Hey, I’ve found that recently it’s been getting really hard for me to fall asleep, so have you got any natural tips?
I agree with the sleep mask suggestion. You might also try using those foam earplugs if noises keep you awake. I don't like to use a book to get to sleep because it conditions me to get sleepy if I'm reading in general.
Another thing you might try to help you get to sleep is a relaxation exercise. Here is what to do:
1. Lie down in a comfortable position (I like to lay on my back for this)
2. Close your eyes
3. Start by doing about 5 to 10 slow deep breaths and exhalations. When you're doing then visualize breathing in calm and quiet and exhaling tension, energy and/or nervousness
4. Start a series of tensing and relaxing every part of your body while breathing in calm and breathing out tension. Tense the section of your body you're concentrating on as you breath in and then relax it as you breath out. I do it with these body parts in this order feet, lower legs, thighs, pelvis area, hands, abdomen, lower arms, upper torso, upper arms, shoulders, neck, back of the head and scalp, face.
5. After completing the tensing and relaxing keep your eyes closed and you can change your position if you think another one would be more comfortable.
6. If you find yourself thinking of anything imagine your thoughts are being written on a chalk board and erase them as they appear.
The other thing I do when I can't sleep is just concentrate on relaxing and resting even if I am not sleeping. I use the erasing technique if I start thinking rather than resting.
Massaging your lower legs and feet can help encourage the blood to flow away from an overstimulated brain. Better still, dunking your feet in hot water dilates blood vessels in the lower legs, encouraging blood to flow downwards. Find a bucket or plastic tub with space for both feet, and fill it with hot water (gradually, to avoid scalding yourself). Fresh or powdered ginger is known to reinforce the body’s yang energy, and adding it to the soak can help those with cold extremities. You can stop the soak once you’ve started to break out in a slight sweat, which indicates that the body’s stagnant energy channels have become unblocked.
Additionally you can learn more about the pressure points such as Spirit gate, Three yin intersection, Bubbling spring, Inner frontier gate, and Wind pool. You could simply apply some acupressure onto these points.
darkness in your room, music
closing the phone before sleep is useful.