Falling Asleep: How Do You Do It?

[Starbird]

I am an insomniac. Not sure if it's clinical or psycological, but more often than not it takes me over an hour to go from bed -> sleep. Sometimes I toss and turn for several hours with no sleep.

This sets me up for late sleep ins, further messing with my sleeping schedule - as well as massive caffeine intake during the day to keep me able to work.

In the summer I tend to exercise into exhaustion which works from time to time but in the colder months this is just not easy.

I have tried soft meds (works, but leave me groggy the next day and are not good for the immune system from what I've heard since they are basically antihistamines), booze (doesn't work), booze and herbal sleeping aides combined (works, but definitely not good for my health) and even staying up all night to try and reset sleep schedule (I end up falling asleep at midday the next day which makes things worse).

So - how do you manage to get to sleep when you can't sleep?

 

[Queen Michael]

By definition, it's impossible to get to sleep when you can't sleep.

 

[Dirty Hipsters]

I have a really nice mattress which is really nice and comfortable, and I tend to go to sleep fairly late, so the combination of the two usually gets me to sleep quite quickly. When that doesn't work I tend to stay up a bit later than usual (maybe an hour or so), and masturbate a couple of times, which relaxes me. If that doesn't work I move on to using an herbal sleeping aid and that usually does the trick.

Of course I've had nights where I can't sleep because my brain just refuses to shut down, but those are usually caused by extreme stress, and are few and far in between.

So yeah, I guess my advice is have a good wank (that tends to be my advice for most situations actually).

 

[Armadox]

Before I can answer this question, I have a few for you. Before bed, what are the activities you do to get ready to lay down? Do you have a set pattern, or do you meander around until you feel like laying down? Please put these in order by the amount of stress they provide you daily: Work and/or school, peers and/or significant other, responsibilities, hobbies, and general disappointments. Do you normally sleep on your back, front, or side? How new is your matress, and on a scale from 1-10 how soft? What is the last thing you think about on a daily basis?

If you'd be willing to answer those question, I'd like to answer both my own methods and give advice if you'd like to hear it.

 

[Starbird]

Before I can answer this question, I have a few for you. Before bed, what are the activities you do to get ready to lay down? Do you have a set pattern, or do you meander around until you feel like laying down? Please put these in order by the amount of stress they provide you daily: Work and/or school, peers and/or significant other, responsibilities, hobbies, and general disappointments. Do you normally sleep on your back, front, or side? How new is your matress, and on a scale from 1-10 how soft? What is the last thing you think about on a daily basis?

If you'd be willing to answer those question, I'd like to answer both my own methods and give advice if you'd like to hear it.

Hmm, good questions, and some that I've tried to ask myself.

Before I sleep, I'm generally on the PC. Then I take a long walk (45mins or so), a warm shower and get into bed. I try to avoid stressful activities.

Bed is extremely comfortable and warm now that I have an electric blanket. To the point where it's very hard to get up in the morning.

When I get into bed I try to meditate and think of relaxing things - I mentally write, plan my mods for Starcraft etc.

A problem is that once I get into a pre-sleep state I tend to have less control of my thoughts, and sometimes start to wander into stressful or depressing scenarios, often involving situations in my past that I screwed up or missed out on something good, or on something in the future.

When these start I can generally suppress them, but it requires conscious thought which pops me awake again. Sometimes just the idea of not being able to sleep is stressful enough to cause this.

Oddly enough, I have actually had training as a psychologist so it's doubly embarrassing to have issues like this. Insomnia is also not all that much of a recognized disorder here in Japan, and when I've talked to doctors they've recommended that I have a drink before I sleep (not kidding) or go to sleep earlier.

 

[Catfood220]

I usually go to bed at a fairly late time, usually about 11PM as I have to get up at 7AM, so I get my 8 hours. I will almost always have the TV on in the background with the sleep timer on. Most experts don't recommend having artificial light in the bedroom while sleeping. But I cannot get my brain to shut up if I don't. Most of the time I just have something like the news on quite quietly, 24 hour news is usually not very stimulating and cycles around every half hour or so. I am usually asleep within 10 minutes of my head hitting the pillow.

However, 24 hour news can be quite annoying if I can't actually get to sleep for whatever reason. I also limit myself to 2 cups of tea a day and if all else fails, having a wank is sometimes enough to get me to relax enough for sleep.

 

[Vault101]

my sleep has been messed up a bit of late...its really annoying when I'm ready to pass out in the afternoon yet as soon as its night I'm awake as ever

booze (doesn't work)

booze actually disrupts your sleep...makes you wake up early

anyway Masturbation

I'm not kidding...I'm sure its different for people but usually it puts me straight to sleep, I don't always because I might be too tried or not feeling it but its a bit of a routine

also I don't know how much difference it will make but if you're on the computer you might want to look into this thing called "f.lux" its an application that adjusts the lighting on your monitor in line with when the sun goes down...it turns it kind of sepia tone (although after a while you hardly notice unless it changes in front of you)

basically the idea is that the light from screens in VERY bad for your sleep (this is true as I'm aware) and changing the brightness/frequency/whatever helps

even so its better to cut down on screen time and when you actually go to sleep make sure things are ***** black as possible...no lights, not even little ones

 

[CrimsonBlaze]

I've had a fit with insomnia before.

What worked for me was some Hibiscus tea.

Mind you it wasn't this fancy looking or expensive, but I was surprised at how quickly it knocked me off to dreamland. I just had a cup of this before bed and in 10-15 minutes, I couldn't stay awake. After a week, I was back on my normal sleep cycle.

So I'm not sure if this would be available to you, but I sure that anywhere that sells tea should stock it.

 

[Saetha]

I don't, really. I'm in the same boat as you. I need to be reeeaaaally tired to get to sleep, so I just starve myself of rest until the wee hours of the morning - sometimes even until midday. Which probably isn't good for my health, or for my schoolwork. Granted, I'm very good at working through exhaustion - so long as something's got me preoccupied, I usually don't even feel tired, and college is quite preoccupying.

I don't drink, so I've never tried that. And I've been told to just use soft medicine but, I dunno, I feel like my system works. Maybe not the best in the world, but I get my sleep and I do everything that needs to be done in a day. I just... don't have a sleeping "schedule," per se. I fall asleep when I'm tired, and whether that's at eleven at night or seven in the morning, hey, at least I'm sleeping.

 

[raeior]

I have similar problems although not to that extent. Time to sleep for me is normally at least half an hour, usually more and sometimes I wake up in the morning remembering that I have looked at the clock pretty much every hour and just went black at some point in the early morning. In the past Common St John's wort (Hypericum perforatum) worked somewhat for me, although it has been quite some time since I last took it. Not sure if you meant that by soft meds. It didn't have a negative effect on me over the day as far as I remember. It is a bit problematic in summer though since it leads to photosensitisation.

Another thing that helps me is reading. If I can't stop thinking about negative stuff or am unable to calm down I read. Makes you quite tired after a while and also keeps your mind from wandering.

 

[Frezzato]

I see you've already eliminated stuff like ZZZQuil, which I recently started using. I have trouble both falling asleep and staying asleep for more than 5 hours.

I personally can't stand being hot or warm, so I usually take a cold shower before trying to fall asleep. That doesn't apply during winter though. Melatonin has stopped working for me, and booze tends to keep me awake, although these days I really can't tell if it makes a difference.

One very weird thing I try involves creating worlds inhabited by people whose faces are easily recognized. It can't be someone I know personally. I'll imagine someone like Natalie Portman knitting a sweater or something. It sounds bizarre, but since her face is distinct, it doesn't take much effort to maintain her image in my mind. And imagining someone doing something mundane, like knitting, tends to get me lost in the situation. Like I said, it sometimes works, but there can't be anyone you know in the scenario, including yourself.

 

[Summerstorm]

I am having sleeping problems as well - mostly because my natural rhythm (In which i fall back at the weekends and on vacations) is about three in the night till noon. (I also have great night-vision for a human... maybe i am some kind of night-mutant, hehe) So getting pressed into going to sleep way to early and getting up is pretty bad for me.

So far i have heared:

1. Abandon all hope: Just accept the daily rhythm of the modern world. (No exceptions) Go to bed at a fixed time, wake on a fixed time - no excuses, no change. If you can't sleep: Well better prepare to lie awake until you pass out.

2. Light exercise about 2 hours before going to bed, stop snacking more than an hour before bed.

3. Lead a fulfilled, stress-free and healthy life. (Eh... how are we doing that again?) - Apparently it helps being socially active, having no money problems and eating many small, healthy meals and doing moderate stressfree, but slightly physically taxing work.

Yay for living in an utopia...

I've got nothing.

 

[leberkaese]

A while ago I had serious problems getting to sleep. It took me at least an hour to fall asleep.

Back then it helped me to have calm daydreams while lying in bed. Nothing about your everyday life, that just keeps you awake. But small fantasies helped.

Nowadays I don't have these problems as severe as I used to. Also, it seems like I lost my imagination so it has become impossible for me to have these daydreams.
Instead, I formed the habit of always reading a book for about 30-45 minutes before I'm going to sleep. It's important to have a fixed procedure before going to sleep, so your brain realizes that it's time to calm down. You shouldn't do/read/watch anything too exciting, though, because that keeps you awake.

But in the end it depends on the reason why you're insomniac.
A disease - a doctor will help
Something mentaly severe - a doctor will help
Everything else: Try to find the mentioned procedure before you go to sleep, look after a decent temperature in your bedroom (for sleeping, the best temperature is around 15°C), get a healthy sleeping rythm (if you stay awake 4 nights a week until 4A.M. you'll probably won't sleep at 11P.M. the other days) and don't think about too much worrying in bed (ranging from 'god... i gotta sleep!' to 'boy, today was really sh*tty...')

 

[sky14kemea]

People can make themselves fall asleep?!? What black magic is this.

It takes me over an hour to fall asleep on a normal night. I've tried the whole removing electronics from the bedroom schtick, warm baths, cocoa, etc.

When I still can't sleep after an hour or so of lying there I just get back up and eat something. Eating a lot of warm food seems to be the only thing that can make me drowsy enough.

So yeah my advice is to binge out on hot food or something. I mean hey, if it doesn't work at least you're well fed.

 

[wizzy555]

I'm not sure if taking over an hour to get to sleep classes as insomnia. When I was a child it would routinely take over an hour to get to sleep. True insomniacs are usually up most of the night.

These days I listen to a yoga insomnia video, the yogi speaks a load of nonsense and pseudoscience but the music and the ritual is very relaxing.

 

[Starbird]

People can make themselves fall asleep?!? What black magic is this.

It takes me over an hour to fall asleep on a normal night. I've tried the whole removing electronics from the bedroom schtick, warm baths, cocoa, etc.

When I still can't sleep after an hour or so of lying there I just get back up and eat something. Eating a lot of warm food seems to be the only thing that can make me drowsy enough.

So yeah my advice is to binge out on hot food or something. I mean hey, if it doesn't work at least you're well fed.

Eating also helps me oddly enough, although I don't dare do it since I'm at the point where I've started to go from 'slightly bearish' to 'approximately spherical'.

 

[sanquin]

Weed, to be honest. I mean, I don't smoke because of that though, and I don't recommend anyone not smoking at all to start. But I do realise that it helps me get to sleep a lot more easily.

 

[Redlin5_v1legacy]

Eyes closed, documentary of some historical event playing, keep eyes closed until documentary turns into white noise and I pass into unconsciousness. Done. Most times I don't need to do that though.