How to Fall Asleep Quickly

It's 3am, you're wide awake because that "power nap" turned into a two hour sleep. Now you have to wake up early for the plans you made, or even worse, school.

You've tried all the methods in the book; counting sheep, listening to rain sounds, reading poetry, and just telling your brain to shut down. To relax and fall asleep but it's just not working.

When your body is too wide awake, here are non-cliche tips for you to shut it down.

Normally, for me, I keep banging my head against the pillow multiple times until I get a "mini concussion" so it's easier for my brain to relax and most of the time, it works. However, I don't think I can officially recommend giving yourself mini concussion so here are other examples:

First clench all your muscles. Your face, your arm, your hands, feet, even your bottom. Keep the tension for a couple seconds then relax all at the same time. Afterwards, imagine yourself in a quiet place. Like looking afar at a beach, or gazing at the stars under the aurora. This method was invented by Jacobson in the 1920s, and was known for working like a charm.

For my second method, think of any word. I'll choose "home" as an example. Then, for each letter of the word, choose other words beginning with the letters from the previous word. Like for "h", horse. For "o", octopus and so on. This method is called the cognitive shuffling method. It's mostly for getting rid of overthinking and letting your brain think about something else.

Last, there's the "fake situation" method. All you gotta do for this is just imagine. Imagine you doing something you like. For me, I like doing my 100-step-makeup and making slime (childish I know). I'd think about doing my foundation, then blush, then brows, then contour — you get it. This works because focusing on low-stress thoughts keeps your brain occupied without activating alertness, allowing it to naturally turn into sleeping mode. It's just like the second method.