9 Fun Activities to Induce Sleep

The trick to ensuring these activities help you induce sleep is to make sure you do them at least thirty minutes before the time you want to lay down and fall asleep. These aren’t activities to do during the 7 to 9 hours you’re supposed to be deep in slumber but things you can do to prepare and induce sleep in advance.

• Sex – Sexual activity releases chemicals like oxytocin and vasopressin during orgasm that helps regulate your body clock and induce relaxation and sleep. If you get in bed thirty minutes before falling asleep, there should be no issues causing orgasm and sleep each evening.

• Massage – Setting up a regular appointment for a massage does so much for your body that it’s hard to state it in this one paragraph. But in short, massage helps your body rid itself of toxins, reduces inflammation, body pain, and relaxes you so that you can sleep. Massage can help at any time, and it doesn’t have to be right before bed.

• Meditation – Learning to be more mindful and clear your brain of circular thoughts will help you relax at any time. Setting up a regular meditation routine will give you the practice you need to shut your mind down for sleep each night.

• Adult Coloring – This is a lot like meditation for your mind. If you have trouble shutting your mind off during meditation, taking some time to color each day before it’s time for bed can signal to your brain that it’s time to release stress and go to sleep.

• Reading Old Fashioned Books – If you like to read at night, don’t take your e-reader to bed. Turning on electronics at night is a bad idea because it will interfere with your natural circadian rhythm or body clock. But, again, do this thirty minutes before “lights out” and not during the time that you’re supposed to be closing your eyes and falling asleep.

• CBD – While this may be something you’re not interested in trying, using CBD, a non-psychoactive cannabinoid from the cannabis plant, has shown in studies to assist with sleeping and relaxation without the “high” associated with THC. Having said that, THC has its sleeping benefits, too, if you want to try it if you live in a legal area. 

•  Hot Bath – There is a reason the Japanese like to take baths every night, but one of them is washing off the day and relaxing so you can fall asleep. Did you know that a one-hour hot bath burns as many calories as a 30-minute walk?

• Aromatherapy – Be careful with this tip because some people are allergic to aromas. Also, if you’re going to do it, invest in pure and well-sourced essential oils that aren’t perfumes. You can set up your aromatherapy to start during the time you’re falling asleep.

• Gentle Stretching and Relaxing – Thirty minutes before it’s time to lay down in the bed, try some very gentle stretching and relaxing. You can lay down in the bed and, starting at your toes, tense up and then relax every single joint in your body by the time you get to your head.

Remember that you want to do these activities during wake time, not during your sleep time. So keep your sleep time sacrosanct and never do anything during the hours you should be sleeping because if you do, it’ll habituate your body to that activity instead of sleep.