I have a confession to make -- I drink a lot of coffee. I try to limit it later in the day, but once in a while I overdo it and end up wide awake late at night. Still, I can usually get to sleep in time to get a full eight hours. I have a few tricks to help me get to sleep in a timely manner:
- Melatonin supplement -- extremely cheap and safe; set a timer on your phone and take 1-2mg about 1/2hr before you want to sleep. Gwern's research here inspired me to do this.
- When ready to sleep, close one eye and keep the other open for about 15 seconds. It should naturally close itself, at which point both eyes will typically be in a state where they want to be closed. Repeat with the other eye if need be. If you are particularly wired, you might need to do it a few times. I discovered this one by accident while working a boring night shift job when attempting to do what some animals do naturally, sleeping with one eye open. I discovered that it just made me more sleepy -- great for insomnia, not so great when you are trying to work.
- As you drift into dream imagery, imagine doing a backflip. Whatever mental scenery you could see before will be replaced with a new scene, typically a bit more vivid and immersive/dream like. I encountered this one in a lucid dreaming tutorial as a way to "refresh", but it seems to help induce sleep.
- Do some math in your head. Work your way through the multiplication tables, imagine different angles around the unit circle, add different fractions, whatever is easy enough to do but hard enough to drain you. This will use up mental energy and make you "bored" in the way that often makes people fall asleep in math class. You can also simply count -- imagining the number symbols as you go so you are using more of your brain.
- If something is bugging you, get up and grab a pen. Write it down. Later you can shred it if it isn't important to your awake mind, or act on it if appropriate, but getting it written down is a great way to convince your brain not to obsess over it right now.
- The time before you go to sleep can be useful. Think about something you learned recently, and let your mind wander on that topic. Your subconscious will be solving problems and anchoring new memories, so now is a good time to feed it something to learn. A professor of mine recommends typing your handwritten class notes into the computer right before bed.
Sleeping enough is important. It is linked to a whole range of health outcomes, and being well rested makes you a smarter and more sociable person. Being more rested will help you focus better and accomplish tasks more efficiently. So give the above tips a try.
If you get too far behind on sleep, you might try taking a day off coffee on a lazy weekend; it might surprise you how easy it is to take a nap. Fair warning: caffeine withdrawal headaches are a thing. You might want to take a painkiller before it starts, otherwise it might be hard to get to sleep. After even just a day or two of caffeine avoidance, your next cup of coffee will be much more effective at waking you up, not only because you get caught up on sleep but because caffeine tolerance tends to go down when you aren't taking it.