Are You Having Difficulty Falling Asleep? Two More Strategies!

By Lydia Wallie, Nutrition Director

Read Part 1 here.

Here are a couple more strategies to hopefully help in reducing stress, falling asleep, and staying asleep.

Stop “multitasking.”

Multitasking is in many cases a myth. Instead of doing two tasks at once like editing a PowerPoint and having an intelligent conversation with a co-worker, you’re most likely switching between the tasks. This leads to raised cortisol levels (stress). And while this may seem to save time and increase productivity, it can increase stress, frustration, and effort. (1) As much as realistically possible, start focusing on the task at hand before moving on to the next. Hopefully, during your workday and at the end of your day, you’ll start feeling less stressed due to lower levels of cortisol. If you find this strategy difficult to implement, try the Pomodoro Method.

Increase magnesium intake.

Stress depletes magnesium and lower magnesium levels lead to higher stress. (2) It’s a vicious cycle. Try increasing your magnesium intake and see how your sleep improves. You can obtain magnesium orally through supplementation, or transdermally through magnesium oil or magnesium flakes (Epsom salt bath). Transdermal magnesium is especially helpful if you have any digestion/absorption issues.

Sources:

(1) DOI: 10.1145/1357054.1357072

(2) PMID: 33260549