Many people who can’t sleep reach for their mobile phones or lay tossing and turning for hour. Worry, stress, excitement, work, travel, the latest season of your favorite show — there’s a lot that can keep you up at night. But there’s a simple sleep hack which can help you fall asleep so quickly – and it’s really simple you’ll be surprised.
There’s nothing worse than feeling tired all of the time. Social media platform TikTok has been helping people discover how to fall asleep with some incredible hacks and one user, Doctor Jess Andrade, shared a simple bedtime trick that’s gone viral.
The doctor, who goes by the handle @doctorjess explained the advantages of wearing socks to help you fall asleep, or maybe not wearing socks is the reason you wake up too early.
She shared, “So let’s talk about people that wear socks to bed. Wearing socks makes the feet warm and this opens up the blood vessels that cools the body down. The body being cool tells the brain that it’s time for bed so actually, people that wear socks tend to fall asleep faster.
A scientific research carried out by The National Sleep Foundation in the US also recommends bed socks as a form of helping achieve deep sleep.
Karan Rajan, MRCS, MBBS, a surgeon and lecturer at the Imperial College London, too, talked up the power of sleeping with socks on TikTok. "Wearing socks to bed increases blood circulation to your feet," he explained in a recent video. "This causes your blood vessels to vasodilate — they widen. When the blood vessels widen, they can get rid of heat much faster." This lets your core body temperature cool down at a speedier rate than normal, and "a low core body temperature is needed for optimal sleep," explained Rajan.
But general sleep hygiene is still important — the act of slipping on socks alone won't overshadow poor nighttime habits. Make sure that your room is dark and quiet, only use your bed for sleep (as opposed to working in bed), avoid screens before bed, and keep a consistent sleep-wake schedule.
Relax and unwind before bedtime. Take a bath, color, write in a journal, paint, listen to soothing music, read, stretch, or do a puzzle. Put aside stressful and worrying thoughts until bedtime can make it difficult for you to fall asleep, and these thoughts might wake you up in the middle of the night. Set aside some time during the day to process, reflect, and meditate on your thoughts.
Keep also in mind that sleeping with socks on simply might not be your thing — and that's OK.
