How To Shut Off Your Brain And Fall Asleep Faster
I’ve often wished for a switch I could flip in mind to turn it off. A button that allows me to fall asleep, like powering down a robot or turning off my phone, I wish that I could simply stop consciousness until my body is well-rested and I’m prepared for the next day.
Unfortunately, our brains don’t come with an off switch. And no matter what is going on in our lives, our stress at work, relationship problems, or whatever else keeps us up at night, our bodies still need sleep.
I don’t think I need to list all the reasons sleep is essential. All of us have experienced what it feels like to miss a night of sleep or not be sufficiently rested. You know anecdotally that you don’t feel right, that you are more hungry, less patient, and just feel run down. Your body needs time to recover from your long days of consciousness and regulate your hormones, metabolism, and immune system.
You can’t avoid sleeping. No matter how busy or stressed you feel, how large your imagined problems become if you don’t sleep...eventually you’ll die. Not exactly a comforting thought you’d want to hear when reading an article late at night about how to fall asleep.
So what can you do to stop your mind from rerunning conversations that you’d wish had gone differently or coming up with future situations that probably won’t ever happen?
How do you shut off your brain?
Well, you can’t simply will your brain to turn off. I’ve tried. I also cannot use the force to turn off my bedroom light switch. I simply don’t have enough midichlorians (Jedi powers).
Although I have a friend named Ashley Perl, an embodiment coach and breathwork guide, an expert in getting people out of their minds and into their bodies to thrive in life, not just survive. When I asked her how to shut off my brain at night and fall asleep faster, she said,
“Better sleep actually starts during the day.”
Better sleep starting during the day is a concept we all inherently understand. We know that when we exercise, we get tired and have an easier time sleeping. We also know if we have too much caffeine, it becomes much more difficult to fall asleep. What we don’t seem to understand is why even when we are well exercised, uncaffeinated, and quite tired, we still can’t manage to shut off our minds.
Ashley had some great insights which I’d like to share with you:
“First, it’s helpful to understand why our thoughts race at night. After a long day of work, school, parenting, etc., you’d think our bodies would be elated to finally have some quiet snooze time.
Believe it or not, those racing thoughts are a survival mechanism. That’s right! Overanalyzing that thing you said to your best friend or imagining 1000 what-if scenarios are examples of your body trying to protect you.
Imagine your body is an iPhone. Your brain is operating on iOS 1, equipped with automatic, self-preserving behaviors to protect you against potential threats. Your body, however, is running on iOS 150,000,000. While your body knows that potentially upsetting a friend is not a life or death situation, your primal brain (iOS 1) doesn’t see it that way. Back when iOS 1 was in its prime, being ostracized from a tribe was quite literally a life or death situation no different from being chased by a tiger where our minds are concerned.
So until our Primal Brains gets a much-needed system update, how do we quiet our overactive minds and let them know that we’re safe?
Enter Breathwork.
Breathing in a controlled, intentional way can shift you from the heightened state of your Sympathetic (survival) nervous system into your Parasympathic (relax, rest and digest) nervous system. Essentially you are letting that primal brain of yours know that you are safe, there are no immediate threats, and it is okay to slow down and rest. It is here where you can experience falling asleep (and staying asleep) with ease.”
Breathing techniques for falling sleeping faster
I’m no expert on breathing techniques, but for as long as I could remember, my strategy for falling asleep late at night was simple. Make my breath as deep and as slow as possible, and count my breaths backward from 50. Often I’ll lose consciousness before zero, but other times I’ll simply fall into another pattern of thought and forget I was even counting backward from 50.
After talking with Ashley, I figured there had to be a better strategy. She suggested trying this instead:
Step 1: Find yourself in a comfortable position lying down.
Step 2: Bringing full awareness to your breath, inhale slowly through your nose for a count of 5
Step 3: Exhale slowly through your mouth for a count of 8
Step 4: Repeat 10x
“This breathing technique is beneficial to do right before bed, as well as throughout your day (sitting upright during the day). I recommend setting a phone alarm daily for a “Breathing Break” before lunchtime or after you’ve digested your lunch fully. The more you can breathe intentionally, the more well-being you’ll invite into your nervous system. A happy nervous system makes for a great night’s sleep!
If guided meditations are more supportive for you, I created this Breathwork for Better Sleep guided practice, which includes this breathing technique and a guided meditation to help you relax even further.
The key here is that your exhalation is longer than your inhalation. This activates your Parasympathetic nervous system (rest & digest) and eases the Sympathetic (survival). If you find this challenging, you can reduce to inhaling for 4s and exhaling for 6-7s. While some lightheadedness can occur and is normal (you’re inviting in more Oxygen than your body is used to), please consult your physician if you have any concerns.” (Ashley Perl, embodiment coach, and breathwork guide)
No matter what breathing technique you adopt, it won’t suddenly stop your thoughts or let you instantly drift off into sleep. Intentional breathing can help quiet the mind over time. Intentional breathing is a form of meditation. Just like with meditation, this is a practice that takes repetition to create lasting and impactful changes. The only difference is that meditation is hard.
Breathing isn’t. You have to breathe constantly anyway. Making ten of those breaths intentional in exchange for a calmer mind and better sleep seems like a pretty sweet deal.
