We all know the rules: skip the late-night caffeine, put away the screens, keep your bedroom cool and dark. Yet still, we find ourselves staring at the ceiling at 3am.
According to a recent YouGov survey, nearly half of UK adults regularly struggle to fall asleep, while 58% often wake up during the night. Whether it’s racing thoughts, restless legs or the dread of an early alarm, drifting off again can feel impossible.
Even the world’s top sleep experts aren’t immune. So, what do they do when they can’t doze off? From counting backwards to rapid blinking, here are the science-backed tricks they swear by to fall asleep fast.
Tense and relax your muscles
Dr Allie Hare, consultant in sleep medicine and co-founder of Grace Sleep
“If I’m feeling tense or my mind is busy, I use progressive muscle relaxation – a proven way to calm both body and mind. You work up through the body, from toes to head, tensing each muscle for around 10 seconds, before releasing. It keeps your mind occupied while the body relaxes.
“I do this lying in bed, as part of my wind-down routine. We all expect to go from 100 miles an hour to sleep instantly, but the body needs cues to switch off.
“If I wake in the night, I’ll use a cognitive distraction – such as counting backwards from 1000 in sevens, which works quickly.”
Listen to a bedtime story
Professor Russell Foster, head of the Nuffield Laboratory of Ophthalmology and the Sleep and Circadian Neuroscience Institute, University of Oxford
“To go to sleep, I’ll either read a few pages of a novel or listen to the radio – something calm, relaxing and far removed from my day job. So not the wonderful Life Scientific, which is a little too close to home. Music can be too stimulating, so while I usually wake up to Radio 3, I switch to Radio 4 Extra at bedtime. I find the measured tones of programmes like In Our Time deeply soothing – there’s something comforting about a calm, human voice.
“If I wake in the night, I’ll listen to a short story, set in the 1920s or 1930s – perhaps a Dorothy L. Sayers’ Lord Peter Wimsey mystery with Ian Carmichael. It transports me somewhere else entirely, a world where I’m an observer rather than a participant. Perhaps that’s the key that allows me to relax; it’s a grown-up version of the bedtime stories of my childhood.”
Sip cherry juice (and try a Navy Seal nap)
Francesca Bagshaw, performance physiologist at Nuffield Health Manchester Institute of Health and Performance
“I drink a glass of tart cherry juice, about an hour before bed. It’s rich in melatonin – the hormone that regulates our sleep-wake cycle – and may improve sleep duration and quality. It helps me feel calmer and sleepier at bedtime, especially after an evening run when I need to wind down.
“I also take a magnesium complex supplement, with magnesium glycinate to support relaxation, and citrate for restless legs, which helps me sleep more soundly and has improved my symptoms.
“If I’m really struggling to sleep, I’ll do a ‘Navy Seal nap’ – an eight-minute rest where you elevate your legs above the heart. It boosts circulation and helps the body relax quickly. Even if you don’t drift off, it calms your system and helps reset your body for better sleep.”
Stay up late
Dr Guy Leschziner, professor of neurology and sleep medicine at Guys & St Thomas’ and author of The Nocturnal Mind (Simon & Schuster)
“I deprive myself of sleep, going to bed a couple of hours later than normal so my sleep deprivation overcomes my insomnia. It’s tried and tested, and evidence-based. My sleep usually resets within a few days.”
Rock yourself to sleep
Dr Zoe Gotts, psychologist at The London Sleep Centre
“I do gentle, rhythmic movement – such as side-to-side rocking – to calm my nervous system. It’s a technique borrowed from EMDR therapy (a form of psychotherapy) which uses bilateral stimulation to signal safety to the brain.
“You can do it lying on your back, slowly rocking your knees from side to side. Or sit upright, tapping one knee then the other in an alternating rhythm, or cross your arms and gently tap alternate shoulders in a ‘butterfly kiss’. The repetitive, cross-body motion engages both hemispheres of the brain and helps shift the nervous system out of ‘alert’ mode and back into rest.”
Try not to sleep
Kathryn Pinkham, founder of The Insomnia Clinic and the Sleep Well & Live Better course
“If I can’t sleep, I get up and read a book – it stops the battle with sleep. Trying to force yourself back to sleep just makes things worse. You start clock-watching, worrying about how tired you’ll be tomorrow, which keeps your body in alert mode. The trick is to stop trying. Do something calming, and sleep tends to return once your body feels safe and relaxed again.
“Reading helps because it occupies the mind gently without too much stimulation. You don’t have to leave the bedroom, but if you’ve been lying wide awake for more than 20 minutes, move to a quiet, dimly lit spot to read for a few minutes, then return to bed when you feel drowsy again.”
Exercise between 4pm-7pm (and ditch the clock-watching)
Adrian Williams, professor of sleep medicine, King’s College London; consultant physician, Sussex Sleep Services and One Welbeck Lung Health
“I always sleep better after some afternoon exercise. It’s a great way to switch off and, as it turns out, prepare the body for rest.
“Sleep involves a drop in core body temperature of about 1C. The warmer your body is during the day, the easier it is to fall – and stay – asleep at night. Exercise is the best way to raise it, and here’s the rub: late afternoon, between 4pm and 7pm, is ideal. Early workouts lose their effect by bedtime, while late sessions can leave adrenaline levels too high.
“If you wake in the night, don’t check the time. In one classic experiment, people woken at 3am and shown the clock kept waking at the same hour every night. Keep the alarm, but turn the clock face away - and keep your phone outside the bedroom.”
Bathe in white noise
Rebekah Parr, health and wellbeing physiologist for Nuffield Health
“White noise has been an absolute game-changer for me. When my youngest son was a baby, we used a white-noise machine to help him sleep – the sound mimics what babies hear in the womb. After he moved into his own room, I realised how much it had been helping me too.
“White noise softens the impact of sudden sounds, like a car door slamming or my husband snoring, by creating a constant soundscape. Over time, your brain starts to associate the hum with relaxation and sleep.
“You can use an app or playlist, but I prefer a dedicated white noise machine. There’s no screen glow, notifications or temptation to scroll.”
Blink your eyes
Dr Ailsa Frank, clinical hypnotherapist and founder of the Feel Amazing hypnotherapy app
“I rarely struggle to get to sleep, but, if I do, I use my rapid eye-blinking technique. It distracts the mind from racing thoughts and physically tires the eyelids.
“Lie comfortably in the dark with your eyes open and count slowly backwards from 300 in your mind, until your eyes feel heavy. Then blink rapidly, as fast as you can, for about 30 seconds, or until you can’t keep your eyes open any longer. Let your eyes close and feel your body sink into the bed as you drift off.”
Ailsa offers a free Good Night’s Sleep recording on her website.
Hold your breath
Charlie Morley, lucid dreaming teacher and author of Wake up to Sleep (Hay House)
“The 4-7-8 breath is my go-to technique for sleeplessness. You inhale for a count of four, hold your breath for seven and exhale for eight. It acts as a natural tranquiliser, activating the ‘rest and digest’ system, lowering blood pressure and easing the body into deep relaxation. It’s great for getting back to sleep after an upsetting dream. I teach it to military veterans with trauma-related sleep problems.
“Unlike sleeping pills, which can lose their power over time, this exercise becomes more effective with practice. To try it: sit comfortably, place your tongue behind your upper front teeth and exhale audibly through your mouth. Then, close your mouth and inhale through your nose for a count of four, hold for seven, and release your breath through your mouth audibly, for eight. Start with four rounds, building up to 12 repetitions as you progress.”