Have you ever had one of those nights where you just can’t seem to fall asleep? Despite your best efforts, you end up tossing and turning all night and your quality of sleep suffers as a result. While I can’t give you a magic formula to make you fall asleep, there are a few things you can do to help you fall asleep and avoid sleepless nights. Here are five things to do when you just can’t fall asleep at night:

Take a relaxing bath

Before you head to bed, take the time to have a nice relaxing bath. Use a bath bomb or add some bubbles to your bath to make it even more relaxing. Light a few candles for some ambiance and soak in the tub for at least half an hour. If you decide you want to read a book, go for something that is a little on the dull side to make sure you aren’t wired when you finally go to lay down.

Turn down the temperature

If you can’t fall asleep at night, it might be too hot. According to sleep.org the most ideal temperature for sleeping is between 60 and 67 degrees. While this might be a little too cold for most, turning down your thermostat a few degrees can help with insomnia and help your body regulate its core temperature. This will make falling asleep easier, and make your bed that much cozier.

Block out all lights

It is going to be much easier to fall asleep in a pitch black room. Not only will it make it less tempting to look around your room when you can’t fall asleep, but it will help you get to sleep faster. When it gets dark, your body will release melatonin which will cause your body to feel sleepy. If there is too much light in your room, this could be the reason you don’t feel tired even when you haven’t slept much.

Find something to do

If you feel like you have too much energy before bed, keep your mind busy but your body still. Read a book, scroll through Facebook, or find something to do that will keep yourself occupied. You’ll find that it won’t be so hard to fall asleep after a few minutes, or a few hours if you need to wait that long.

Do a brain dump

If you have a lot on your mind before bed, try doing a brain dump before you fall asleep. This will allow you to get all those thoughts wandering around your head on paper, and you can deal with them in the morning when you’re not trying to sleep. Keep a journal or notepad next to your bed just in case you think of something so you won’t be trying to remember it while you are falling asleep. Instead of tossing and turning when you can’t sleep at night, give one of these tips a try! You might be surprised how quickly you’ll fall asleep. Subscribe to A Girl’s Gotta Spa! beauty blog. Watch our reviews on YouTube, see our pins on Pinterest and check us out on Instagram. Got a Kindle? We’re on Kindle too! Or check out our natural bath and body line!

Since having Ethan last year, and a few months prior to his birth, sleep has eluded me. Before getting pregnant, I would take melatonin or unisom before bed because my insomnia was so bad. Although Ethan is 1, he still doesn't sleep through the night, which means I can't be groggy and need to be able to get up and take care of him if need be. Right now I use my Gurunanda Aromatherapy Diffuser and switch between their Calming Sleep and Tranquility essential oils. I can tell you this has worked wonders. (Right now I have their Focus blend going so I could concentrate enough to write this post!) When I heard that meditation expert, Emily Fletcher, also used to suffer from insomnia, I couldn't help but wonder what magic she worked to cure it. Since I can't make her meditation retreat she has coming up at the Four Seasons Resort and Spa in Santa Fe, I asked her to lend some tips that we could all benefit from. Below is directly from Emily herself! As we all know, if you don’t get a good night’s sleep, life can get pretty tough on the other side. We all want to be there for our friends, our family, our colleagues, and perform at our very best. To get a good night’s sleep, we actually need to start taking action during the day. Here are a few practical tips to help you get that delicious restful sleep you’ve been craving. 1. F.lux App I know it seems crazy to offer up technology to help with sleep, but since so many of us spend so much time on computers and phones during the day this is a great tool. It actually knows the time the sun sets in your time zone, so it darkens and softens the light on your device to correctly signal to your brain the time of day. It’s awesome. 2. EMF Phone Cover This shields the harmful rays that come from our cell phones that aren’t great for us anyways, but especially best to block them when we are focused on getting good rest. 3. No technology in the bedroom Let your bed be for sleep and sex only. 4. Wash off the day and reset for night with a nice, warm bath. Add some magnesium or lavender to help relax the muscles, and remind your body that it is time to rest and relax. 5. Give yourself an oil massage. Try this once you’re in bed- just on your hands and your feet to work out the tension. Sesame oil or coconut oil work beautifully here. 6. Lavender oil on the bottom of your feet. Simply dab some on the bottom of your feet. It sounds crazy, but it is a magical miracle trick. 7. If you’re lying in bed and can’t fall asleep, remind yourself that even if you're not actively asleep, you're still getting 80% of the rest you could be getting, simply by lying in bed. Just remembering this helps to take pressure and anxiety off, and relaxes the mind along with the body. 8. My number one favorite tip for insomnia: Meditation. I had insomnia for about eighteen months before I found this style of meditation. It was like torture! I wasn't enjoying my job, or my life. On the first day of my first meditation class I slept through the night for the first time in eighteen months and I have every night since, and that was nine years ago. If you don't yet have a daily practice I would love for you to join me at the gorgeous Four Seasons Resort and Spa in Santa Fe this October. I will teach you a simple, powerful technique and you will leave with this self-sustaining practice you can do anywhere. I’m excited to share this with you, friends. Sweet dreams! More about Emily - Emily Fletcher is the founder of Ziva Meditation and the creator of zivaMIND, the world’s first online meditation training. Ziva’s mission is to make meditation attractive and accessible to people who are ready to up-level their performance and their lives. Recently featured in The New York Times, named top 100 women in wellness to watch and regarded as one of the leading experts in Vedic meditation, Emily has been invited by companies like Google, Barclays Bank, sweetgreen, & Viacom to help improve company performance through meditation. She began her ten years of training in Rishikesh, India and was inspired to teach after experiencing the profound physical and mental benefits meditation provided her during her 10-year career on Broadway, which included roles inChicago, The Producers & A Chorus Line. Emily has been invited to speak at Harvard Business School, Bulletproof Biohacking Conference, Summit Series, A-Fest and The Omega Center. So far, she has taught over 2,800 people to become self-sufficient meditators with this game changing practice to take with them for life.  Subscribe to A Girl’s Gotta Spa! beauty blog. Watch our reviews on YouTube, see our pins on Pinterest and check us out on Instagram. Got a Kindle? We’re on Kindle too!