe step into poetry or spiritual thinking! Granted, this is my personal opinion but take it home with you on your next sleeping journey!

4. 65 Degrees & Blankets

In order to calm your heart rate down, you have to chill out… literally. It has been shown in numerous peer-reviewed studies on PubMed that a 60-68°F room promotes a slower heart and can benefit deep sleep. I don’t know about you but if I’m sleeping in a room that’s over 70°F, it’s most likely going to be crap. That’s another reason why people like Ben Greenfield promote taking a cold shower at night before bed. Although it stimulates your vagus nerve and sympathetic nervous system temporarily, you can bring down your core body temperature to enhance your sheep counting.

Don’t take my word for it, test this hypothesis yourself! Tonight crank your thermostat up to 71°. In the morning, write in your journal all about your sleep efficiently.

Now tomorrow night crank it down to 65°. Do the same in the morning. Notice anything different?

5. ZZZZZ-Rich Supplements

(For additional supplements, check out my blog How to Relieve Anxiety Naturally (10 Supplements)

CBD

I worked for a CBD company for a year called CBD American Shaman. Their philosophy is simple: CBD American Shaman is dedicated to bringing wellness to the world through ultra-concentrated terpene rich CBD oil derived from all natural, high quality industrial hemp. It is legal in all 50 states and is Gluten Free and Eco-Friendly, and is batch tested using Ultra Performance Convergence Chromatography.

For real. I would take their CBD daily for 3 months and noticed tremendous benefits like anxiety relief, better muscle/training recovery and enhanced sleep. 10mg of this potent stuff daily will do for most individuals trying to take one more step to improving their health, but for sleep I recommend upping it anywhere to 10-60mg a night. Side effects include: healthier REM and deep sleep, relaxed muscles, and a kickass mood the following day.

Magnesium Glycinate, B6 & Zinc

These guys are critical components for cellular repair when you sleep! Magnesium and zinc are considered macro-minerals which means you need an abundant supply in order to maintain balanced health. Every night for over 2 years I pop anywhere from 300-800mg of magnesium glycinate (a form of magnesium that calms the nervous system down for rest the most because of the bound glycine molecule; unlike malate which is considered more energizing or other forms for other needs), 20-50mg of zinc picolinate or zinc orotate and vitamin B6 to help with absorption of the two. You can sometimes find all three stacked together in one pill called ZMA, but I prefer to purchase separately to make matters cheaper and I trust other brands more like Solaray, Thorne, or Calm.

Melatonin

When you consume 1-5mg of melatonin 1-2 hours before bed, expect to enhance your deep sleep rhythms like crazy. It works like gangbusters! Consuming it 1-2 hours before hitting the sack is necessary because you absorb melatonin not in the stomach, but once it passes that and hits up the small intestine for digestion and assimilation. That is when the magic happens!

*No, taking melatonin every night will not inhibit your natural production of melatonin by the pineal gland. This is woo-woo bro-science that is not backed by clinical evidence in many trials.

L-Theanine

AHHHH I love this “amino acid” with my heart and soul. Found in high concentrations in green tea and matcha, this shizzle is amazing anytime of the day! If you stack it with caffeine (maybe your cup of joe) during the day, expect less jitters and more calm focus to get any task done at hand. Feeling nervous for an interview or basic anxiety? L-Theanine is there for you then too. Need help sleeping after consuming caffeine too late in the day? Expect to wipe-out caffeine's racing mind effects in a flash.

Seriously, folks, L-Theanine has no negative side effects even in really high doses. I like to take it in a 2:1 ratio with caffeine during day to decrease jitters and shakiness, or at night I will load up on 200-400mg of suntheanine, a more bioavailable form.

EXTRA: Omega-3s

Taking fish oil (Carlson Lemon Flavor is a great brand: a tsp to a tbsp before bed) may help with recovery and increasing those yawns. Omega-3s won’t necessarily make you tired, but they will help with brain function. Low levels of omega-3 fatty acids are associated with sleep problems in children and obstructive sleep apnea in adults and we definitely don’t like that, do we? Get plenty of DHA and EPA fatty acids to help with your ZZZZs!

6. Herbal Dream Teas

Get ready to recharge and refresh each and every morning with these natural, made-by-nature herbs! (*most can be taken in capsules as a supplement)

• Catnip

• Valerian

• Skullcap

• Mugwort

• Lavender

• Holy Basil

• Echinacea

• Chamomile

• Lemon Balm

• Ashwaghandha

• Passion Flower

• Kava Kava