Close your eyes and lie very still

/c/futuramasleepers

routines routines routines. same bedtime, same wake up time. if you establish a routine, it should take 14 days to kick in

• Partial tip: There's often the suggestion of concentrating on breathing, usually with some kind of regular pattern. This is an alternative to try.

You'll need to have been in bed for a while, mind racing. Take how extreme that racing is and then taking a similarly extreme, almost uncomfortably deep breath to match it. This requires having been in bed for a while.

Hold it for a bit. Don't count seconds - avoid numbers. As soon as you get the vaguest hint from your body that you need to let it out and breathe normally again, do so. Try to relax as much of yourself as possible as you do that. This is not a "hold your breath till you pass out" thing. You want to go back to breathing normally.

If the breath was too deep and that freaked you out a bit, try going a bit more shallow on the next one.

This has sometimes worked for me, especially if I've been asleep already and can't get back to sleep.

Sometimes I've tried a regular breathing exercise after that.

Other times I have got out of bed and done something mindless for a while until I felt tired again. No doomscrolling.

• More traditional tip: No caffeinated beverages for at least 6 hours before you go to bed. Yes, six. Nine's even better.

Breathe in to a count of 4, hold to a count of 7, then exhale to a count of 8. Do it until you fall asleep.

** The added benefit of this method is you're also cleaning out the stagnant air from the bottom of your rib cage/lungs (from smoking, pollution, etc).

Hit your face with a frying pan 😆