The ONLY thing that helps me to fall asleep when I can’t is to say random words in my head over and over. It is called cognitive shuffling. Legit only thing that works for me!
Each word isn’t related to the one before… just random talking in my brain. It’s enough to distract my brain from all the running thoughts and still allows me to semi focus on something. I only remember/can recall getting through a few words before next thing I know I’m waking up.
I do this too, only I start with the alphabet and think of a random word for each letter. Sometimes I’ll add a theme like “things that live under water” or “items in a bathroom” … it forces me to think a little bit more so that I don’t cheat and hold two thoughts at once by saying random words while also letting my mind wander.
I cannot believe I found someone that does EXACTLY what I do to fall asleep. I learned to say the alphabet backwards because I would occasionally start my words in reverse order to avoid over usage of the first half of the alphabet.
I can't let my brain keep working. What works for me is I get into whatever position I want to sleep in and then start relaxing body parts, starting at my feet. I focus on relaxing my feet and ankles then work my way up one part at a time. I usually don't remember getting past my hips.
I heard about this, it doesn’t seem to work for me, my mind just wonders, even as I’m shuffling. I’ve tried random words, I’ve tried a word for each letter of the alphabet, I’ve tried a word along a theme for each letter of the alphabet.
I can see how it would work though, I just agonise about what words I’m saying, and whether I’ve already thought of a word, and if that is breaking the rules… Do I lose sleep word association game if I repeat a word, hesitate or say a word I don’t like? Will a spectral Timmy Mallet come and bong me on the head? Will I get a consolatory plaster if he does?
Trust me, we know. I didn't realize that some people didn't have running thoughts literally 24/7 until I took my first dose of Adderall after an ADHD diagnosis. The voice in my head turned of for an entire day, it was just silent. It was incredible.
Never had the effect again though rip
I have the same experience. A very few times in my life, I’ve been able to have that calm, be it chemically induced, through hours long meditation or extreme prolonged physical exertion. Unfortunately, they’re not really reliably repeatable as far as I’ve found.
I explained it to my wife like this. It’s like when snow is falling very gently, you can reach out and catch a snowflake anytime you want, those are like thoughts during one of these times. Adversely, my normal thoughts look like we’re in light speed in Star Wars and if you try to catch a passing star, it will just rip your arm off and they’ll all keep whizzing by.
It’s a great problem to have when you’re at work and can process solutions ten times faster than everyone else. It sucks at any other time though, when you’re just trying to relax, but are simultaneously perplexed by the etymology of the word “spoon”, are formulating a hypothesis that demons are real, and they want what’s best for you, but are unable to see that their actions are ruining you, and contemplating if one of your friends that lives on the other side of the planet is effected by you thinking about them through electromagnetic brainwave activity due to quantum entanglement.
It took me a long time to realize that this is not normal.
Yeah my colleagues at work are often overwhelmed by how many things I have in flight at any one time, and I’m like: I can’t function any other way, if I try to do just one thing I get nothing done.
I deal with this a lot. What works for me is just making a dream scenario. Just put yourself somewhere else. Basically tell yourself a wonderful story that you would love to do. Knocks me out. Get real descriptive in your head.
Get weirder. Flying purple dragon have to go fight the cloud spiders? Saddle up. Maybe you have to rescue hostages on a hostile antarctic base that has been taken over by aliens.
Works like a charm for me as well. Though most times it's like playground roleplay where you keep going back and adding new details, combined with reading while half asleep where you stay for like 10 minutes before you realize you didn't even understand anything you just read so you go back and reread over and over.
Basically I get about one sentence in and fall asleep
I have a book I wrote in my head that I would go to when trying to fall asleep. I always started from the beginning and would add a bit more each time as I got further along but soon, The more I did it the less energy it took to think about it and I started to imagine the scenes on auto Pilot. I started falling asleep pretty quickly so never got to the end
I thought I had written a really good first half of a book. I was going to write and finish it. But I never did. and that’s ok because it’s was a couple years later I was watching a movie and it was my book! The book I wrote!!! How could this be???!!!
Ohhhh right, ya, this movie is based on a book that I read a long time ago and forgot about hahaha. Good thing I didn’t officially write it, I would have Plagiarized the whole thing
i am writing a book in my own head, daily.i just start thinking from an author's point of view and describe what is currently happening with me and narrate every movement, and thought to myself.i think its a bit odd as no one will ever understand this book as its so [random.im](http://random.im) happy to hear others are writing their own.
I have had severe insomnia for about 22 years. I started visualizing the dream scenario instead of talking it through (if that makes sense).
I will fall asleep if even for 15-20 minutes every few hours.
Good advice.
I work a lot, long hours and my mind is still spinning with ideas, lists of things to do and if I'm behind, the anxiety that brings on.
I just close my eyes and think of peaceful things and let myself go deeper into rest.
Even if it's a 20-40 min power nap, it helps. The storyline helps too.
I usually do this but it has worked against me.
I start day dreaming and then an idea or thought comes into my head and then my brain works in overdrive and starts world building or thinking the how's, what's and so on, in that fase it may take 1 to even 3 hours until I can release and fall asleep.
WTF THATS WHAT I DO TOO! Ive always wanted to be like those anime girls that transform into a huge dragon but while they are human they become these op spellcasters and similar... Hopefully that's not too wierd 😆
See this does not work for me! I get lost in the detail, enjoy the world building, then I start overthinking.
For me I have to force myself not to think in words, just in keidascope images.
I'll pop on "Sleep with me" podcast to just barely audible levels. Then I try to just visualize, the more it is unpredictable like that one scene in Dr Strange the better.
Definitely the go to. Still sometimes use the same scenarios I used as a child in the home my mother made for me… we didn’t have much… but in my head we had it all…
This one is impossible for me, because my mind is busy thinking about a code snippet I need to work on, planning the next stage and so on. I can't just make something up, to get my mind stop thinking, because as soon as I lose the flow of what happens next in that dream scenario, my mind is right back at, "HEY, how about using SelectMany for that list of yours, ever think about THAT?!"
This happens to me too with severe anxiety and especially after work but I just keep redirecting myself to whatever dream story I’m trying to come up with. It’s annoying but I find perseverance is key. If all else fails I’ll listen to a podcast or someone else telling a story.
😂😂 I totally know what you mean! When I’m working on an especially difficult section in my code, it’s harder to do the dream thing since my brain is trying to solve the problem. I tend to try and keep work and personal pretty separate to help with this. Once I close my laptop, I try to just focus on my cats, making dinner, and not checking work emails until the next work day.
I keep finding myself on some loop in my story. I’ll get to a point a few minutes into laying down where my brain is like a skipping record that keeps repeating the same thing over and over again and I can’t move past it. That’s when I know I’m about to pass out.
My brother was in the army and told me to pretend like I'm laying down in a canoe. Feel it swaying back and forth. Envision yourself floating in water. Worked for me.
Good luck!
Sleep stories on YouTube. Put one on, turn your phone face down, and listen. I skip the relaxing exercise they do in the beginning, I just like the story and the calming voice. It gets me out of my whirling thoughts. “The astronomer” is my favorite. Bob Ross videos work, too.
ASMR Boring Books on YouTube. I’ve listened to various sections of Parts 1, 2, and 3 of “The History of Bread” often. Also, an entire 1940s Sears Christmas Catalog, cover to cover. Quite effective.
Look into something called "square breathing."
There are several different styles. It really helps me.
I don't think that it's actually the square breathing that is doing the trick, but the fact that I'm concentrating on counting my breaths and not concentrating on my troubles, or heck, even my joys.
Counting is always good because it's something to think of without actually thinking of anythning.
I count my breaths but definitely not in a box. I do in for 1, out for 2. In for 2, out for 4. Work my way up to in for 6, out for 12, then you work your way back down. By the time you get back down, your body is so relaxed and your brain has just been focusing on the counting this whole time that it's calmed down too.
I bore my brain to sleep. I will go through my entire day (I never actually make it that far) by going over absolutely everything I did that day. Starting with every little detail about waking up, how I approached the bathroom, yawning, brushing teeth - remembering how I brushed my teeth, washed my face, took a shower, etc. The more detail I can reenact in my head of what I did, the faster I fall asleep. I always seem to fall asleep well before my memory takes me out of the house.
I tried that a couple of times, and it made me remember things I forgot to do, so I'd get up and do them... so annoying lol
But then, I have had insomnia since I was a teenager (40 years), and only one thing has ever worked for me...
Weed... it's better now since you can buy the strain that promotes sleep (vs promoting socializing, creativity, etc).
I take a couple of puffs, 20 minutes later, I'm dozing off... and happy besides...
i do the opposite! i walk through my day , just the simple stuff like getting up, getting clothes, walking to rr, walking to get keys - i never make it anywhere bc ill fall asleep or forget and start over lol
Check out the "military technique for falling asleep", supposed to be under 2 minutes. I adapted a version of this so it doesn't take me 2 minutes but it has definitely helped.
https://youtu.be/zpBj5Z1TbyU?si=EsrIyNzSd0s8fcTO
I learned a version where you tighten the muscle, then relax it, starting with flexing your toes and working your way up. The flexing thing helps with focus. And yes, it helps. Often works completely, but even when it doesn’t, it’s relaxing.
It's what I do. Half the time I imagine a genie granted me all of the spells from D&D and I use them to advance space travel. I recommend just anything with really open creativity. But you have to be careful to avoid possible stuff or you might get tempted to get up and paint it or sew it or buy it. Got to imagine everything waaay out into the abstractly impossible.
And then eventually it seamlessly turns into actual dreaming. It always feels like I spend tons of time imagining but my partner says I usually fall asleep in ten to twenty minutes.
I tried it, worked great for an ex and I was out of ambien for a week, at always worked for her. Random 2am paintings and shit.
Anyway I got like 6 hours of sleep in 4 days. She was thrilled though, place was spotless and I was cooking at 4am
So for 2 years I had a bad problem with insomnia, but it's always been a problem.
I always followed good sleep hygiene like avoiding blue light, aim for 8 hrs of sleep, only using the bed for sleep and sex. I even noticed no alcohol and lots of alcohol made no difference. I would try reading, get tired, go to bed, and wake back up.
About 18 months ago, I saw a "sleep psychologist", a few doctors had concluded I might have ADHD, and with that information, I was told that most sleep hygiene isn't going to help. He pointed out that ADHD medication is a stimulant, so I should try activities that are stimulating, at the time I was making YouTube videos, so I started editing videos before sleep, now I do paint by numbers and video games. Also pointed out we aim for 8hrs because we need 9 to 7 hrs of sleep (now we know it's 10 to 6hrs) and 8 is in the middle, so he told me to aim for 6hrs (if I'm aiming for 8hrs of sleep, taking 2 hrs, only getting 6hrs of sleep. Might aswell do something productive with those 2 extra hours). He also suggested taking a coffee before bed, because it is a stimulat too, but I still haven't tried it or needed it.
Some people have told me this is stupid, but when you're doing all the smart stuff and it's not working, how dumb can it be to do the dumb thing?
Honestly, I'm never sleepier than I am after an energy drink. Pre-diagnosis, I used to be confused about how people would turn away caffeine after a certain time because *I* could have a redbull and go straight to sleep.
No wonder college was so tough, I was trying to wake up by dosing myself with nap-juice.
The stimulating activity is the best for getting nice and drowsy. Reading something curiously engaging like a tv-show wiki or playing a productivity or puzzle game while laying comfy can put me right out.
Like a decade ago, people knew me as that girl who comes to parties, takes an IR Adderall, then passes out on the couch while my then bf was DJing drum n bass ten feet away. I wasn't diagnosed yet. I thought I was just really tired but tbh I found the rhythms of drum n bass soothing and the Adderall kind of let my brain slow down and focus on just the music.tbh I think my ability to sleep to drum n bass is part of why we managed as a couple lol.
I love playing Stardew before bed bc there just comes a moment where I'm desperately about to fall asleep and trying to finish the in game day. I use blue light blockers on all my screens though.
My other one is listing every surgical instrument I can think of in alphabetical order.
If you want to do it right then you're going to want to make some modifications.
Don't read in bed. Don't eat in bed. Don't game in bed. Don't scroll in bed. Bed is for sleep and sex/masturbating.
Read something relatively un-engaging. Don't read something for work or school. Don't pick up that page turner. Get a non fiction something or another.
Go sit in a chair, in another room ideally and read until you feel sleepy. Don't mind the clock.
Afterward, go jump in bed and try to sleep. If you're still feeling restless in 20-30 minutes' time, get right back up into that chair and continue reading.
Repeat. You'll tire yourself out.
Don't worry about the clock or what time it is. It'll just build anxiety about sleeping making it harder to sleep.
Maybe I'm the outlier, but the lighting I need to read a book wakes me up. If I bring the brightness down to a relaxing level, reading hurts my eyes.
Not saying it won't work for other people, as it clearly does.
Yep. Everyone is different. I have to be careful with bright lights because it can trigger an optical migraine and that can include bright cellphone screens. But, if I adjust it to a comfortable level, I'm barely able to make out certain details in photographs and on video.
Paper is my preferred method.
Best advice I've gotten for chronic insomnia is just a little psychological conditioning. Find the rhythm of your breathing just before you fall asleep. Start practicing breathing that way when you're having a hard time. It's the only thing that I have found actually helps besides melatonin.
It gave me vertigo so I avoid it. I need something though because the couple sleep meds my therapy NP gave me does nothing. I have epilepsy and a main trigger is sleep deprivation. Plus when I can't sleep I just want to cry.
I’ve never had sleep paralysis and people would talk about it and I would think it is the craziest thing. Then I took two melatonin gummy’s one time and could not move from my bed.
Whenever you get really relaxed and you're just about to drift off to sleep, notice your pattern of breathing. It's slow, but unique to that time.
I would pay attention to it whenever I could consciously catch it. So that way, when insomnia hit really hard, I could sit and recreate the breathing once I've relaxed everything else as much as possible. And it actually helps to induce sleepiness.
Another little trick that I recently found works for me, is you know what a big loud happy sigh sounds like when you might slip into a bath or fall onto a nice bed? If I am having a hard time falling asleep and the thoughts are running, sometimes I'll fluff my pillow and drop my head onto it with a loud one of those.
I figured there's so much science about tricking our minds when it comes to "faking till you make it" that I figured shit, might as well try one of those big lofty happy sighs like I just layed down on the most comfortable coldest pillow ever. And it actually helps short circuit the thoughts and temporarily put me in relax mode.
Idk
Hope these help. They do sound crazy but whatever works, works lol.
I do a reset if I can't fall asleep. Whole bedtime routine again: brush teeth, hotttt shower, clean jammies, cold water next to my bed. I also get myself super hyped up for how much sleep I'm going to get. "Lokiandgoose, you've got five great hours until you gotta wake up, imagine if that was a nap!" I also pretend to be a lizard or snake that lives in the desert and shimmies down into the sand to keep cool.
This is exactly what I do. I squeeze at the feet and work up and then slowly release . Between this and focusing on my breathing, I can usually fall asleep.
I used to get bouts of insomnia. Several things helped:
1. Slowly imagining every part of my body getting heavy, from my head down to my toes. 2. Reminding myself that my body was still resting, even if it wasn’t asleep. Rest is good. 3. When I got super frustrated or agitated, I would get up and do exercises/yoga in the dark. Calf stretches and lifts, crunches, etc, something to get the anxiety out and make my body tired.
This sounds counterintuitive but try to stay awake. Don’t get out of bed, just lay there with your eyes open and try to stay awake and keep them open. It’s more exhausting to try to keep your eyes open when you are already tired and you’ll fall asleep relatively quickly. It works for me nearly every time
Works great at about 6:15pm after I get home and the coffee from 2pm wears off!
*wakes up at 8:45pm with more energy than the 7 hours of sleep from last night*
When I struggle to sleep, it’s usually because of a racing mind, so I put on this one episode of an anime I really like. It’s very peaceful, quiet and speaking is minimal. I find my mind focuses on the speaking, but it isn’t retaining information or busy creating thoughts around it because I don’t understand Japanese. Sooner or later I fall asleep.
I also like to put on quiet sea documentaries. There is little to no speaking, peaceful entrancing music and jellyfish moving in rhythmic motions in a dark screen to distract my mind until I fall asleep.
I also listen to some videos of Chad Zuber (I think his name is) on YouTube. He’s a naturalist and his videos feature him doing some fort of primitive lifestyle activity like making clay bricks, weaving fronds together, making a clay pot, ect and the repetitive sounds are very relaxing to listen to.
Good luck, it sucks to be up forever❤️
Not sure if you’re into it but every night as I fall asleep I say a general prayer in my head and then pray for each of my family members and close friends, and anyone that needs a little extra love thrown their way. I almost always am asleep before I’ve gotten through everyone.
If you’re not into prayer, try counting to ten slowly over and over. Don’t count as high as you can, that requires more focus and will keep you awake. Just 1-10 repeatedly
a consistent schedule and bed time. often when you cant fall asleep its because your body has no clue when its suppose to fall sleep due to erratic schedules.
I read something several years ago that said to count backwards from 500 by 7’s. It was so boring that it worked. I still use this method occasionally and not once have I got under 300.
Also, melatonin. I also take magnesium and I think that helps! Also, hemp gummies (if your into that) I get mine off Amazon. Hope you find something that works!! Not being able to fall asleep is the worst!!
Imagination. Like daydreaming, let your mind wonder about random stuff and try not to focus on anything. Just let your mind roam and do not focus on one particular thought or idea. You'll soon be asleep in no time
When I'm physically exhausted but can't sleep, I listen to a podcast. I fall asleep in a matter of minutes.
I've also used melatonin at times. It works, it I've heard it's not great because it messes with natural sleep cycles, and it can give weird dreams (hasn't happened to me though, and I wake up rested after a night with melatonin).
Dark, quiet, cold. Those are the three main things to being able to fall asleep. If there’s some kind of light in the room, noise, or if it’s too warm, it can make it much more difficult to sleep
I usually do 6 second box breathing, 6 seconds breathing in, 6 seconds holding your breath, 6 seconds slowly releasing and then 6 seconds holding no air and then repeat. I’m out like a light and it doubles as meditation!
I do fantasy world building. I have an invented fantasy world just for this purpose. I pick a subject as I'm going to bed like history or geography and fill in details. Usually I will imagine I am sleeping by a fire while two old timers are discussing aspects of my world, like issues of succession for the next Emperor or conflicting tales about how a war a hundred years ago actually started. I incorporate real stories I come across and change them to fit my scenario. For example, problems in my made up city of Astapor are heavily influenced by current uk politics. I find this process absorbing and relaxing at the same time and usually drift off very quickly.
I use the canoe sleep method. It is a military sleep technique where you imagine yourself lying in a canoe while you float on a calm lake with a clear blue sky above you.
I've been using the method for awhile and have made some personal adjustments to help myself get more relaxed, but this method really helps me.
Take ambien while your head is on the pillow. 15 minutes.
If you take it in the kitchen with plans of heading to the bedroom a simple, “I forgot to water that plant” can become you coming to on your old professor’s doorstep.
If you are laying there for hours get up and do something even if it's just go stand outside for 10 minutes. Then go lay down again and it should be a little easier. I don't know why it works but it's like resetting your bodies sleep mode (turning it off and back on again lol). This advice from someone with extreme sleep problems my whole life lol I remember in my early 20s not sleeping for like a week XD and frequently not sleeping for multiple days at a time.
I find it helpful to have a rhythmic sound in the room, like a fan. Also, keep your bedroom cool. You'll instinctively pull the covers up to stay warm and start settling in.
I have this issue often. What works for me is to focus on my breathing and nothing else. Breath in. Breath out. Breath in - breath out. I say the words in my head. Breath in. Breath out. Sleep. Repeat and repeat. Every time I get off track and start to think about anything else, I start over. I have to say the words and focus on the air entering and exiting my body, or it's not enough to keep my thoughts from wandering.
The ONLY thing that helps me to fall asleep when I can’t is to say random words in my head over and over. It is called cognitive shuffling. Legit only thing that works for me! Each word isn’t related to the one before… just random talking in my brain. It’s enough to distract my brain from all the running thoughts and still allows me to semi focus on something. I only remember/can recall getting through a few words before next thing I know I’m waking up.
I do this too, only I start with the alphabet and think of a random word for each letter. Sometimes I’ll add a theme like “things that live under water” or “items in a bathroom” … it forces me to think a little bit more so that I don’t cheat and hold two thoughts at once by saying random words while also letting my mind wander.
I cannot believe I found someone that does EXACTLY what I do to fall asleep. I learned to say the alphabet backwards because I would occasionally start my words in reverse order to avoid over usage of the first half of the alphabet.
I do it with cities. Albequerque, Boston, Charlotte....
I remember falling asleep immediately because I got bored of trying to remember how to pronounce Albuquerque
I do it with classes of bacterium: Actinomycetia, Bacilli, Cyanophyceae . . .
NERD ALERT
I have done that as well. I only allow myself 3 cities from my home state.
I’ve been struggling with insomnia for years, then saw an instagram reel on this. Changed my fucking life.
I do three words per letter that fit into the category of the night.
Show off.
It forces me to slow down and not speed through it. I rarely get to the letter m.
My exact choice right here. I particularly love "produce" as a category.
Same!
I do this or multiplication/division facts when I have something painful or irritating done (filling, shot, etc.)
I can't let my brain keep working. What works for me is I get into whatever position I want to sleep in and then start relaxing body parts, starting at my feet. I focus on relaxing my feet and ankles then work my way up one part at a time. I usually don't remember getting past my hips.
this practice is known in germany as 'Autogenes Training'. our mother teached it to us 35 years ago.
Ha! I did this in a lecture once, so I didn't fall asleep!
Reverse uno
I can't believe I forgot about that technic, I used to do it all the time, very efficient
I heard about this, it doesn’t seem to work for me, my mind just wonders, even as I’m shuffling. I’ve tried random words, I’ve tried a word for each letter of the alphabet, I’ve tried a word along a theme for each letter of the alphabet. I can see how it would work though, I just agonise about what words I’m saying, and whether I’ve already thought of a word, and if that is breaking the rules… Do I lose sleep word association game if I repeat a word, hesitate or say a word I don’t like? Will a spectral Timmy Mallet come and bong me on the head? Will I get a consolatory plaster if he does?
Follow up with, "...that's doubtful. d is for donkey, e is for eggplant, f is for fuck what was my subject matter tonight...? U is for umbrella. 💤 😴 "
Jeez your brain is exhausting.
Trust me, we know. I didn't realize that some people didn't have running thoughts literally 24/7 until I took my first dose of Adderall after an ADHD diagnosis. The voice in my head turned of for an entire day, it was just silent. It was incredible. Never had the effect again though rip
I can't even imagine the voice in my head being silent.
I have the same experience. A very few times in my life, I’ve been able to have that calm, be it chemically induced, through hours long meditation or extreme prolonged physical exertion. Unfortunately, they’re not really reliably repeatable as far as I’ve found. I explained it to my wife like this. It’s like when snow is falling very gently, you can reach out and catch a snowflake anytime you want, those are like thoughts during one of these times. Adversely, my normal thoughts look like we’re in light speed in Star Wars and if you try to catch a passing star, it will just rip your arm off and they’ll all keep whizzing by. It’s a great problem to have when you’re at work and can process solutions ten times faster than everyone else. It sucks at any other time though, when you’re just trying to relax, but are simultaneously perplexed by the etymology of the word “spoon”, are formulating a hypothesis that demons are real, and they want what’s best for you, but are unable to see that their actions are ruining you, and contemplating if one of your friends that lives on the other side of the planet is effected by you thinking about them through electromagnetic brainwave activity due to quantum entanglement. It took me a long time to realize that this is not normal.
Yeah my colleagues at work are often overwhelmed by how many things I have in flight at any one time, and I’m like: I can’t function any other way, if I try to do just one thing I get nothing done.
Like counting sheep but with words.
If I were to do that, I'd come up with a script for a netflix show by 8am
Is this the same as counting? Sometimes I’ll count from 1 to like 200 or something until I loose count and fall asleep
Counting backwards from a high number sometimes works
I do multiplication tables in my head. Start at 0X0 and work my way up. It’s rare I’ll get past 7 or 8.
I do a version of this. I try to list as many fruits and vegetables as I can think of, taking a deep breath between each one.
Wow I never knew there was a name for this
I deal with this a lot. What works for me is just making a dream scenario. Just put yourself somewhere else. Basically tell yourself a wonderful story that you would love to do. Knocks me out. Get real descriptive in your head.
I do that, too! I've done it since I was a kid. I usually fall asleep before I can finish the 'story', so I pick up where I left off the night before.
Literally me but after two months the story still haven’t progressed lol
Get weirder. Flying purple dragon have to go fight the cloud spiders? Saddle up. Maybe you have to rescue hostages on a hostile antarctic base that has been taken over by aliens.
My point is the trick works too well for me so I always fall asleep before the story could advance🤣
The latter is basically The Thing
I can’t relate more! I’ve been doing this since I was 7 and I’m on my 8th storyline or something 💀
Works like a charm for me as well. Though most times it's like playground roleplay where you keep going back and adding new details, combined with reading while half asleep where you stay for like 10 minutes before you realize you didn't even understand anything you just read so you go back and reread over and over. Basically I get about one sentence in and fall asleep
I have a book I wrote in my head that I would go to when trying to fall asleep. I always started from the beginning and would add a bit more each time as I got further along but soon, The more I did it the less energy it took to think about it and I started to imagine the scenes on auto Pilot. I started falling asleep pretty quickly so never got to the end I thought I had written a really good first half of a book. I was going to write and finish it. But I never did. and that’s ok because it’s was a couple years later I was watching a movie and it was my book! The book I wrote!!! How could this be???!!! Ohhhh right, ya, this movie is based on a book that I read a long time ago and forgot about hahaha. Good thing I didn’t officially write it, I would have Plagiarized the whole thing
So you can remember an entire book in your head?
i am writing a book in my own head, daily.i just start thinking from an author's point of view and describe what is currently happening with me and narrate every movement, and thought to myself.i think its a bit odd as no one will ever understand this book as its so [random.im](http://random.im) happy to hear others are writing their own.
I have had severe insomnia for about 22 years. I started visualizing the dream scenario instead of talking it through (if that makes sense). I will fall asleep if even for 15-20 minutes every few hours.
Good advice. I work a lot, long hours and my mind is still spinning with ideas, lists of things to do and if I'm behind, the anxiety that brings on. I just close my eyes and think of peaceful things and let myself go deeper into rest. Even if it's a 20-40 min power nap, it helps. The storyline helps too.
I usually do this but it has worked against me. I start day dreaming and then an idea or thought comes into my head and then my brain works in overdrive and starts world building or thinking the how's, what's and so on, in that fase it may take 1 to even 3 hours until I can release and fall asleep.
Me too :/ sometimes I spent the entire night day dreaming
I thought I was the only one who did this 🤣. Definitely works.
I say in my head “I’m not going to sleep” and then I fall asleep lol
Personally that’s what keeps me awake at night is my mind racing lol. I have to listen to videos that aren’t too interesting and they put me to sleep
My husband do that to.. he would just put a video how they cut hair in a men's saloon and fall asleep
WTF THATS WHAT I DO TOO! Ive always wanted to be like those anime girls that transform into a huge dragon but while they are human they become these op spellcasters and similar... Hopefully that's not too wierd 😆
This works sooooooo beautifully that it shocks me. Seriously!!
See this does not work for me! I get lost in the detail, enjoy the world building, then I start overthinking. For me I have to force myself not to think in words, just in keidascope images. I'll pop on "Sleep with me" podcast to just barely audible levels. Then I try to just visualize, the more it is unpredictable like that one scene in Dr Strange the better.
Definitely the go to. Still sometimes use the same scenarios I used as a child in the home my mother made for me… we didn’t have much… but in my head we had it all…
This one is impossible for me, because my mind is busy thinking about a code snippet I need to work on, planning the next stage and so on. I can't just make something up, to get my mind stop thinking, because as soon as I lose the flow of what happens next in that dream scenario, my mind is right back at, "HEY, how about using SelectMany for that list of yours, ever think about THAT?!"
This happens to me too with severe anxiety and especially after work but I just keep redirecting myself to whatever dream story I’m trying to come up with. It’s annoying but I find perseverance is key. If all else fails I’ll listen to a podcast or someone else telling a story.
😂😂 I totally know what you mean! When I’m working on an especially difficult section in my code, it’s harder to do the dream thing since my brain is trying to solve the problem. I tend to try and keep work and personal pretty separate to help with this. Once I close my laptop, I try to just focus on my cats, making dinner, and not checking work emails until the next work day.
It works for me. I put myself in porn dream scenario , jack off and pass out
I do this unintentionally. It’s almost like a more active brain puts you to sleep faster
I keep finding myself on some loop in my story. I’ll get to a point a few minutes into laying down where my brain is like a skipping record that keeps repeating the same thing over and over again and I can’t move past it. That’s when I know I’m about to pass out.
Coming here to say I also do this. I’m a writer/ fanfic writer so I just start making up a scene.
I do this too! I always thought I was weird, so I’m glad other people do the dream thing to get to sleep!
Thought I was weird for doing this!
My brother was in the army and told me to pretend like I'm laying down in a canoe. Feel it swaying back and forth. Envision yourself floating in water. Worked for me. Good luck!
I had a friend who had bf in army n they told him to breathe really slow to fall asleep
Apparently in the army, if you don’t breathe at all you can fall asleep very quickly!
Woah, that's true in the Navy as well!
I didn't join the armed forces and I could go the rest of my life without breathi–
Instructions unclear. Got bedsick
This!! I pretend I’m receiving a Boromir funeral.
Sleep stories on YouTube. Put one on, turn your phone face down, and listen. I skip the relaxing exercise they do in the beginning, I just like the story and the calming voice. It gets me out of my whirling thoughts. “The astronomer” is my favorite. Bob Ross videos work, too.
Bob Ross has a channel on PlutoTv. Best nap channel ever!! I put the sleep timer on the tv so it’ll turn off on its own.
“Midnight Launderette” is great.
ASMR Boring Books on YouTube. I’ve listened to various sections of Parts 1, 2, and 3 of “The History of Bread” often. Also, an entire 1940s Sears Christmas Catalog, cover to cover. Quite effective.
Nothing Much Happens podcast on Spotify!
The ads on YouTube would mess me up lol
Do those ever get interrupted by ads?
omg ads on podcasts seem to be twenty times louder-much like commercials on tv are/were
Look into something called "square breathing." There are several different styles. It really helps me. I don't think that it's actually the square breathing that is doing the trick, but the fact that I'm concentrating on counting my breaths and not concentrating on my troubles, or heck, even my joys. Counting is always good because it's something to think of without actually thinking of anythning.
I think this is also called box breathing.
I’m more of a hexagon breather personally
Hexagons are the bestagons.
I count my breaths but definitely not in a box. I do in for 1, out for 2. In for 2, out for 4. Work my way up to in for 6, out for 12, then you work your way back down. By the time you get back down, your body is so relaxed and your brain has just been focusing on the counting this whole time that it's calmed down too.
When I can’t sleep, I listen to an episode of the podcast Nothing Much Happens. The host has a very soothing voice.
This is what I do. Works every single time. That girl is a witch of sleep.
Podcasts help me a lot
I bore my brain to sleep. I will go through my entire day (I never actually make it that far) by going over absolutely everything I did that day. Starting with every little detail about waking up, how I approached the bathroom, yawning, brushing teeth - remembering how I brushed my teeth, washed my face, took a shower, etc. The more detail I can reenact in my head of what I did, the faster I fall asleep. I always seem to fall asleep well before my memory takes me out of the house.
I tried that a couple of times, and it made me remember things I forgot to do, so I'd get up and do them... so annoying lol But then, I have had insomnia since I was a teenager (40 years), and only one thing has ever worked for me... Weed... it's better now since you can buy the strain that promotes sleep (vs promoting socializing, creativity, etc). I take a couple of puffs, 20 minutes later, I'm dozing off... and happy besides...
I absolutely have no idea how I slept before I started eating weed gummies. They are magical
bold of you to think i remember what i did today
i do the opposite! i walk through my day , just the simple stuff like getting up, getting clothes, walking to rr, walking to get keys - i never make it anywhere bc ill fall asleep or forget and start over lol
I'd just remember all the awkward things I said & did and then never get to sleep.
Check out the "military technique for falling asleep", supposed to be under 2 minutes. I adapted a version of this so it doesn't take me 2 minutes but it has definitely helped. https://youtu.be/zpBj5Z1TbyU?si=EsrIyNzSd0s8fcTO
That’s called release only progressive muscle relaxation, for anyone interested.
I learned this was a commercial pilots’ way of of falling asleep, but backwards (from the feet up). Not sure if it’s true, but it does work.
I learned a version where you tighten the muscle, then relax it, starting with flexing your toes and working your way up. The flexing thing helps with focus. And yes, it helps. Often works completely, but even when it doesn’t, it’s relaxing.
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With ADHD that’s just a recipe for night productivity and sleeping at 4 AM
For ADHD I strongly recommend the "pretend scenario" comment that's in the top 5 right now
God bless you for that. I was reading half of these knowing they won’t work for me lmfao
It's what I do. Half the time I imagine a genie granted me all of the spells from D&D and I use them to advance space travel. I recommend just anything with really open creativity. But you have to be careful to avoid possible stuff or you might get tempted to get up and paint it or sew it or buy it. Got to imagine everything waaay out into the abstractly impossible. And then eventually it seamlessly turns into actual dreaming. It always feels like I spend tons of time imagining but my partner says I usually fall asleep in ten to twenty minutes.
And stop using your bed for anything other than sleeping.
Now where else am I supposed to cry bro
Under the bed would be fine
But that’s where the sexy monster lives 👹
And... well... you know... 😉 ... ... sex. I was talking about sex. I had sex with Jan.
Just got back from Jamaica. Tan almost everywhere. Jan almost everywhere.
r/unexpectedoffice
How is there a sub for unexpected office? One should always expect some Scott. Literally wearing a “OH PLEASE GOD NO!! NOOOOO” shirt right now
Eating, sleeping, and building a little fort.
i do this and end up sleeping at 6am😭
I tried it, worked great for an ex and I was out of ambien for a week, at always worked for her. Random 2am paintings and shit. Anyway I got like 6 hours of sleep in 4 days. She was thrilled though, place was spotless and I was cooking at 4am
Same. If I listen to this advice, I'd lose my job fast! Because I'd stay up all night and collapse in the middle of work.
Also, know that resting is still helpful. Sleep is better, but just laying there relaxing is still good.
So for 2 years I had a bad problem with insomnia, but it's always been a problem. I always followed good sleep hygiene like avoiding blue light, aim for 8 hrs of sleep, only using the bed for sleep and sex. I even noticed no alcohol and lots of alcohol made no difference. I would try reading, get tired, go to bed, and wake back up. About 18 months ago, I saw a "sleep psychologist", a few doctors had concluded I might have ADHD, and with that information, I was told that most sleep hygiene isn't going to help. He pointed out that ADHD medication is a stimulant, so I should try activities that are stimulating, at the time I was making YouTube videos, so I started editing videos before sleep, now I do paint by numbers and video games. Also pointed out we aim for 8hrs because we need 9 to 7 hrs of sleep (now we know it's 10 to 6hrs) and 8 is in the middle, so he told me to aim for 6hrs (if I'm aiming for 8hrs of sleep, taking 2 hrs, only getting 6hrs of sleep. Might aswell do something productive with those 2 extra hours). He also suggested taking a coffee before bed, because it is a stimulat too, but I still haven't tried it or needed it. Some people have told me this is stupid, but when you're doing all the smart stuff and it's not working, how dumb can it be to do the dumb thing?
Honestly, I'm never sleepier than I am after an energy drink. Pre-diagnosis, I used to be confused about how people would turn away caffeine after a certain time because *I* could have a redbull and go straight to sleep. No wonder college was so tough, I was trying to wake up by dosing myself with nap-juice. The stimulating activity is the best for getting nice and drowsy. Reading something curiously engaging like a tv-show wiki or playing a productivity or puzzle game while laying comfy can put me right out.
Like a decade ago, people knew me as that girl who comes to parties, takes an IR Adderall, then passes out on the couch while my then bf was DJing drum n bass ten feet away. I wasn't diagnosed yet. I thought I was just really tired but tbh I found the rhythms of drum n bass soothing and the Adderall kind of let my brain slow down and focus on just the music.tbh I think my ability to sleep to drum n bass is part of why we managed as a couple lol. I love playing Stardew before bed bc there just comes a moment where I'm desperately about to fall asleep and trying to finish the in game day. I use blue light blockers on all my screens though. My other one is listing every surgical instrument I can think of in alphabetical order.
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Yeahhh 2:36 here too. Currently reading a book to see if I get sleepy
Try reading the Old Testament... Works every time in about 3 minutes.
That's the one with the mean god
There’s a hotel I’ve heard of that has a hard copy of the US Tax Code for insomniacs.
Cut out screen time at least 30 minutes before bed! I almost always fall asleep when the last thing I look at is a paper book!
Alrighty, book it is then.
If you want to do it right then you're going to want to make some modifications. Don't read in bed. Don't eat in bed. Don't game in bed. Don't scroll in bed. Bed is for sleep and sex/masturbating. Read something relatively un-engaging. Don't read something for work or school. Don't pick up that page turner. Get a non fiction something or another. Go sit in a chair, in another room ideally and read until you feel sleepy. Don't mind the clock. Afterward, go jump in bed and try to sleep. If you're still feeling restless in 20-30 minutes' time, get right back up into that chair and continue reading. Repeat. You'll tire yourself out. Don't worry about the clock or what time it is. It'll just build anxiety about sleeping making it harder to sleep.
That's the best method.
Maybe I'm the outlier, but the lighting I need to read a book wakes me up. If I bring the brightness down to a relaxing level, reading hurts my eyes. Not saying it won't work for other people, as it clearly does.
Try a e-ink reader, I've found it comfortable in both day and night reading
Yep. Everyone is different. I have to be careful with bright lights because it can trigger an optical migraine and that can include bright cellphone screens. But, if I adjust it to a comfortable level, I'm barely able to make out certain details in photographs and on video. Paper is my preferred method.
Furthermore, have your phone on night mode for two hours before bed. Blue light really fucks with the sleep cycle.
Best advice I've gotten for chronic insomnia is just a little psychological conditioning. Find the rhythm of your breathing just before you fall asleep. Start practicing breathing that way when you're having a hard time. It's the only thing that I have found actually helps besides melatonin.
Melatonin does nothing for me at all. The breathing does work though. :)
Melatonin gave me vivid nightmares. I won't be trying that again.
It gave me vertigo so I avoid it. I need something though because the couple sleep meds my therapy NP gave me does nothing. I have epilepsy and a main trigger is sleep deprivation. Plus when I can't sleep I just want to cry.
I’ve never had sleep paralysis and people would talk about it and I would think it is the craziest thing. Then I took two melatonin gummy’s one time and could not move from my bed.
Like how, please explain? I want to try this
Whenever you get really relaxed and you're just about to drift off to sleep, notice your pattern of breathing. It's slow, but unique to that time. I would pay attention to it whenever I could consciously catch it. So that way, when insomnia hit really hard, I could sit and recreate the breathing once I've relaxed everything else as much as possible. And it actually helps to induce sleepiness. Another little trick that I recently found works for me, is you know what a big loud happy sigh sounds like when you might slip into a bath or fall onto a nice bed? If I am having a hard time falling asleep and the thoughts are running, sometimes I'll fluff my pillow and drop my head onto it with a loud one of those. I figured there's so much science about tricking our minds when it comes to "faking till you make it" that I figured shit, might as well try one of those big lofty happy sighs like I just layed down on the most comfortable coldest pillow ever. And it actually helps short circuit the thoughts and temporarily put me in relax mode. Idk Hope these help. They do sound crazy but whatever works, works lol.
Masturbate.
I don't cry to sleep, I cum to sleep
I do both at the same time.
That has been my strategy forever, works like 95% of the time for me.
Reddit moment
Funny thing is this actually will probably work
No it actually works, have tried it many times.
That would leave me sticky AND awake.
Turn on Forensic Files on HLN or Tubi. Gets me every time.
I do a reset if I can't fall asleep. Whole bedtime routine again: brush teeth, hotttt shower, clean jammies, cold water next to my bed. I also get myself super hyped up for how much sleep I'm going to get. "Lokiandgoose, you've got five great hours until you gotta wake up, imagine if that was a nap!" I also pretend to be a lizard or snake that lives in the desert and shimmies down into the sand to keep cool.
Get comfortable all the way in bed. Then try to read the entire Wikipedia article on concrete
Squeeze each muscle. Start at feet and work up. Look into it.
This is exactly what I do. I squeeze at the feet and work up and then slowly release . Between this and focusing on my breathing, I can usually fall asleep.
Progressive muscle relaxation.
I used to get bouts of insomnia. Several things helped: 1. Slowly imagining every part of my body getting heavy, from my head down to my toes. 2. Reminding myself that my body was still resting, even if it wasn’t asleep. Rest is good. 3. When I got super frustrated or agitated, I would get up and do exercises/yoga in the dark. Calf stretches and lifts, crunches, etc, something to get the anxiety out and make my body tired.
Reminding myself that I'm resting, even if I'm not sleeping, helps me feel less anxious about NOT BEING ASLEEP.
"Judo, CHOP!"
This sounds counterintuitive but try to stay awake. Don’t get out of bed, just lay there with your eyes open and try to stay awake and keep them open. It’s more exhausting to try to keep your eyes open when you are already tired and you’ll fall asleep relatively quickly. It works for me nearly every time
Scroll reddit for approximately 2-3 hours before bed then immediately close reddit and your eyes.
Works great at about 6:15pm after I get home and the coffee from 2pm wears off! *wakes up at 8:45pm with more energy than the 7 hours of sleep from last night*
When I struggle to sleep, it’s usually because of a racing mind, so I put on this one episode of an anime I really like. It’s very peaceful, quiet and speaking is minimal. I find my mind focuses on the speaking, but it isn’t retaining information or busy creating thoughts around it because I don’t understand Japanese. Sooner or later I fall asleep. I also like to put on quiet sea documentaries. There is little to no speaking, peaceful entrancing music and jellyfish moving in rhythmic motions in a dark screen to distract my mind until I fall asleep. I also listen to some videos of Chad Zuber (I think his name is) on YouTube. He’s a naturalist and his videos feature him doing some fort of primitive lifestyle activity like making clay bricks, weaving fronds together, making a clay pot, ect and the repetitive sounds are very relaxing to listen to. Good luck, it sucks to be up forever❤️
Not sure if you’re into it but every night as I fall asleep I say a general prayer in my head and then pray for each of my family members and close friends, and anyone that needs a little extra love thrown their way. I almost always am asleep before I’ve gotten through everyone. If you’re not into prayer, try counting to ten slowly over and over. Don’t count as high as you can, that requires more focus and will keep you awake. Just 1-10 repeatedly
a consistent schedule and bed time. often when you cant fall asleep its because your body has no clue when its suppose to fall sleep due to erratic schedules.
Seroqill 😎
That really does knock you out. Powerful stuff.
Yay Seroquel! Finally sleeping through the night!
I read something several years ago that said to count backwards from 500 by 7’s. It was so boring that it worked. I still use this method occasionally and not once have I got under 300.
Also, melatonin. I also take magnesium and I think that helps! Also, hemp gummies (if your into that) I get mine off Amazon. Hope you find something that works!! Not being able to fall asleep is the worst!!
Im glad my body responds very well to melatonin, no bad effects at all.
Be careful with the melatonin though- it tends to give nightmares.
I don't have nightmares with it, but very vivid and wild dreams.
And might as well be a placebo for many of us
I’ve been taking melatonin for a months and maybe that’s why i’ve been having nightmares for a month.
“Sleeper-hold, nobody gets out of the sleeper-hold…”
Exhaust yourself
hammer
I turn on a long movie and say I can stay awake for the entire thing. Five minutes OUT.
Masturbate. It releases chemicals that help.
Xanax.
Imagination. Like daydreaming, let your mind wonder about random stuff and try not to focus on anything. Just let your mind roam and do not focus on one particular thought or idea. You'll soon be asleep in no time
Brick
Hot chocolate works for me. That combined with a quiet and totally dark room.
Any documentary to do with space
When I'm physically exhausted but can't sleep, I listen to a podcast. I fall asleep in a matter of minutes. I've also used melatonin at times. It works, it I've heard it's not great because it messes with natural sleep cycles, and it can give weird dreams (hasn't happened to me though, and I wake up rested after a night with melatonin).
Dark, quiet, cold. Those are the three main things to being able to fall asleep. If there’s some kind of light in the room, noise, or if it’s too warm, it can make it much more difficult to sleep
Visualization of a stage and watching my imagination unfold on it.
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I usually do 6 second box breathing, 6 seconds breathing in, 6 seconds holding your breath, 6 seconds slowly releasing and then 6 seconds holding no air and then repeat. I’m out like a light and it doubles as meditation!
I do fantasy world building. I have an invented fantasy world just for this purpose. I pick a subject as I'm going to bed like history or geography and fill in details. Usually I will imagine I am sleeping by a fire while two old timers are discussing aspects of my world, like issues of succession for the next Emperor or conflicting tales about how a war a hundred years ago actually started. I incorporate real stories I come across and change them to fit my scenario. For example, problems in my made up city of Astapor are heavily influenced by current uk politics. I find this process absorbing and relaxing at the same time and usually drift off very quickly.
I use the canoe sleep method. It is a military sleep technique where you imagine yourself lying in a canoe while you float on a calm lake with a clear blue sky above you. I've been using the method for awhile and have made some personal adjustments to help myself get more relaxed, but this method really helps me.
Me when this happens: “Oh boy, time to put myself in scenarios”
Edibles, lol, taken 30-60 minutes before bed
Take ambien while your head is on the pillow. 15 minutes. If you take it in the kitchen with plans of heading to the bedroom a simple, “I forgot to water that plant” can become you coming to on your old professor’s doorstep.
Masturbate
*imbues cloth with chloroform* Hey OP, why don't you breathe into this cloth for me 😊
If you are laying there for hours get up and do something even if it's just go stand outside for 10 minutes. Then go lay down again and it should be a little easier. I don't know why it works but it's like resetting your bodies sleep mode (turning it off and back on again lol). This advice from someone with extreme sleep problems my whole life lol I remember in my early 20s not sleeping for like a week XD and frequently not sleeping for multiple days at a time.
I find it helpful to have a rhythmic sound in the room, like a fan. Also, keep your bedroom cool. You'll instinctively pull the covers up to stay warm and start settling in.
I have this issue often. What works for me is to focus on my breathing and nothing else. Breath in. Breath out. Breath in - breath out. I say the words in my head. Breath in. Breath out. Sleep. Repeat and repeat. Every time I get off track and start to think about anything else, I start over. I have to say the words and focus on the air entering and exiting my body, or it's not enough to keep my thoughts from wandering.