How to Sleep When You Are Not Tired

Medically reviewed by Chad Denman

Last Updated: March 14, 2023 References Approved

You desperately need to get some shut-eye, but there's one problem: you're not tired. Don't worry! There are many tricks you can use to relax your mind and body to make yourself fall into sleep mode more easily. If trying to sleep when you are not tired is a constant problem in your life, you can change your routine. It might make it easier to fall asleep at night, even if you feel wide awake.

Part 1

Part 1 of 3:

Relaxing Your Body

1
Adjust the lighting.^{[1]
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Expert Source

Chad Denman
Sleep Medicine Provider
Expert Interview. 8 December 2022.} If you prefer a completely dark room, cover all lights such as digital alarm clocks, or any other electronic device in your bedroom that has a light on it and use room blackening curtains or blinds. If you prefer to sleep with dim lighting, wear an eye mask or lower your lights until you are comfortable enough to sleep.
Do not sleep with your lights on,
as this disrupts sleep and makes it difficult to become tired and relaxed.^{[2]
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2
Adjust the sound level. Consider putting on some
white noise
(sound machine, fan blowing, for example), which has been shown to help people fall asleep quicker. Also, people find the ticking of a watch or clock soothing. If you prefer everything quiet, turn off anything that causes noise.
- You can also consider wearing earplugs before you go to bed. It can take some time to get used to them, but they can help block out sounds you were not even aware of that kept you from sleeping. They can also be particularly useful if you share a bed with a partner who can wake you up.
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3
Adjust your sleeping position.
Keep your back straight, and make sure that your neck is not resting too high or too low.
Avoid sleeping on your stomach, as forcing your head to one side is hard on the spine and neck. If you sleep on your side, put a narrow pillow or rolled-up towel between your knees to keep your hips in a neutral position. Even turning from your right side to your left can help you fall asleep if you are feeling wide awake in the same old position.
4
Make your bed more comfortable. Swap your over or under-stuffed pillows for the ones you keep in the guest room. If your mattress is lumpy, flip it over or cover it with a foam pad or other blankets. The more conducive your bed is to your sleep, the more likely you will be ready for bed. We have all laid in a nice, cozy hammock in the sunlight and fallen asleep when we were not even feeling particularly tired, have we not? Well, a cozy bed can have the same effect.
- Choose silky, thin sheets if you are too hot at night. Opt for thicker, flannel sheets if you find yourself too cold at night. Also, always pick single-ply sheets over double-ply, because single-ply threads are softer and more durable.^{[3]
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- If you can’t afford a completely new mattress, buy a memory foam mattress topper to provide a layer of support and plushy softness.
- Add a quilted mattress cover, which can both protect your mattress and make your bed feel softer.^{[4]
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- Throwing your sheets in the wash can work wonders to make them feel more comfortable.
5
Get some exercise at least 3 hours before bed. Go for a run, hit up the gym, take a long walk, or do some stretches to help you get your heart rate going before you ease into bed.^{[5]
X
Expert Source

Chad Denman
Sleep Medicine Provider
Expert Interview. 8 December 2022.} This will work out your body and will make you more tired;
doing this at least 3 hours before bed
will keep your adrenaline from pumping right before bedtime and keeping you awake. If you work out shortly before bed, then you will feel more awake than ever.^{[6]
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6
Avoid alcohol or caffeine right before bed.^{[7]
X
Expert Source

Chad Denman
Sleep Medicine Provider
Expert Interview. 8 December 2022.} Though a glass of wine may initially make you feel drowsy,
consuming alcohol right before bed will disrupt your sleep cycle
and make you fall into a less deep sleep. If you do like to have a nightcap, just have it 2 to 3 hours before bed, so it does not keep you up. As for caffeine, you should
avoid caffeine after 2-3 pm,
or ideally even afternoon, because it can take up to 8 hours for the caffeine to fully leave your system. This can definitely make you feel awake, even when you want to fall asleep.^{[8]
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7
Drink cherry juice. Another option is to snack on a variety of other foods that are rich in melatonin, which is known to help you to feel sleepy and drift off more quickly. Though you should avoid eating right before bed or you may be up with indigestion or general discomfort, eating some of these foods a few hours before bed can help you drift off:^{[9]
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Trustworthy Source
National Health Service (UK)
Public healthcare system of the UK
Go to source}
- Other fruits that can boost your melatonin levels are tart cherries, tomatoes, grapes, and pomegranate.
- Rice, rolled oats, barley are grains that are rich in melatonin.
- Add some veggies that boost melatonin as well like asparagus, corn, olives, cucumber, and broccoli.
- You could also snack on some sunflower seeds, mustard seeds, walnuts, flaxseed, or peanuts to boost your levels as well.
8
Curl your toes. When you get in bed, curl your toes upward for a few seconds, relax them, and then repeat. This can help you relax your mind and body, so performing a series of 10 of these if you are feeling way too alert for your own good can help you fall asleep when you are not tired.^{[10]
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9
Drink herbal tea. Herbal tea, whether it is chamomile or peppermint, has been shown to calm your body and mind and to help you feel tired and relaxed.
Have a cup 1 to 2 hours before bed;
you do not want to drink too much liquid right before bed or you will be more likely to have to get up to urinate in the middle of the night. If you make a cup of herbal tea part of your pre-bed routine, this will help you fall asleep even faster.
10
Eat a healthy, lighter dinner. Get a healthy dose of carbs, proteins, and fruits or veggies with your daily dinner. Avoid spicy or overly heavy meals that are rich in fat or sugars, or your body will be more alert and uncomfortable throughout the night. A healthy, balanced dinner will do the trick in making you feel more tired. Make sure to eat it at least three hours before bedtime, so that your body has time to digest the food. Here are some great dinner options that can help you feel tired while still feeling healthy:^{[11]
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- Lighter pasta with cheese
- Tofu with couscous
- A glass of warm milk with oatmeal
- A kale salad, salmon, and rice noodles
11
Try taking a magnesium supplement. Taking a magnesium supplement may also help you to feel more relaxed. Being deficient in magnesium can contribute to mental health problems, such as anxiety and depression. Try taking a daily 400 mg supplement of magnesium and see if that helps you.^{[12]
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12
Adjust the temperature. The temperature in the room should be
slightly cooler than what is comfortable for you.
A slight drop in temperature induces sleep. This will really help.^{[13]
X
Research source} Do not let yourself get too cold, however, most especially your feet; cold feet can be disruptive to sleep. It is best to put on some socks. You may wake up and remove the socks in the middle of the night, but that is better than letting cold feet keep you awake.
- It can take several hours for your body temperature to cool down after exercise or exposure to excessive heat, so try to ensure that your body is at normal temperature when you get ready to go to sleep.

Part 2

Part 2 of 3:

Calming Your Mind

1
Perform breathing exercises. Try abdominal breathing, yogic pranayam, or a one-minute breathing exercise.
Close your eyes and focus on the breath falling in and out of your body.
As you do this, picture each part of your body relaxing, one at a time. Focusing on your body will keep you from thinking about anything else from the outside world.^{[14]
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Expert Source

Chad Denman
Sleep Medicine Provider
Expert Interview. 8 December 2022.}
2
Visualize something relaxing and repetitive. For example, think of small, warm waves washing over your body at regular intervals to coincide with your breathing. Meditate to calm yourself and clear your head. Do not pick anything too exciting or thrilling, something that may work yourself up.
Picture a calming beach, a gorgeous, lush forest or a beautiful rose garden.
Imagine yourself walking through it all.
- Think of one of the most beautiful and calming places you have ever been to (a clear stream of running water in a field of wildflowers in the mountains, a peaceful lake, a beautiful beach with a slight breeze in the air). This should help you relax.
3
Listen to recorded meditation. There are plenty of recorded, guided meditations that you can listen to in order to relax in the evening. See what’s available on YouTube, for example. Alternatively, you might check out apps like Headspace or Calm, which are digital services that, for a subscription fee, offer guided meditation sessions.
4
Recreate boredom. This varies from person to person, but whatever that activity is, it should lull your brain, not engage it. Do whatever you think is the most boring thing possible.
- Listen to slow, calming music or read something that is completely uninteresting to you.
- Do puzzles, like Sudoku or Solitaire
  Listen to a very dry podcast.
- Try playing a game like tic-tac-toe with yourself.
5
Read. Reading can help calm your mind and take your thoughts off of anything that might have been troubling you that day. Read something light and not too gripping, such as the local news, a paperback, or a piece of historical non-fiction. If you read a gripping thriller or an emotionally disturbing news story, that will keep you up even longer and will make you feel even more awake if you just cannot stop reading.^{[15]
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Expert Source

Chad Denman
Sleep Medicine Provider
Expert Interview. 8 December 2022.}
- Challenge yourself and read the most boring thing you can find, from your old chemistry textbooks to a dry report about the state of another country's economy.
6
Turn off all visual stimuli at least an hour before bed. Put away the iPad, phone, computer with Netflix all queued up, and turn off that television. Your eyes should begin to start to rest and to stop seeing all of the images that will make you feel more awake, jumpy, and less able to relax.^{[16]
X
Expert Source

Chad Denman
Sleep Medicine Provider
Expert Interview. 8 December 2022.} Stop being the person who drifts off while watching television or with a cell phone in her hand. Get rid of all of those high-sensory distractions, which are guaranteed to make your mind feel more alert when it is time for bed.^{[17]
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7
Stick to the fifteen-minute rule. This rule is simple:
if you have been lying in bed for more than fifteen minutes and are unable to fall asleep because you are not tired, then try something else.
If you continue to lie there, your mind will continue churning, and you may even work yourself up and feel even more awake than you did when you first closed your eyes.^{[18]
X
Expert Source

Jeremy Bartz, PhD
Clinical Psychologist
Expert Interview. 8 January 2021.} Once fifteen minutes have passed and you are no closer to catching those zzz's, do something else that is not very taxing. Read a magazine. Pace around your room. Drink some herbal tea. Hum to yourself. Sit up and stare at your hands. Do something new and you will start to drift off.
- Whatever you do, though, make sure to keep the lights dim - even reasonably dim if you are reading.
8
Avoid intense conversations before bed. Five minutes before bedtime is not the time to get into a big fight with your significant other or to call up your best friend and complain about all of the stress you are facing at work in great detail. If you live with someone and have to talk right before bed, make sure you
do not bring up anything more intense than the type of herbal tea you are going to buy at the store tomorrow.
Otherwise, the conversation will make you feel even more alert and awake, and it will take you even longer to fall asleep.
- If you live with someone who loves intense conversations right before bed, talk to them about having these conversations two to three hours before bed instead. When they learn of the issues that you have with sleep, they will (hopefully) be happy to make that concession.
9
Think about everything you did that day. Another way to calm your mind is to go through everything you did that day,
up to the most boring little detail.
Start with how many blackberries you placed in your morning oatmeal and end with which quadrant of your teeth you decided to brush last. Try to break it down hour by hour and see how specific you can get and how many things you can end up remembering. Unless you are a superhero or an ER doctor for a living, chances are that this alone will be boring enough to put you to sleep.
- If you have gone through your whole day and still feel wide awake, try going through your entire week. Surely that should be boring enough to make you drift off.
10
Use aromatherapy. Pleasant scents, such as lavender can help your body to relax by triggering your brain to release serotonin and endorphins.^{[19]
X
Research source} Try keeping a scented candle in your bedroom, add a few drops of essential oil to your bath, or use some scented pillow mist before you go to bed.

Part 3

Part 3 of 3:

Developing a Sleep-Friendly Routine

1
Find your sleepy time routine. If you want to feel tired when you want to go to bed, then you have to find a routine that helps you decompress and fall right into bed that starts
at least half an hour before it is time to get some shut-eye.
This can include some light reading, listening to classical music, reading the newspaper, or doing whatever light, low-intensity activities that may help you forget your problems and start to recognize that your body needs rest.^{[20]
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Expert Source

Chad Denman
Sleep Medicine Provider
Expert Interview. 8 December 2022.}^{[21]
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Research source}^{[22]
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Jeremy Bartz, PhD
Clinical Psychologist
Expert Interview. 8 January 2021.}
- Once you find this routine, stick to it. If you know you have to get to bed a little earlier one night though you are not tired, start the routine earlier and you can trick your mind into feeling tired a bit faster.
2
Go to bed around the same time every night.^{[23]
X
Expert Source

Chad Denman
Sleep Medicine Provider
Expert Interview. 8 December 2022.} You may not be feeling tired because you are trying to go to bed earlier than you normally do, maybe because you have to start waking up earlier. If you want to make it easier for yourself to fall asleep, then you have to get used to falling asleep at around the same time every night and waking up around the same time every morning. That way, your body will get used to feeling tired at the same time every night or more alert at the same time every morning.^{[24]
X
Expert Source

Jeremy Bartz, PhD
Clinical Psychologist
Expert Interview. 8 January 2021.}
3
Only use your bed for sleeping.^{[25]
X
Expert Source

Chad Denman
Sleep Medicine Provider
Expert Interview. 8 December 2022.} Even if you are not tired, do not watch TV in bed, do your homework in bed, talk to friends on the phone in bed, or do anything but sleep in your bed. It will be easier for you to drift off when you close your eyes, because it will tell your body that your bed is solely for sleeping.
- Find a space in your home or room that is designated for "work only." This will help you save the relaxing stuff for your bed.
4
Get out in the sunlight as soon as you wake up. Once you roll out of bed, head for the window or the balcony as soon as you can. The bright light from the sun will tell your body's biological clock that it is wakey-wakey time, and this same clock will help you get to bed in about 14–16 hours, helping you stabilize your waking up and going to bed routine.^{[26]
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5
Set aside a "worry time" for earlier in the day. If one of the reasons you do not feel tired when you go to bed is because you stay up for two hours worrying about your relationship, your health, your status at work, that kind of thing. Then you need to work on setting aside a "worry time" earlier in the day so that there is nothing on your mind by the time you are ready to hit the hay. It may sound silly, but if you say, "I'm going to worry from 5-5:30 PM every day" and do nothing but worry, write down your worries, or say them aloud during that time, then you will get them off your chest.
- If you wait until bedtime to slow down and really think about your troubles, then yeah, you're bound to feel wide awake for a long time.
6
Try taking a warm bath or shower before bed. Either of these will raise your body's core temperature some. After your shower or bath, move to your cooler bedroom. This will cause your temperature to drop, which is the cue that tells your body it is time to sleep.^{[27]
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7
Get all the pets out of the room. Another way to develop a healthy routine that keeps you from staying awake for longer than necessary is to stop letting your dog or cat share the bed with you. Though you may love nothing more than the feeling of this furry, cuddly creature sleeping beside you, studies show that people who sleep with their pets have a hard time falling asleep and staying asleep because those cuddly creatures can wake you up in the middle of the night.^{[28]
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- You may think that having your dear pet next to you will help you fall asleep when you are not feeling tired, but it will actually make you even more awake.

Expert Q&A
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Question

How do I know if I have insomnia?

Jeremy Bartz, PhD
Clinical Psychologist
Dr. Jeremy Bartz is a Clinical Psychologist in private practice based in Los Angeles, California. Dr. Bartz specializes in treating depression, anxiety, OCD, mind-body syndromes, chronic pain, insomnia, relationship difficulties, attachment trauma, and resolving the effects of narcissistic trauma. He received a Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology from Brigham Young University and completed a fellowship In Pain Psychology at Stanford's premier pain management clinic.

Jeremy Bartz, PhD

Clinical Psychologist

Expert Answer

Support wikiHow by unlocking this expert answer.

By definition, insomnia has to last for multiple days. Everybody has occasional bad nights. That's not considered insomnia. But if you've been getting only a few hours of sleep for something like a week or more, then something's wrong. That’s not normal and is more of a clinical issue. You really want to intervene as early as possible, because with insomnia in particular, it's habitual.
Question

What should I do if I can't sleep?

Jeremy Bartz, PhD
Clinical Psychologist
Dr. Jeremy Bartz is a Clinical Psychologist in private practice based in Los Angeles, California. Dr. Bartz specializes in treating depression, anxiety, OCD, mind-body syndromes, chronic pain, insomnia, relationship difficulties, attachment trauma, and resolving the effects of narcissistic trauma. He received a Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology from Brigham Young University and completed a fellowship In Pain Psychology at Stanford's premier pain management clinic.

Jeremy Bartz, PhD

Clinical Psychologist

Expert Answer

Support wikiHow by unlocking this expert answer.

If you can't sleep, get up and get out of bed and go read a book or watch some TV. You don't want to force yourself to lay there, tossing and turning, since that can actually create an association of sleeplessness with your bed, which can cause insomnia.
Question

I get hot really easily and my room only has a mid-size fan. I can't fall asleep even when I turn the fan on high. What should I do?

Luba Lee, FNP-BC, MS
Board-Certified Family Nurse Practitioner
Luba Lee, FNP-BC is a Board-Certified Family Nurse Practitioner (FNP) and educator in Tennessee with over a decade of clinical experience. Luba has certifications in Pediatric Advanced Life Support (PALS), Emergency Medicine, Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS), Team Building, and Critical Care Nursing. She received her Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) from the University of Tennessee in 2006.

Luba Lee, FNP-BC, MS

Board-Certified Family Nurse Practitioner

Expert Answer

Support wikiHow by unlocking this expert answer.

The only way to decrease the temperature of your bedroom is to set your air-conditioner to a cooler temperature. You can also try to take a cold shower before going to sleep to bring your core body temperature down.

Warnings

Do not stress out about falling asleep, thinking "I have to sleep now or else". This creates anxiety and prevents sleep. Instead, be laid back about it: "It'd be great to sleep right now, but if I don't, no big deal. At least I'll get some rest, and have a chance to relax."

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