Obviously it's person-dependent. I find what helps me most is turning on audio to something I actually want to listen to. That gets my mind off going to sleep. And I fall asleep instead of listening to the things I want to hear. So I've got a bunch of audiobooks from Audible. I've recently cancelled that, however. I've got so many, and plan to use the phone app Libby in conjunction with my local library. Also, I subscribe to a bunch of podcasts.
When I lie down I just set the timer to 30m or "end of chapter", and I rarely have to extend that.
I went to the doctor and told them I had insomnia. Got diagnosed with depression. So now I take Seroquel and sleep ok. My point is to get a doctor's opinion to rule out a medical condition.
If I cant watch/listen to content I try to “render” a pov trip of like a rollercoaster or some sort of “on rails” vehicle going through some sort of landscape whether its a realistic cityscape, abstract and colorful shapes, a tunnel underground or though an ocean. I let my brain sorta just decide what it wants to do like if the landscape changes I dont try to go back to the previous one or try to “customize” it. Its a bit hard to explain what I mean without me sounding like im talking about my brain as a completely separate entity from myself but it really is like it has a mind of its own and im just letting it do its thing as long as the topic is “strictly” to generate a scene of going through a tube or riding a “pre determined” path. If it starts to get “bored” and even very slightly veer back into normal thoughts or something else I sorta quickly but gently nudge it into another scene or to increase the detail which is hard for maybe the first minute or two but with this method im asleep really quickly. At the start ill probably switch “scenes” a couple times a second.
It feels like im letting the brain sorta tire itself out with a method that can be described as gently guiding a boat downstream
Still awake op?
What I usually do is think about all the time today when I wanted to be left alone. To be uninterrupted. To just get five minutes to myself.
Because now, I have it. I have all the time in the world. I can do nothing. I can let my mind wander. No one will interrupt, no one will dump bullshit on me. Countless times today I just wanted a pause button for five minutes and now I have hours to just do nothing.
Then I wake up and realize "nope, all that time is now gone". Can't catch a fuckin break.
Focus on your breathing, and how the air feels in the back of your throat.
Repeat a mdeditative mantra in your head.
Do the thing where you tense up your whole. Ody and then slowly release it from the fingers and toes inwards. I think this is what US marines use to get to sleep in adverse conditions.
Play an audiobook on speaker quietly under your pillow. The more boring the story, the better. They have non-story podcasts just for this too.
- Daily Exercise
- Concept Album musics
When I close my eyes and see my demons, I engage them in a staring contest and fall contentedly asleep.
Apps that generate soft sounds of rain or waves.
Hammer or perhaps large frying pan
For me, what works is an ADHD medication along with not trying to fall asleep. Trying to fall asleep causes me something in the area of anxiety and guilt, so I end up frustrating myself awake. If I focus on a mindless task like scrolling through Lemmy or reading a book, I get engaged in that and end up accidentally falling asleep. The funny thing is that I have to keep doing my mindless task until I fall asleep, so many times, I wake up looking like I passed out in the middle of something with my glasses still on and my phone laying around. I'm actually curiously impressed that my glasses or phone haven't broken yet.
Look up Progressive muscle relaxation: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Progressive_muscle_relaxation
There are plenty of videos on YouTube, try a few and pick one you like.
Concentrating on breathing also helps.
First your bed is for sleep and sexy times and nothing else. That way your body is conditioned to go to bed whenever you lay down. Doing other actions in your bed reduces this impulse.
Second, monitor your stimulant usage which includes tea, soda or coffee. Caffeine impacts your sleep more than many realize.
Finally stop lolking at screens an hour or so before bed.
Sleeping is my super power - I fall asleep within two or three minutes every night. Here's how I do it.
- No caffeine ever.
- Listen to the same white noise track every night while sleeping. Your brain will recognize that the track equals time to sleep.
- Go to bed at the same time every day, even on weekends.
- Don't hang out in bed. The bed is only for sleeping or sex. No phone use in bed.
Achieve alot during the day
Imagine a place where you are most cozy and visit it every night when you try to sleep. And then maybe sound machines. And finally, deep breathing. Slowing your heart down through this will physically make your body want to go to sleep (so basically meditiation).
I do all of these in tandem, I have the sound machine going and I settle into my cozy part of my brain and then imagine my lungs as a cup filling up with water to the top while inhaling and then draining out as I exhale. The trick with this is to not stress yourself thinking about if you're doing your breathing right, just try and relax and focus.
Also melatonin. But that isn't effective for every situation.
Good luck.
My (probably not very healthy) hack is to watch YouTube. My brain focuses on one thing and all the thoughts keeping me up just stay quiet.
If you have persistent sleep problems even after applying all the advice, if you can afford it, consider taking a sleep test/study to learn what's the core issue
Sleeping hygiene is a good point. No phone in bed.
But also try to make it cozy
Have a nice duvet cover, I like cotton. No synthetics. Change it more often.
Temperature in your bed room should be lower, open your window before going to bed.
Have good curtains. But not too dark. Whenever I have a window shutter and I close it completely, I just don’t wake up and sleep over 8-10 h.
Here are my things I do when I can’t sleep
If my feed are cold, wear socks, or cloth but don’t heat the room too much.
Try to sleep in a different room (if you can). When I am just too active I move to my sofa for a change. It really helps me.
Important question. Are you alone or is someone next to you. If your sleeping schedule or preferences don’t mix with your partners, try separate beds. Cuddling sounds cute until you cannot sleep because of a snoring person next to you. And don’t be angry when your partner prefers to be separate.
Drugs hard core prescription sleeping pills. I'm sorry but if you're as desperate as I was and have tried everything then hard sleeping drugs typically with a benzodiazapine in it
I had sleep issues for years, almost failed high school because of it and then I was late to my own graduation. Now I have a routine that serves me well: Wake up and go to sleep at the same time every day, no caffeine, no sugar at night, nightlight on my monitors at night, listen to boring audiobooks with a sleep timer, don't lay in bed watching TV.
Previously I used the 4-7-8 method (take a deep breath for a 4-count, hold it for a 7-count, exhale for an 8-count). I did that until I fell asleep.
Recently I started deep breathing/exhaling (no counting) and it works just as well.
Do you suffer from hot sleeping? I do. I sleep best with a big pile of blankets on me. I sleep with a weighted blanket among others. But that combined with a prediliction for hot sleeping, and I have trouble waking up in the night in a sweat.
I got so desperate, I actually almost bought one of those expensive cool water circulation systems. But then I realized a low tech solution. It takes a lot of heat to melt water. The amount of energy required to melt two liters of water is of the same magnitude as the amount of body heat given off by a human over the course of a night.
Specifically, I learned that those old timey rubber water bottles for bed use? They works just as well as cold packs as hot packs. So I got a few of those and tried it. And it's helped immensely at improving my sleep.
I have two cheap Amazon special rubber water bottles with felt covers on them. I keep them in the freezer. Each night I grab the bottles, which freeze solid through the day. I simply sleep with them under the covers, and it immensely improved my sleep. The felt covers on the bottle act as insulators to ameliorate the temperature of the bottles. You can sleep with one against you and it just feels mildly cooling. It doesn't feel like sleeping on a block of ice.
I would say this method is about 90% as effective as one of those expensive bed water cooling systems. I researched those, and they cost $500 and up. Plus they required regular maintenance and had all sorts of problems with leaks and mold. This? This system cost me about $20 and requires no more work than taking something in and out of the freezer.
If you have problems with hot sleeping, try the stupid solution first. Buy some big rubber water bottles and freeze them, or try other cold pack solutions or similar total heat capacity.
Drink for 48 hours straight.
New years was fucking way to much this year.
Work out. It helps reduce stress and just makes you more tired
- If you're the kind of person to keep yourself busy all day, then when you're trying to go to sleep might be the first time all day you've allowed your mind to wander! You need to find some other time in the day to allow yourself to daydream. Some tips are to not read anything while in the bathroom or turn the radio off in your car if you have a commute. Maybe even schedule some time to sit and think about things if you can.
- Only use your bed for sleep and sex. Reading, eating, browsing on your phone, watching TV, or any other activity should be done elsewhere. This way you train yourself that it's sleeptime when you're in bed.
- This is probably something that can't be done if you have a rotating shift, but go to sleep on a regular schedule. Go to sleep at the same time every day. Staying up late should a rare occurrence. Your body will become tired at the same time each day and it's much easier to fall asleep when you keep a schedule.
Breathing exercises, actuating that vagal nerve
As someone who is disabled my go too is a nice comfortable bed, my service dog by me, a weighted blanket which never new how amazing it helps my sleep. And my CPAP machine.
These help me sleep, oh also I have sleep as android help me track my sleeping patterns and play thunderstorms every night to drown out everything around me so my brain can relax
People have said to relax your face and jaw. Take it a step further and relax your tongue from the roof of your mouth. It sounds silly, but I found it works for me.
That was a tip from the other site I saw years ago, and now if I'm tired and have 15 minutes I can usually grab a power nap by keeping this in mind.
Cheap version: listen to the sounds of your breathing. Relax all your muscles from head to toe, then just try and isolate the sounds of air coming and going as you breathe. Focus on it long enough and hopefully you pass out.
Expensive version: https://www.moonbird.life/products/moonbird - set it for 4 seconds in, 6 seconds out and just bring it under the covers and get cozy.
For those who like sounds while sleeping, I heartily recommend mynoise.net. It has amazing soundscapes... static noises, rainforest wildlife, medieval library, starship bridge... It is excellent for sleeping, adding some background noise, or enhancing the atmosphere of a DND session.
I have a lot of them. Sleep and I are in an... enemies to lovers kind of relationship.
There's hate-fucking, is what I'm saying. I hate it so much and it's all I want.
Some of my advice might be bad advice due to my ADHD but I can't tell what might work for you so.
Also, I have left off a lot of stuff that I have done that is... not good. If you need harm reduction options, let me know.
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I wear an eye-mask. The gentle, soft, cool (not cold!) pressure is a reminder to my brain that it's bed-time.
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Don't eat too close to bed.
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Make sure there's nothing uncomfortable (like a tag from the sheets) touching me.
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Play a TV show I find comforting but that doesn't need my 100% attention, at a low enough volume that I can't quite hear it unless I'm very, very, very quiet. This helps make me some moving/jittering/jiggling. (I play Futurama. Can't get a nightmare from Futurama.)
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I take l-theanine. It's supposed to make people "alert" and "calm" but my doctor recommended it to me and it's sedating effect is so strong it significantly drops my blood pressure. (Very useful if I have to take stimulant medication.)
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Which leads to I take prescription medication. It doesn't quite do it, and is hit-or-miss, hence the list.
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Whenever thoughts are too much for me, I try to focus my focus my eyes on the black presented whilst they're closed. Don't think about all the stuff that's bothering you, just focus on that bit of black, right there in front of you. keep focusing long enough, and it always sends me to sleep.
Course, I also take a muscle relaxer (or couple benedryl if I'm out) before bedtime and that shit helps immensely lol
Following the breath works for me regularly. Meditation makes me sleep.
I’m gonna chime in here. My wife asks me this a lot because she too has trouble going to and staying asleep. I however have some kind of sleep superpower. I can be asleep within 2 minutes after going horizontal.
I’ve always done this: start building a scene in your head. Any scene. Action, nature, whatever. Now picture yourself there in first person. Focus on the details. Make sure the trees have leaves. The pavement has lines and cracks and texture. Imagine feeling the wind on your body. From grass to cars to sky paint as detailed a picture as you can. Begin to form a story. Walk around and interact with things, people, animals. Maybe you have a storyline. As a boy I had an action sequence I would play out every night. Cuz you know. Boys. But as I got older those turned into hikes in fun places. Or keeping company with my current crush. Or a fun road trip…You get the idea.
I promise not long after you begin you will naturally begin to drift off. At least this is what has always come naturally to me.
Good luck and sweet dreams!!!
For me I need some background noise. Something to keep my mind from wandering.
I used to have a playlist of more relaxing songs I'd listen to when trying to fall asleep. But lately I honestly just put on a youtube video I've seen before. In particular videos where it's mostly just someone talking about something. Being the computer nerd I am vwestlife of cathode ray dude are my go tos
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL0VMUYmhGI3Oqfb0V7X5R2EXoFkrJXOIj&si=SxhUM_qhNuCNd97s
Scientifically composed to put you to sleep. I’ve been listening to it for a few weeks now both with headphones and with the phone on the pillow.
Don't use blue lights. That includes most lights. Use red or orange lights after dark. Blue light wakes you up. (I mean do this in addition to some of the other suggestions.)
wear yourself out during the day. easier to fall asleep if you're exhausted
If you have the "eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee" like me, get a fan.
No.
By which I mean... I've tried many tips/tricks and none have consistently worked.
cuddle with big dog
As some others have mentioned, regular workout will help a lot. Another thing you can do is cardio for 10 minutes before sleep and ending with a few minutes stretch to tire and loosen up your body. Also try to sleep at the same time daily. Your circadian rhythm will aid you too.
I listen to video game retrospectives. I don't game anymore but these guys yapping on and on about morrow wind or whatever for 3 hours puts me to sleep immediately. I never played these games which is why I choose them. If I choose games I'm familiar with I'll watch it instead of zoning out.
Check out down the rabbit hole's 6 hour video about Eve for pure audio Xanax.
Exercise
When I had trouble sleeping, I would have even more trouble sleeping because I was upset I wasn’t sleeping. Then I read somewhere that just lying there with your eyes closed and not moving was like 80-90% as effective as actual sleep.
I didn’t bother to check if that was true, but it did allow me to let go of worrying whether I was sleeping. And that allowed me to actually fall asleep.
I've found that I have to keep my hands off my body, the stimulation of being touched keeps me alert.
for me, i find background watching/ listening to history videos really effective. Not sure what the rationale there is, but that's how it goes.
Antiques Roadshow.
I am a chronic insomniac. At my worst I can average less than 90 minutes of sleep in a 24 hour period, which is actually very dangerous. Before bed I eat some bland protein (plain super firm tofu and a handful of almonds), never carbs, and I microdose either Indica or if that is not available, Indica based Delta 8. Microdose is the key word here. I take two deep puffs and that's it. Enough for a little head buzz but not enough to get high. Bundle up, close my eyes, and most of the time fall asleep for a solid 4-6 hours.
Breathing exercises to steady your heart rate
Meditation to clear your mind
Ultimately, becoming wholly present so that your mind is at rest. A clear mind and consciousness will wrap you in a comforting blanket and sweep you off to Dreamland!
Don't use your phone at night. If you absolutely have to, enable adaptive warm light (if there's such a feature on your phone), which gradually turns the white balance to warm in the evening. This is because staring at the screen will send the signals to your brain to wake up, especially the blue-ish spectrum of light, plus whatever content you're engaging with (news, social media, texts from friends) will make your mind occupied.
But again, best is to not use your phone at all.
Read a book. Pick a topic you're interested in, buy a book and just read before you sleep. Yes, I see the contradiction - an interesting book will make your mind occupied too. Yet I find that a book relaxes me in my own world, while on your phone you'll meet many different topics, lots of quick stimuli, maybe that's why. I don't know.
These strategies work for me.
Body Scan meditation exercise. https://youtu.be/BlWo7sqWLNk here is an example
Stop thinking about falling asleep. With your inner voice tell yourself you're going to stay up all night. Close your eyes, relax, lie still, and tell yourself that you're going to stay up all night; you'll pass out after a while.
Also invest in a high quality white noise generator or weighted blanket.
History documentaries with good narrator and minimal loud music
Don't try to fall asleep.
The effort is what's keeping you awake. Sleep when you feel tired.
If you don't feel tired at night, then you may not be doing enough mental or physically engaging activities during the day.
Two things that helped me in the past year:
- Avoiding caffeine after 10:00AM or so. I cut coffee completely, but I noticed positive effects by just drinking all caffeine before ~10:00AM.
- Sleep mask helped me a ton. Turns out we are super sensitive to the most minute amount of light.
- At least for me, not eating past ~6:00PM makes falling asleep way easier.
- Regular exercise (of any kind) allows you to fall sleep easier. Probably has to do with regulating hormones/biological subsystems.
- NO PHONE on bed. Bed is only for sleep and sex. In my opinion anyway.
Hope this helps!
A lil weed before bed has been a game changer for me
I used to struggle with sleep. It turned out I’m bipolar. Thankfully, it mellows with age and I learned how to manage it. I was probably ~23 when I got diagnosed. Just sharing because it’s useful to know that sometimes there’s a very specific reason why sleep seems elusive.
You can get sleeping pills for such a situation. I also use melatonin gummies. You can get CBD gummies in a lot of places. Meditation might help.
The most important aspect of sleep management for me is keeping a solid routine. I go to bed at the same time every night and get up early even on my days off. Breaking that routine leads to issues, resuming the routine solves them quickly.
I like to think of nostalgic memories.
Noise canceling headphones plus Brownian noise.
https://archive.org/details/brownnoise_202103
In my case Sennheiser hd450bt.
Turn off phone data, so only regular texts from VIP can break through DND.
Solitaire, crosswords or codewords app to sleep. Voyager with pagination on if you really want to read but have an end page.
Exercise will control your circadian rhythm, set your metabolism on a more consistent routine, and help you sleep better. Endurance based exercises are best; cycling, swimming, running, rowing, etc. You need 1 hour every 3 days at a minimum in my experience. Don't think in terms of a week, just do it somewhere between daily and every 3 days no matter what. Even someone like me that has major chronic health problems from a broken neck and back manages to pull off this one. In fact, I fall apart and turn into a sleepless zombie if I fail to maintain my exercise routine. I'm likely one of the most sleep deprived people here. This works when nothing else does or is possible.
I turn the brightness on my phone as low as it goes, turn on night shift to get rid of blues, and read (white text on black background / dark mode).
Don’t read in continuous scroll; find a way to turn the page with minimum animation.
Read something you don’t find so compelling as to keep turning pages but enough that you’re happy to read.
I find history books most successful at the moment since there is often no desire by the author to build tension, suspense, etc that keeps you alert.
I have been practicing the 99 count down of breath. Each breath count down.
Slow down your breathing as you count. Your thoughts will drift off and that’s good, but come back to it as soon as you realize you stopped counting. I rarely get past 50. The more you practice the better you will get at it, as sleep likes routine.I used to try to count my breaths and breathe as slow as I could, but I found that my mind would wander and not in a good way.
Lately, what works for me is actually counting my pulse because it's rapid enough that I can't think about anything else. And at the same time, I try to get it as low as I can, which can have the benefit of putting you to sleep
