I've never been able to fall asleep easily. When I see someone who instantly can, I wonder if they are chronically exhausted from a lifetime of bad sleep. I know it's probably not the case but it kind of makes me jealous.
I've become a lighter sleeper as I've gotten older, but generally fall asleep pretty quickly. I don't think it's from any chronic lack of sleep. It's mostly a matter of probably lucky genetics and also actually taking my sleep hygiene really seriously which very few people do. I:
* Try to stick closely to a regular sleep schedule.
* Keep my bedroom very dark and cool.
* Don't lay in bed and stare at a screen a lot. I try to build a mental association with my bed and sleep.
* Try to get some amount of physical exercise in the day and get out of the house. I find it's much harder to fall asleep if I didn't have a full-feeling day.
* Hydrate well throughout the day, but not right before sleep. (Not as much a problem when you're younger, but as I've gotten older, my bladder increasingly is the limiting factor for sleep length.)
* Pay attention to my anxiety. If I have thoughts keeping me up, I get up and write them down. That helps my brain feel like it doesn't have to stay alert and remember them.
> * Try to get some amount of physical exercise in the day and get out of the house. I find it's much harder to fall asleep if I didn't have a full-feeling day.
This is the most improtant point that works for me. It's simple: getting a bit tired makes it easier for me to fall asleep. And if I'm not and I feel like I'd like to explore the universe when it's time to go to bed, I get on my stationary bike and my brain finally relaxes.
But I read something somewhere that alcohol does something that prevents REM or soemthing, and when you stop drinking your sleep-deprived body wants to make up the REM and will even do it while you're awake.
...supports early theories that the hallucinations of DTs represent an intrusion of REM sleep processes into the waking state (for a review, see Zarcone 1978).
It's a real rarity for me to drink, it's probably been 3+ years since I've had anything with alcohol. Cannabis did help me get to sleep (though can't say for certain that it was quality sleep since it killed my dreams), but it's probably been even longer since that (I was a very, very heavy user but quit for other reasons).
Any my brother seems to function having a coffee only a couple of hours before bedtime since he was 18. If I do the same I'll not sleep at all and feel terrible the entire next day.
The question is more about would you function better in some way without that, and how much effects vary over the populace.
Caffeine in low doses doesn’t really seem to have any effect for me. Or at least not an acute noticeable effect. I drink coffee out of habit and because I like it. But if I’m on holidays and don’t have access to it, it doesn’t bother me in the slightest.
I’m the same way. Drink coffee daily because I like it for breakfast. And I love espresso with dessert after dinner. When I’m away I typically consume 0 caffeine for 1-2 weeks and have no noticeable downsides. If anything I get less sleep but am more active on vacation because I’m doing more.
I suspect I’m a fast metabolizer but no way to know really.