9 Reasons People Struggle To Sleep + What To Do, According To Experts

Sleep is essential. When we don't get enough of it, we feel the effects. But occasionally, it can be difficult to fall asleep—even when we're tired. We asked sleep experts about the most common barriers to getting a great night's rest, plus got their tips for how to fall asleep faster. Here's what they had to say.

Plenty of lifestyle factors can keep us from reaching this deep, blissful sleep night after night. Here are a few of the ones that are within our control, and what to do about them.

Even having an eventful, thought-provoking day can keep you up at night, naturopathic sleep doctor Catherine Darley, N.D., adds, and make it difficult to turn your mind "off."

Darley also suggests spending 10 minutes writing down thoughts with the intention of "putting them to bed" for the night, about an hour before you'd like to fall asleep.

Caffeine has a very long half-life, meaning it takes much longer than you might think to get it all out of your system. As Breus notes, if you have a cup of coffee at around 2:00 in the afternoon, "by 10:00, up to 50% of that caffeine could still be swimming around in your brain."

Cut the caffeine as early as possible. If you're in desperate need of an afternoon pick-me-up, try opting for a small cup of green or white tea rather than another 16-ounce coffee. It might be a struggle at first, but you may just find once the caffeine isn't keeping you up at night, you don't need so much of it the next day.

"Any time you're in a new environment, half of your brain basically stays on high alert because it's not familiar with the environment, like the sounds and smells and the light," he explains. On top of that, jet lag could, of course, be playing a role if you're traveling across time zones.

Doing what you can to make your new sleep space more relaxing will also help, which we'll touch on later.

Bhopal notes that eating a heavy meal within three hours of bedtime can have adverse effects on sleep. If your body is still busy digesting the large meal, it can't dedicate itself solely to restorative rest.

You saw this one coming: Eat dinner earlier, ideally giving yourself three or more hours before bedtime. If you're in need of a bedtime snack, avoid anything fatty, spicy, or acidic, and go for light, magnesium-rich snacks instead.

Everything from noise to light to temperature can influence your state of mind as you get ready for rest. As Darley notes, too much light at night suppresses melatonin production, with Breus adding that it's also very difficult to fall asleep when you're hot.

Bhopal suggests keeping your bedroom cool, dark, and quiet. "You can consider using an eye mask, blackout curtains, or pink noise," she adds.

Some people also enjoy utilizing room scents to help create a zen-like atmosphere. While pillow mists aren't proper sleep aids, some people enjoy their soothings notes as they wind down at night.

One might think that some wine before bed helps you fall asleep, but according to Breus, booze actually disrupts sleep. Research shows1 that drinking alcohol too close to bed reduces sleep quality and sleep duration and increases sleep disturbances.

That way, by the time you hit the hay, the alcohol should be out of your system and you'll have sufficiently rehydrated.

We know, we know—you want to squeeze in a workout whenever you can. But depending on who you are, exercising too close to bedtime might get you too wound up. As Bhopal tells mbg, vigorous exercise raises the core body temperature and can make it harder for some people to fall asleep.

By all means, get your workout in—but aim to do so at least three to four hours before bedtime, Breus suggests. "Everything you can do to lower your core temperature before bed is smart," he adds.

While you should avoid intense exercise right before bed, you'll still want to get plenty of movement in throughout the rest of your day. As Breus adds, sleep is about recovery, so "if you don't do anything to recover from, your body doesn't need to recover all that much." In short, lack of exercise leaves us with excess energy at the end of the day.

Exercise daily. Choose whatever movement feels good to you, as you'll be more likely to stick with it. From running and cycling to lower-impact Pilates and yoga, it'll all help you end the day physically and mentally tired.

Lastly, having a consistent bedtime and wake-up time is essential to keeping a regulated circadian rhythm. When our sleep schedules are all over the place, Breus notes, our bodies don't know when to produce melatonin, the hormone that signals that it's time to go to sleep.

Develop a consistent sleep schedule and stick to it. When figuring out your ideal sleep schedule, Breus recommends looking into your sleep chronotype.

With these points in mind, one of the best things you can do to promote sleep is give yourself plenty of time to wind down.

Finally, you don't want to get into bed until you're actually sleepy so your body doesn't associate your bed with being awake.

In that case, "it's a good idea to talk to your doctor about underlying causes and to find a course of action that's appropriate for your situation," Bhopal says. She's a big proponent of cognitive-behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-i) for those experiencing a lot of stress or fear around sleep.

Being sure to prioritize your sleep hygiene and routines will help you not only fall asleep and stay asleep but wake up the next morning ready to tackle the day.