I Struggle With Going To Bed Early, So I Tried Bedtime Habits That Are Supposed To Make You Fall Asleep ASAP

Me: Go to bed! Also me: No.by Fabiana BuontempoBuzzFeed Contributor💬 View 15 comments

Hi! My name is Fabiana and I’m a person, like most, who is always in major need of sleep. 😴

https://www.instagram.com/p/COG_BbvsrdU/embed/?cr=1&v=4&wp=592&rd=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.buzzfeed.com&rp=%2Ffabianabuontempo%2Fbedtime-hacks-fall-asleep-earlier#%7B%22ci%22%3A0%2C%22os%22%3A6982.535000002827%2C%22ls%22%3A6237.400000012713%2C%22le%22%3A6282.415000008768%7D@fabianabuontempo / Via Instagram

The annoying thing about my sleep schedule is that I’m an early riser no matter what day of the week it is — but I can never get myself to sleep at a decent hour.

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Over the years, I’ve become a morning person. Meaning: I love an early quiet morning where I can work out, take my time, eat breakfast, and set the tone for the rest of my day. And because of that, for better or for worse, my body clock has become conditioned to wake up early — regardless of whether it’s a Tuesday or a Saturday.

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Considering I’m usually awake by 7 a.m., by the time noon rolls around, I feel like I’m crashing, and the nonstop yawns continue throughout the day.

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Aside from wanting more hours of sleep so I have more energy, I also know how crucial a good night’s sleep is for recovering your body after a workout, something that I do every day. So I had double the reason to want to try and fix my nighttime habits.

Back when I was in my early twenties and living at home, I used to blame my family for getting in the way of my bedtime routine.

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As I would brush my teeth, my mom would call out to me to show me something on her computer, my dad would be making noise in the kitchen getting a snack, or just the volume of my loud Italian family’s voices would be enough to prevent me from falling asleep early.

Eventually, when I moved out and lived by myself, I noticed that I could no longer blame anyone but myself for not having a productive nighttime routine. (Is it just me or do the hours after work just fly by??)

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One minute, I’m cooking dinner, and the next minute, it’s 10 p.m. and I’m panicking that I haven’t yet showered, sent out that last work email, or gotten ready for bed. (And, of course, bingeing a show on Netflix will do it too.)

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After quarantine happened, I found it even tougher to put away my phone, say goodnight to Netflix, and not get distracted by anyone all before bed.

So for an entire work week, I decided I would try different popular bedtime hacks and methods to see if any of them would help me achieve my goal of getting to bed early. My ultimate goal: be in bed by 10 p.m and asleep shortly after.

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Here’s how it went!

NIGHT ONE: I made dinner extra early — so I could finish cooking and cleaning with plenty of time to spare.

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NIGHT TWO: Force myself to put down my phone a full hour before bed — instead of scrolling until right before I shut my eyes.

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I knew this method would be one of the toughest, so I made sure to try it early in the week to see if I could really put the phone away early. I didn’t really have any tips and tricks for this one aside from putting a time limit on my most-used apps. I set the time limit to close my apps at 9 p.m. and I even set an alarm to remind me to put my phone away for the night.

I surprisingly wasn’t aware of the time while I was scrolling Instagram at 8:55 p.m., so when my time limit and alarm went off, I was startled and a little annoyed. I was tempted to ignore the time limit, but I told myself it’s for my own good. I set my morning alarm and put my phone across the room on my desk instead of on my nightstand like I normally do. Rather than aimlessly being on my phone at this hour, I went to brush my teeth and even did a few stretches before getting into bed. Who am I??

NIGHT THREE: Read 10 pages of a (long-neglected) book before shutting my eyes.

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NIGHT FOUR: Turn off the lights and meditate right before bed.

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I was honestly dreading this method because I am personally not into meditating. I’ve tried it, and for me, it’s always a fail. (I know I sound very pessimistic, but I’m trying to be realistic with myself here.)

I knew I’d likely need some help here, so I downloaded the ~trendy~ meditating app Headspace and followed one of their night meditations. It definitely helped relax me, but I struggled with keeping my mind clear once the session ended.

Afterward, I laid in bed wide awake, trying my best to fall asleep, but my mind was all over the place thinking of the next day’s work, my morning coffee, and whether I should sign up for that early morning Barry’s class or not. After about an hour and a half and a lot of tossing and turning, I finally fell asleep.

NIGHT FIVE: Try out a nighttime yoga routine.

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THE RESULTS: Out of all of the methods I tried, the ones that worked best for me to get to bed early were: having a time limit on my phone, reading before bed, and cooking a much earlier-than-usual dinner.