Many people experience insomnia, or the inability to fall and stay asleep.

Whether you have a racing mind, a body that can't quite get comfortable (or both 🥲)… we think there's probably something in here that can help you the next time you're having a rough night.

Progressive Muscle Relaxation

Today’s tip is from our co-founder Nodira: Progressive Muscle Relaxation!

Here’s how to do it: Tense each muscle group in your body tightly for 5 to 10 seconds, then let go completely, starting from your face and moving down to your toes

Let’s practice it right now so you know how to do it.

Focus on your right arm. Tense it up. Count to 10. Then release. How do you feel?

So when you go to sleep tonight, try this out with each part of your body, starting from your face muscles, moving down to your arms and chest, your core, butt, legs, and finally — toes! 

The Gratitude Alphabet

Our next tip comes from focused host Scott: The Gratitude Alphabet Game!

Here’s how to do it:

Go through the alphabet and think about one thing you are grateful for, beginning with the letter A, then beginning with the letter B, and so on… and continuing all the way through Z.  

Doing this when you lay down to go to sleep (or if you wake up in the middle of the night) is a great way to end your day with gratitude, and to help avoid thinking about the negatives going on in your life. 

Often, you don't make it to the letter Z because you fall asleep!

The Randomizer Puzzle

Our tip comes from focused space software engineer Amy: The Randomizer Puzzle!

Here’s what Amy told us:

“I think of a random 3-5 letter word to start, e.g., "ROAD.”

For each letter, think of a thing (don't think too hard) that starts with that letter — something that you can also visualize. 

Hold that visualization for a couple seconds, then repeat with the rest of the letters. 

Start over with the last letter's word… or come up with a new word starting with the last letter.

Here's an example

ROAD:

Radio → visualize a radio,

Oreo cookie

Airplane

Duck

…

New starting word is DUCK!

A Second Location

So far, we’ve talked about several techniques that can help you quiet down the noise in your mind at bedtime, but today we have a simple trick that just has to do with where you put your body.

Focused Space host Suliel shared her “second location” trick. She says:

“So random but getting out of bed and going to a different location for a little bit and then returning to bed helps me with insomnia!”

Have you ever had the experience of moving from your bed to the couch, and finding yourself falling asleep there for some reason?

Who knows why, but it works for some people!

Lower the temperature!

Our last tip comes from Focused Space co-founder Alexis: lower the temperature!

A hot sleeping environment can affect your thermoregulation, which is your body’s ability to control internal temperature, and impacts the quality of your sleep.

When you lie down to sleep, your body begins to shed heat through blood vessel dilation (expansion), which sends a sleep onset signal to your body. 

Gradually, your core body temperature decreases until waking up again.

Keeping your room temperature between 60°F and 67°F may help keep your body temperature low and help you fall and stay asleep.

We know that may sound cold, especially at the lower end, but then you get to snuggle under a blanket!

It can also be hard to get to that temperature in the summer in many places even if you have AC, so here’s something else you can try:

Research shows that bathing in warm water 1 to 2 hours before bedtime may also speed up thermoregulation and help you fall asleep faster.

A 2019 study found that people who bathed in hot water for as little as 10 minutes before going to sleep reported higher sleep quality!

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We hope you learned something new you can try out next time you're having trouble sleeping!

P.S. If you aren't a member of Focused Space, but could use help accomplishing your goals, busting through procrastination, or getting motivated… you are welcome to join us at one of our live guided work sessions, or morning planning sessions!

Take care,

— Alexis and the focused space team