How to Fall Asleep Easily When You're Tired But Stressed: 9 Tips For When You Just Can't Sleep

If you're having trouble sleeping, you've got to be feeling miserable. Whatever the cause of your insomnia--whether it's due to stress, anxiety, being overtired or something else--there's nothing worse than being tired and sleepy but in a zombie sleepless state where you just can't...fall...asleep! These tips are designed to help you relax enough to fall asleep when you're in a stressed, anxious state.

Oh, and if you're wondering what makes me an expert--I have one word for you. Parenthood. As someone who can do insomnia in their sleep (so to speak), I'm all too familiar with both the short-term and the long-term problems associated with not getting enough shut-eye.

1. If lying in bed is only frustrating you, get out of bed and do something. Walk around. Watch TV. Surf the Web. Make a list of everything that's worrying you. Distract yourself until you start feeling drowsy again. Immediately stop what you're doing and go back to bed to try to fall asleep again.
2. Sip from a warm glass of milk or a relaxing cup of hot herbal tea, unsweetened or only very lightly sweetened. Avoid caffeine or alcohol.
3. Snack on food that makes you sleepy, such as some leftover chicken or turkey (which contain tryptophan, a substance that makes you sleepy) or a bowl of pudding or vanilla ice cream. Avoid chocolate.
4. Make sure your bed is comfortable and the bedding fresh.  Your stress may be increased by discomfort caused by your bed.  If your bed is not comfy, try a different bed, try sleeping on the sofa, or even try the floor.
   
5. Ask for a massage, or do self-massage, and do it in bed. Use long, gentle strokes along your major muscle groups to relax the tight muscles. Drink a glass of cool water afterwards, making sure you have it ready to drink after the massage so you don't have to get up.
   
6. Soak in a deep, very warm bath for at least 20 minutes, optionally adding Epsom salts. After drying off, immediately crawl into bed.  I personally found a calm hot bath one of the best relaxation techniques for helping me fall asleep naturally.
   
7. Adjust the noise level of your bedroom to suit a peaceful night's sleep. For some people this means using earplugs to block out noises keeping them awake. For others who find low-level noise soothing, playing soft music or even keeping the TV on quietly can relax them enough so they can fall asleep.
8. Try self-hypnosis, an effective and natural method for soothing yourself to sleep. Close your eyes and breathe deeply and slowly through your abdomen. While you slowly count to ten, imagine yourself moving from a stressful position toward a peaceful, relaxing position in any setting you like. For example, you can imagine yourself as a string pulled tight. Start counting from one to ten, each time imagining that the string relaxes, until when you reach ten, the string drops limply.  And so do you.
   
9. Read something boring. Yes, I'm serious.  Try to focus on a book about something you have little interest in. The effort of trying to focus on dry reading material can actually be a form of self-hypnosis, and you'll hypnotize yourself enough to put yourself to sleep.
   

• A good night's sleep is essential to learning and creative problem solving.  If you don't sleep well, you don't think or function as well as you could.
  
• Statistically, trouble sleeping increases with age. It's a myth that older people need less sleep--they just tend to get less sleep.
  
• Women are known to have more trouble falling asleep than men.
• With chronic insomnia, you may have trouble getting to sleep, a hard time staying asleep, repeated or early episodes of waking up, or sleep that doesn't refresh you.
• If you suspect your sleep problems may be chronic, or this happens three or more times a week for several weeks on end, see your doctor.