How to Sleep Better + Free Printable Sleep Diary

It’s one of the worst feelings. Lying in bed, the minutes and hours ticking by, desperately wanting to fall asleep but unable to do so, your anxiety ramping up as you calculate you’ll have 6 hours of sleep if you fall asleep now, 5 hours, 4, 3, 2… It may happen to you only once in a blue moon (pardon the pun). Or it may happen to you all the time. Either way, it sucks to not get enough sleep.

We constantly see articles about how important sleep is for so many critical functions in our bodies. For those of us who struggle to fall or stay asleep, these articles can be counterproductive. They lead to more anxiety as we know we should sleep better. We just don’t know how to fix our problem with sleep deprivation.

Learning to sleep better is unlike learning most other skills in life. For most skills, hard work, concentration, and dedication lead to greater mastery over that skill. For sleep, it’s pretty much the opposite. The more effort you put into falling asleep, the less likely you are to actually fall asleep.

However, as someone who used to regularly struggle with insomnia and now only occasionally does, I have found a number of strategies through books, articles, therapy/medical advice, and personal trial and error that have helped me (mostly) address my sleep problem and that may be useful for you. I’ve included advice on these and my free printable sleep diary below.

Set up a welcoming environment for sleep

Falling asleep is a bit like training a wild animal. Or at least what I imagine training a wild animal is like. You can’t just go up to a wolf and start commanding it to sit while gently pushing down its haunches. Your face will most likely get chomped off before you can say “Who’s a good girl?” You have to go about it indirectly. You lure the wolf slowly over time with food and coaxing words until it sees you as a friend. And then you continuously repeat and reward desired behaviors until they become habits.

Similarly, we can “lure” sleep by setting up an environment that is conducive to sleep. For example, turning down the lights and putting away bright-screened devices. Devices like phones and laptops emit blue light that makes our bodies think it’s daytime.

Establishing a relaxing, enjoyable pre-bedtime ritual can also be useful for viewing sleep as a friend rather than a foe. Plus it can train our body to understand when sleep is coming. There are many different ways of doing this. My pre-bedtime ritual involves taking a couple of Mr. Moxey’s CBD mints, applying lavender lotion, reading a (non-stressful) book for 30-60 minutes, and doing a 5-10 minute guided sleep meditation. Doing yoga or taking a shower or bath can also be lovely rituals. For more info on how to create a bedtime ritual, see this post from Simplitty.

Limit Alcohol, Caffeine, and Nicotine

We all know that caffeine energizes us. But did you know that it takes caffeine 10 hours to totally clear from our bodies? That means if you have a cup of coffee during your 2pm slump, it’ll be in your body until midnight. In fact, half of it will still be present at 8pm.

I definitely do not want to do without a cup of coffee or tea in the morning. However, if you struggle with insomnia, you may want to limit your caffeine intake to the morning. I’ve found sticking with one cup of coffee or tea in the morning has been super helpful for my sleep.

When it comes to alcohol, you may think that it’s helpful for sleep. Alcohol is a sedative after all! However, sedation is not the same as sleep. When we’re sedated, our body doesn’t repair itself like it does when we’re sleeping. This is part of the reason you can feel pretty sucky and tired when you wake up after drinking alcohol. Of course, hangovers are a real thing, but also you didn’t get the amount of sleep you thought you did.

So if you struggle with sleep, try limiting your alcohol intake and avoid drinking to the point where you’re tipsy or drunk.

Finally, nicotine can lead to worse sleep quality and make you wake up more frequently during the night. If you use nicotine products, avoid using them within 4 hours of bedtime to ensure you get the best sleep possible.

Chill out (literally)

We probably all remember a time when we were in a warm, stuffy classroom with a teacher droning on about a boring topic, our eyes feeling impossibly heavy. Side note, imagining being in my old Research Methods in Demography class has helped me fall asleep a number of times. These memories can make us feel like warmth is conducive to sleep.

However, counterintuitively, we are more likely to fall and stay asleep if our body temperature is lower and we are in a cool room (~65 degrees Farenheit). This is because our core temperature lowers before and during sleep. If you are getting little sleep, the problem may be that you are too warm. As a result, your body’s signals that it’s time to sleep may be disrupted.

Turning down the temperature, opening a window, sleeping in lighter (or fewer) clothes, and/or taking a warm shower or bath before bed (which paradoxically lowers your body temperature) are all some of the best ways to prevent this problem.

Chill out (metaphorically)

As noted above, the harder we try to control sleep, the less likely we are to actually fall asleep. Instead, as Elsa would say, we want to “Let It Go.” I’ve found it useful to remind myself that I do not have control over falling asleep. However, I do have some control over my ability to relax.

For me, this sometimes includes a body scan where I progressively relax each body part, listening to a meditation or my “Sleepy Time” playlist (yes, that’s what I’ve titled it and I’ve listed the songs below if you want inspiration), and using relaxing imagery.

My favorite relaxing imagery is my dog lover’s take on counting sheep. I imagine petting a dog of a particular breed. Then I imagine petting a dog of a different breed. And so on. It sounds like the silliest thing. But it’s more engaging (and cute!) than just counting dogs while still being relaxing.

Beyond chilling out at bedtime, you might also consider how your broader life corresponds to stress and anxiety. For example, when I’m busy with work, I tend to go into what I call my “turbo work mode.” I’m very fast and efficient, but my mind ends up racing for hours afterward and I can’t slow it down. Now, I try working at a slower and more deliberate pace. You might adopt this slower paced living more broadly. Check out this great post on slower paced living for more details.

Accept where you’re at

The more we try to resist an emotion, the more we end up thinking about that emotion and so preventing ourselves from actually moving on from it. A key lesson in meditation and therapy is that accepting and sitting with our emotions is a great way to take the power out of that emotion and move past it.

Often, trouble with sleep is closely associated with feelings of anxiety about sleep or other things happening in our lives. So when you’re feeling anxious, let yourself sit with that emotion. Identify where in your body you are feeling anxious (or any other unpleasant emotion), ask yourself why you are feeling that way, and then give yourself permission to sit with and experience that feeling. When I practice giving my anxious feelings space, I frequently find that they dissipate within a few minutes, rather than simmering for hours.

Another component of acceptance is letting yourself get up and do something else if you’re having trouble sleeping. The general recommendation is that if you’ve been lying awake in bed for 20 minutes, get up and do a relaxing activity. For example, this could be light stretching, reading, or meditating. You don’t want to associate your bed with anxiety and wakefulness, so if you get up and do something else, you’ll be less likely to think of your bed as the place where you stew with anxious thoughts.

I’ll be honest, I almost never get up when I’m having trouble sleeping. I’m always sure I’m so close to falling asleep and if I just stay in bed I will. The reality is, I’m usually not close to falling asleep and regret not getting up and doing something else.

View sleep positively

If we have trouble sleeping, it’s easy to start dreading sleep. This obviously sets us up for failure if we’re already anxious about sleep before we even get to bed. When I start to feel negative about sleeping, I like to tell myself that “I am excited for sleep and my cozy bed.” I also tell myself that I am excited to relax no matter how long it takes me to fall asleep. It sounds silly, but reframing sleep and being in bed as positive, can put you in a better headspace for sleep.

Reduce sleep disruptions

People often underestimate how much light and noise affect the quality of their sleep. If you are a parent of young children, I know eliminating distractions is a laughable recommendation. But to the extent possible, you may seek out some of the powerful tools at your disposable to help limit distractions. For example, eye masks, ear plugs, blackout curtains, and even white noise machines (which help wash out distracting noises) can help reduce distractions in your environment.

Use my free sleep diaries!

Tracking your sleep patterns with a sleep diary or habit tracker is a great way of identifying what affects your sleep quality. Towards that end, I’ve developed a sleep log template that you can download in PDF format and print for your personal use. And if you would like different colors for your sleep template, feel free to reach out and let me know in the contact form!

With this printable template, you can input your own information to track your wake time, sleep duration, sleep quality, and energy levels during the day. You can also track how much caffeine, alcohol, and nicotine you had the day prior to your sleep, as well as how much and what kinds of exercise you did and any stressors of note. All of these things have an important impact on sleep quality and total sleep time, making this a crucial information-gathering tool.

Instructions for Using the Sleep Journal

The first page of this sleep journal is pretty straightforward. The second page is a bullet journal style monthly sleep log. For this page, you’ll color in a box if you did the particular thing labeled in the column. For example, if you drank coffee past 12pm, you’ll color in that box for the relevant day.

Note that all of the things in the columns are things that might impair your sleep. I intentionally made all of these in the same direction (towards worse sleep) so that it’s easier to see which sleep-related practices correspond with trouble falling and staying asleep.

Across the month, this will provide a sleep record that will hopefully help you quickly identify which behaviors corresponded to better quality sleep and faster sleep onset.

Remind yourself that you are not alone

When we are lying in bed awake at night it’s easy to become self-critical. If we have a partner sleeping soundly next to us, it can be even easier to feel like there’s something wrong with us. The reality is that many people struggle with insomnia occasionally or frequently. In fact, 1 in 3 people have insomnia symptoms. Life circumstances such as becoming a new parent, work schedules, or new stresses may also disrupt sleep for short or long periods of time. And we may have limited or no control over those circumstances.

Reminding yourself that it is common for people to have trouble with sleep and that it’s not the end of the world to have a sleepless night can prevent doom spirals that are not conducive to sleep.

And if you struggle with sleep regularly, you may want to seek medical advice. The good news is that therapy, supplements, and sometimes medication are often effective ways to re-calibrate. You can even try seeking out a sleep clinic to receive guidance on the right direction to take to improve your sleep. So seek a professional opinion if you believe you have insomnia.

Final Thoughts

I hope you enjoyed this post and printable sleep log. I also hope that you can use these tips to get the best sleep of your life! Adulting is, after all, so much harder if we don’t get good sleep!

For more great tips, check out this post from Fuelled by Coffee and Chaos.

And finally, remember I am not a medical professional or clinical psychologist. This information is solely for informational and educational purposes. If you are struggling with insomnia, see your health care providers.

Have other tips for sleeping? Did you use the printable sleep tracker templates? Let me know in the comments! And if you enjoyed the post, please like and/or share with others. Looking for more posts on health? Check out my posts on healthy work-from-home lunches, the link between mental health and eating disorders, and many more!