Best Way to Fall Asleep Fast — Top 10 Things to Help You Sleep

If you’re reading this late at night because you can’t sleep, you’re not alone. Millions of people search for the best way to fall asleep fast, how to get sleep quickly at night, or what to do if you can’t sleep—usually in a state of frustration.

But here’s an uncomfortable truth:

If you don’t understand why you’re awake, falling asleep instantly is unlikely. Your biology is simply not ready. And that’s not your fault. Most people never learn how sleep works, what disrupts it, or how their environment silently keeps them wired.

This is why one of the most important things you can do for your sleep is identify the root causes behind your insomnia.

Now, we're going to get into some of my personally recommended sleep hacks and strategies in just a moment, but truthfully, I can't guarantee they'll work tonight. My top recommendation is actually to adopt habits and educate yourself so that you're investing in your sleep long-term, and not just looking for some magic bullet that doesn't exist. You can only trick your body and compensate for sabotaged biology to a degree.

But that's the point... Something has affected your biology that you're probably unaware of. It was for this reason that I wrote the book "I Can’t Sleep" — to break those causes down clearly so you can finally reclaim your nights.

But there are things you can do right now—practical, grounded, science-backed techniques that support the body’s natural sleep drive without relying on medication, gimmicks, or self-judgement.

Below is a quick guide to how to sleep better at night naturally, whether you’re dealing with trouble falling asleep and staying asleep, or you simply want healthier evening rhythms. Consider this a toolkit: things you can try tonight and habits that will set you up for future rest.

Natural techniques that actually help you fall asleep faster

Each of the suggestions below supports relaxation, reduces stimulation, and helps reset the body so that tiredness can return more naturally. They're based in science, and while nothing can guarantee absolutely that they'll work, they're powerful tools in the kit. For more info and deeper knowledge, I recommend you to check out my book or have a quick flick through a PDF that's relevant to your situation.

1. Eat a strategic late-night snack (yes, really)

Snacking is my number-one go-to when it comes to getting back to sleep. While a full meal isn't recommended just before bed, certain chemicals and combinations of food can work like a natural sleep drug in the body. Something light yet satisfying can cause the body to manufacture sleep-friendly chemicals and send you to sleep quickly. In my opinion, one of the very best ways to fall asleep fast.

Especially if your stomach is empty, blood sugar is crashing, or you had a long gap since dinner, a late-night snack may be the most powerful and reliable tool to help you ease into sleep. But the key is the right combination of nutrients:

• Carbs + tryptophan e.g. banana, oats, turkey, milk. (My old favourite was tuna + crackers, although tuna can be a little heavy for some people)

• Warm milky drinks (milk proteins contain mild opioid-like peptides that promote relaxation)

• A small dose of healthy fats like MCT oil for stable energy

• Avoid too much protein, which can increase alertness and be heavy to digest

• A gentle supplement boost from high-quality magnesium, collagen/glycine, or L-theanine

  
  

While sugary products can often be activating, carbs and certain natural sugars, once you're over the sugar spike, will send you into an energy crash that slingshots you into sleep. In this way, we can plan our crash, riding the wave of sleepiness that pulls you into the pillow. But beware: stay away from processed foods, chocolate, or anything with artificial colours or sweeteners. Also avoid MSG and anything that is likely to make you gassy or bloated.

2. Use simple, targeted breathing techniques

Don't underestimate the power of breath.

When you’re trying to sleep, your breathing is often shallow and fast—signaling danger rather than calm. Breathing techniques help re-activate the parasympathetic nervous system, which chemically tunes your system towards relaxation and sleep. Proper breathing is a pharmacological activation, an underappreciated "sleep hack" that can do wonders. Try these on for size:

• Box breathing: 4 seconds in → 4 hold → 4 out → 4 hold

• Slow exhale breathing: inhale 4 seconds, exhale 6–8 seconds

• Diaphragmatic breathing: expanding the belly rather than the chest

  
  

These methods reduce cortisol, quiet the mind, and gently shift your internal gears toward drowsiness.

3. Acupressure points and hand mudras

Acupressure works surprisingly well for calming racing thoughts. If I'm awake in the night, one of my first go-to hacks, which can be done anywhere, any time, is to work on my acupressure points.

One of the most effective points is the Heart 7 (HT7) point, located:

• on the palm side of your wrist

• an inch below the crease

• just on the outside of the tendon at the base of your pinky finger

Gently rub or press this area for 30–60 seconds or for a few minutes. Practise your breathing while you're doing it to maximise effectiveness. Many people find it works within minutes.

Another personal favourite is a hand mudra called the Shakti Mudra. This is a position where your hands come together to permit subtle yet specific electrical flow around the body. While some people might poo-poo Eastern techniques, in my experience it works almost every time. I will even wedge my hands under the pillow and fall asleep in this position.

You might also find that massaging the forehead and jaw tension points will help release tension immediately and support relaxation.

These techniques and more are detailed more deeply in I Can’t Sleep.

4. Let yourself get bored on purpose

One highly likely reason you’re awake is that your brain is overstimulated. Dopamine, the go-getter neurotransmitter, will directly prevent sleep, and will spike from stimulation. This can be from late use of your phone, working or organising things too late, or even from your own mind. If you're thinking about things you have to do tomorrow, exciting things you'd like to do (e.g. fantasies), or what you think you should be doing (even to get back to sleep), then you're telling your brain to manufacture dopamine, which keeps it awake.

In this way, boredom is actually the doorway to sleep. Try:

• letting your thoughts wander

• meditation without expectations

• mentally shifting your awareness from your head → feet → head repeatedly

This calms dopamine, quiets the “busy brain”, and helps the call to sleep resurface. Some people call this meditation, but really you just need to relax — probably more than you think. Fight the urge to do things, to think things, to self-entertain or self-arouse. Practise letting it all go and becoming a thoughtless dummy. Your sleep will thank you for it.

5. Take a warm shower

Have you heard of the "warm shower effect"? One of my favourite night-time resets is taking a comfortable shower. It's not always a golden cure, but at the very least it's relaxing and feels like a nice break and reset after feeling disrupted and agitated in bed. For me, it cleans my mind as well as my body, and it can also be a moment to breathe, clear my mind, and simply enjoy the moment before slipping back into bed.

A warm (not hot) shower:

• relaxes muscles

• lowers stress hormones

• helps your core temperature drop afterward—which promotes sleep

• makes you feel clean and reset

Avoid wetting your hair if possible. The process of drying it can wake you back up, and sleeping with wet hair can make you cold or sick. And definitely avoid cold showers at night, as they can lead to a slow dopamine build for several hours afterward, keeping you alert and adding to the reasons for not sleeping.

6. Upgrade your sheets and pillow

People underestimate how much poor bedding harms sleep. While this isn't something you can easily fix on the spot, it's often a game-changing investment you didn't realise you were living without.

High-quality linen, breathable organic cotton, or bamboo sheets, can make all the difference with temperature regulation and reducing agitation for the skin and mind. If you're stuck on synthetic sheets, especially in hot environments, it's time for a change. Linen is my top pick, but even quality cotton sheets aren't too much of an expense, especially when sleep is on the line.

A supportive pillow, or even a body pillow can be transformative as well. The right height and shape for your head can make a world of difference, and is one of the single most important factors in sleep comfort and quality.

Body pillows are another surprisingly supportive accessory. These will do wonders for your sleep posture, supporting health and pain responses you didn't even know your subconscious was experiencing in the night. Plus, they can help regulate body temperature while also providing something for you to hold or cuddle. This isn't just some psychological safety technique; it literally boosts your oxytocin levels, helping you find comfort and the right balance of hormones to help you drift off and stay asleep. This is one of the most overlooked best treatments for insomnia when the cause is physical discomfort.

7. Lie on the couch for a reset (without trying to sleep)

If you can't sleep, get out of bed! This is actually vital for proper sleep hygiene. The less time you spend awake in bed, the better, and somewhere like the couch can offer a place of refuge to relax and reset until your body and mind are ready.

This works psychologically and physiologically. By moving away from the bedroom:

• you break the cycle of frustration

• you relax somewhere “neutral”

• you remove pressure to fall asleep

Wrap yourself in a blanket, dim the lights, and just rest. Don't try to force sleep; just let your body exist somewhere and focus on Point 4: let yourself get bored. You can read, write, or sip an uncaffeinated beverage if it helps, but really you can think of this a bit like 'sleep practice', where you're letting your mind and body relax. Here, we're giving ourselves a little distance from the formal sleep location, which can help take off the pressure and remove ourselves from this insomnia association with the bedroom. And if you fall asleep there, not a problem. If sleepiness comes back (often with a yawn), or you stir from having fallen asleep, you can now return to bed in a sleep-ready state.

8. Try grounding (hands or feet on a plant or the earth)

This ain't no woo-woo BS. The practice of "grounding" or “earthing” has very real effects, with emerging evidence showing it reduces stress, inflammation, and sleep onset time — the time it takes to fall asleep.

Options:

• step outside barefoot (if safe and not freezing cold)

• touch a grounding surface

• place your hands on a healthy pot plant

• gently cuddle a pet (similar benefits)

While there is science that shows incredible physiological benefits, it can also bring a quiet, peaceful, and enjoyable moment that supports your mental relaxation and gives you a moment to breathe some fresh air. It’s a surprisingly simple and effective way to interrupt stress spirals.

9. Write anything—literally anything

Perhaps I'm biased as a writer, but writing for me is medicine. The expression of thoughts, feelings, or whatever else I need to get out of my head. If you're a busy-brain like me, this is a simple remedy that can significantly help to relax the mind and break toxic thought cycles. Offload whatever is in there, even if you don't quite know how to articulate it. Just write. Write anything. It could be:

• poetry

• diary writing

• a to-do list

• stream-of-consciousness gibberish

It doesn't necessarily need to be writing, although this is a nice light exercise that doesn't demand much energy, and can help to express yourself in a surprisingly therapeutic way. Other hobbies like drawing, knitting, or even some light meal prep like chopping vegetables can also be a late-night activity that doesn't stimulate you too much. However, be careful of bright lights, dangerously low lights if we're in the kitchen (don't wanna chop fingers!) and expected time dedication. We want to wait till the sleepiness comes back, and not get too caught up in stimulating activities.

Note: Use warm, low light when writing. Don’t write anything mentally heavy or emotionally charged.

10. Do very light stretching & massage

You might have heard this advice before, and it needs to be approached with care. Being very gentle with the body, we're helping the body slowly oxygenate and kind of massage the nervous system. This is great to couple with breathing techniques, mental techniques, and some light self-massage. Especially around the back and neck, it can help to ever so slightly loosen up with some bends, rolls, and lightly stretching movements. Be careful, though: don't do anything that increases your heart rate or inverts your head. Even walking up and down stairs can count as "activating exercise" as far as your biology is concerned.

Final tips that matter more than people realise

• Stay in dim, warm light (no glaring whites, blues, or even bright yellows)

• Avoid screens at all costs

• Keep your body slightly cool

• Avoid loud noises, mentally demanding tasks, and cold floors

• Notice when yawns return—that’s your window to go back to bed

The goal is never to chase sleep… but to allow it. With a little information under your belt, it can be your natural biology, not the cleverness of your mind, that will ultimately prevail against insomnia. In the war against sleeplessness, awareness is king.

Long-Term Sleep — How to sleep better at night naturally

It's certainly a trick in the hat knowing what to do if you can’t sleep, but ideally we wouldn't even be in this position in the first place. While the sleep tips and hacks above will hopefully help you in the fight against insomnia, your best strategy is to actually understand what's causing your insomnia. Without any insight into what's sabotaging your nights, you're taking stabs in the dark and hoping that some 5-minute "sleep hack" will undo all the ways you're negatively affecting your sleep biology — ways you don't even realise.

This is exactly why I wrote I Can’t Sleep: A Condensed Guide to Reclaiming Your Sleep. It explains sleep in the simplest, clearest way possible — with science, real-world context, and practical guidance. It helps you become aware of your bad habits — the ones you probably don't even realise are bad habits.

If you're looking to get a good night of sleep, the best treatment for insomnia, in my opinion, is self-education. Learn strategy and a little sleep biology in advance, so when the time comes, you already have the best way to fall asleep fast — because your body will do it naturally without you having to do anything.

The next best thing if you have trouble falling asleep and staying asleep is to arm yourself with quality sleep equipment. Not just any equipment, though; specific (non-chemical) sleep aids that revolutionise your sleep environment and give you a fighting chance in the modern world. If you're largely unaware of how your biological state is connected with your thinking, you will be profoundly surprised at how a small handful of well-selected products will completely change your relationship with sleep and coax your neurobiology towards relaxation. You won't even need to know how to calm your mind to sleep, because you have the capacity to be calm before you even step into the bedroom.

So, finally, I bid you goodnight. I hope you enjoyed this list of the top 10 things to help you sleep. As a quick reminder, the best way to fall asleep isn't to try to force yourself to fall asleep fast. It's to be smart, to understand yourself, and prepare for the night in advance rather than relying on a 5-minute fix from a blog you've just googled (just playing with you, but seriously...).

If you're curious to learn more, I point you once again to the sleep manual I created: my book "I Can't Sleep". You'll find plenty of information in there that will change your life and improve your sleep naturally and permanently. But in the meantime, remember this:

Understanding your sleep is the foundation.

The techniques above are the tools.

Combine them, and you can transform your nights.

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This post was written by Matthew Charles, author of "I Can’t Sleep: A Condensed Guide to Reclaiming Your Sleep" — a science-backed, practical, and highly accessible guide to understanding and fixing your sleep from the inside out.