Falling asleep
 

Perhaps this is a basic question and best moved, but I was wondering what other people do/think about when they are trying to fall asleep.

I have always generally fallen asleep rather easily, but there are times when my mind is thinking about so much that I have a difficult time doing it.

One thing that definitely works is merely writing things down that I need to accomplish for the next day. I know when I was little I would just run around a lot, and that would often be enough.

Sometimes I think of falling and the feeling of weightlessness really helps. Maybe this is an unneeded glance into my psyche, but I also imagine what it would be like to die, so once again I get the feeling of weightlessness.

I've always thought it silly that the North American interpretation of someone trying to fall asleep is them concentrating on sheep jumping over a fence. If I tried counting to fall asleep that would almost definitely keep me up longer, as I've also never been the kind of person to fall asleep reading a book or watching the television. As long as my mind is somewhat active in that manner then I definitely cannot sleep.

I've been around people who meditate all my life and one thing that's struck with me is that (supposedly) people who meditate can fall asleep within a minute or so. Just by clearing their head of all thought they can pass right out (not saying meditating and sleeping is the same thing, just noting that what I try to accomplish when falling asleep is what people do when they meditate, so it's almost a muscle).

Anyone have any other methods to throw out there? I should also note that I don't plan on getting up and drinking hot tea with milk or anything like that.

Re: Falling asleep
 

Rub one out.

Serious answer: I just let my thoughts wander and I usually drift into sleep pretty easily. Sometimes I'll try to remember the feeling of waking up in the morning. You know how when you just wake up, falling back to sleep is the easiest thing in the world. I don't think about it that hard though.

Re: Falling asleep
 

Kick her out of bed

Re: Falling asleep
 

1) rub one out
2) read
3) drugs

in no particular order

Re: Falling asleep
 

If you don't fall asleep right away when you get to your bed, you haven't work hard enough during the day.

Re: Falling asleep
 

[ QUOTE ]
1) rub one out
2) read
3) drugs

in no particular order

[/ QUOTE ]

For some reason when making this post I didn't think of your answers, but all are definitely viable, and 1 + 2 I've used. If you're talking about pot, that's not really effective for me, but I have drank some whiskey on the rocks, and that worked pretty well.

Re: Falling asleep
 

[ QUOTE ]
If you don't fall asleep right away when you get to your bed, you haven't work hard enough during the day.

[/ QUOTE ]

I know that when I've had a long day workwise that I pass out instantly. But I don't think there's a quota I should be filling every day.

Re: Falling asleep
 

If you don't fall asleep w/in the first 20 min of going to bed and you aren't feeling tired, get up, do something (surf the web, watch tv, have a beer, etc...) and try again 20 min later. Also, you should try to be in the room you sleep in only when trying to sleep (ie don't hang out there to play video games, poker, etc). This has helped me when I wasn't sleeping well.

Re: Falling asleep
 

[ QUOTE ]
If you don't fall asleep right away when you get to your bed, you haven't work hard enough during the day.

[/ QUOTE ]

I often will be worn out from a long day... until about 10 or 11. Then I wake up and have energy to stuff, end up not falling asleep till very late.

I've recently tried jogging after getting energy... I feel good afterwards but no more tired than I was.

Re: Falling asleep
 

if i have imsomnia - - - all bets are off...
it's futile. in that case, i will:

a.) lie as still as i can, if i can, and try to get rest that way.
b.) if a is impossible, i might play some PLAY-MONEY poker....
this after losing plenty when trying to play for real when i should
be dead tired. :-)

Re: Falling asleep
 

It takes me an average of 90 minutes to fall asleep at night. (Some nights it takes up to 6 hours of me laying in bed)

I haven't found anything that works, but I haven't tried super hard. So, please keep the suggestions in the thread coming.

Re: Falling asleep
 

[ QUOTE ]
Also, you should try to be in the room you sleep in only when trying to sleep (ie don't hang out there to play video games, poker, etc). This has helped me when I wasn't sleeping well.

[/ QUOTE ] very interesting.

OP, Tylenol PM.

Re: Falling asleep
 

i'm an insomniac so I basically just stay awake until I crash. Sometimes I lie in bed long enough to fall asleep, most of the time I get sick of thinking and get back up.

It doesn't really matter if I've worked (physically) hard all day or played poker all day or done nothing. I imagine being wired from late night poker sessions is some part of it.

As I write this I've been up since 8am yesterday. I've worked out twice, played like ten hours of poker, tried to sleep for a couple hours, watched a couple movies.

Every few days I sleep for like 12 hours.

I've tried multiple sleep meds, nothing works.

Re: Falling asleep
 

Chaos,

Do you exercise? I find it way, way, way easier to fall asleep when I am exercising regularly and not just sleepy tired but also physically tired.

Anything that's a routine definitely helps. When I'm going to sleep at the same time and reading a book for 30 minutes or so every night right before sleeping, it's very easy to just relax and sleep.

When I'm on a more changing schedule it's much easier to think about doing other stuff and just either lie in bed thinking about stuff or kill time watching TV or surfing the web or whatever instead of just going to sleep.

In general, though, once I decide to go to bed, it's pretty easy for me to fall asleep unless I'm REALLY bothered about something.

Re: Falling asleep
 

As above, a routine helps.

Also: the temperature of your feet makes a difference. If your feet are cold you will have a tough time falling asleep. If you often have cold feet when you go to bed, try wearing socks to bed.

Re: Falling asleep
 

[ QUOTE ]
It takes me an average of 90 minutes to fall asleep at night. (Some nights it takes up to 6 hours of me laying in bed)

I haven't found anything that works, but I haven't tried super hard. So, please keep the suggestions in the thread coming.

[/ QUOTE ]

6 hours? That's insane. I try to keep a routine when I can by going to bed at the same time every night, that tends to help.

Re: Falling asleep
 

its 3:30am atm and i gotta get up at 8... trying to read bbv and bbv4life to get some sleep, not helping :<

Re: Falling asleep
 

Sometimes it helps to listen to music, but soon you will go crazy, become reliant, and not be able to sleep without it.

So maybe it doesn't help.

Re: Falling asleep
 

read the most boring book i own.

i fall asleep really easily and it close to never comes to this for me.

Re: Falling asleep
 

pink noise...not porn related.

google pink noise, and put a 30 minute playlist of just pink noise, you will fall asleep before the playlist is over

Re: Falling asleep
 

dont know what pink noise is... but i like sounds of nature.

Re: Falling asleep
 

Along the meditative lines I visualise riding my bike if I'm tired but not switching off. I ride every day and its relaxing when I'm awake, and picturing it in my head as I try to sleep lets me stop thinking about stuff and just picture a chain of events. That seems to help my brain into a dream like state, and I always end up having dreams of doing mad wheelies and [censored] everywhere which is fun.

Re: Falling asleep
 

I've had lots of trouble sleeping in the past, I could lay in bed for all night, even after taking an advil pm, and not sleep. One thing I've found that helps me fall asleep is listening to an audiobook. A common, or least my, problem was that my brain was simply too active to shut down. Listening to an audio book is interesting enough to keep your brain focused on it and not racing on other things, while not requiring enough thought to keep you active and awake.

Re: Falling asleep
 

[ QUOTE ]
It takes me an average of 90 minutes to fall asleep at night. (Some nights it takes up to 6 hours of me laying in bed)

I haven't found anything that works, but I haven't tried super hard. So, please keep the suggestions in the thread coming.

[/ QUOTE ]

Xanax 2hrs before bed. Followed by Ambien 1hr before bed.

Re: Falling asleep
 

this is going to sound nuts but I am a major insomniac and found that listening to this CD called deep sleep w/subliminal messages [no joke] (www.brainsynch.com) helps a lot

Re: Falling asleep
 

fall asleep/wake up at the same times everyday
remove tv/stereo, etc from your room, your bed should be for only two things.

Those are probably the biggest factors affecting people's sleep.

Exercise helps, not drinking coffee/caffeinated beverages late in the day if you have a sensitivity... I drink so much coffee that it doesn't affect my ability to fall asleep (I've had double espressos and then gotten into bed) but it does affect the QUALITY of my sleep. Also when I workout late, take a hot shower, and get right in bed, I am asleep within 15 minutes, and it's the best sleep ever.

Re: Falling asleep
 

[ QUOTE ]
It takes me an average of 90 minutes to fall asleep at night. (Some nights it takes up to 6 hours of me laying in bed)

[/ QUOTE ]
wtf? see a doctor ftw. that's bad...

Re: Falling asleep
 

[ QUOTE ]
It takes me an average of 90 minutes to fall asleep at night. (Some nights it takes up to 6 hours of me laying in bed)

I haven't found anything that works, but I haven't tried super hard. So, please keep the suggestions in the thread coming.

[/ QUOTE ]
I suffer from the same thing. I'd guess that on average, I'll have at least one night over a two month period where I'll be lucky to get 3 or 4 hours of sleep. It completely ruins my next day b/c I'm one of those people that needs at least 7 hours of sleep a night. I was prescribed Ambien once but I hated the way it made me feel the next day. Not much better than getting very little sleep imo. I've never gone to a sleep specialist though. Exercise does seem to help but it is definitely not a cure.

Re: Falling asleep
 

I usually put on a simpsons episode. I have been doing this forever and when they come on I can just fall asleep. So maybe get a few of your favorite movies or something and always fall alseep to them and you can get used to it.

Re: Falling asleep
 

Falling asleep is super-hard for me, always has been. Sleeping pills sometimes work, but I don't want the dependancy. Meditation has never worked - tried it. One problem I had was medically related. I have heart problems, so I would lie awake feeling my heartbeat - like it was popping out of my chest. Atenolol helped that. Even with that, my mind wanders and I can't sleep. When I exercised alot, that didn't help. Really, nothing has. The only time I can fall asleep with ease is when I'm hammered, but I don't want that to become a daily routine, so I guess I'm just screwed.

Re: Falling asleep
 

I take 1 mg of xanax most nights around 9pm. Sometimes just a half if I already feel somewhat tired. I work 12 hours a day in a very stressful job, so I need my 7-8 hours and I need it to be interrupted.

Without the xanax i'd probably toss and turn and lose a lot of sleep, making my waking life miserable.

Unlike ambien, you wake up feeling fine after a xanax. In fact you feel great. It really does the job.

I take them around 9pm every night and am usually yawning within a half hour. It generally takes me no more than 5-7 minute to fall asleep once I have put my head on the pillow.

Am I dependent? Yes, probably. But the alternative (not taking them and not getting enough sleep) seems considerably worse to me, and my doctor agrees.

Re: Falling asleep
 

Im lucky enough to never had problems sleeping. I probably have one night every 3 months where it takes me over half an hour to go to sleep. I'm usually asleep within 10 mins of hitting the pillow.

At the same time, I never have to get up for anything so I usually just go to bed when Im pretty tired.

The only times I have trouble sleeping is when I am thinking a lot about something...like a project Im involved in for example. As OP said, I find writing things down really helps...its like an assurance to myself that I dont have to continue thinking about it, because its written down and I know I'll be fully aware of it the next day.

Re: Falling asleep
 

What works for me is I replay a round of golf in my mind. I mean every shot from the first tee to the end. Of course, I might change the outcome, but it helps. Usually by the back nine I fooled myself enough that I fall asleep.

Re: Falling asleep
 

regulating my breathing generally works for me cause it slows the heartbeat - breathe in for 8 counts, hold 8, breathe out for 8, hold 8 etc.

for noise-related insomnia, i've trained myself to fall asleep to one particular album. pretty handy when in transit!

Re: Falling asleep
 

I had this problem yesterday night, I have had summer holiday for some months now and never really had to get early out of bed. Today I had to get out at 6 and the days before I was really nervous and tried to make a schedule for myself(going to bed at 11) but it didnt work I mostly fell asleep at 00:30 etc even though I was lying in bed at 11. Yesterday night I was so stressed/tense that I didnt sleep till 3:00 and obv slept through my alarm clock.

Monday my school starts again and I basically have to start at 8:30 everyday. I am hoping for some tips [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

Re: Falling asleep
 

i often listen to my ipod to fall asleep

i got some random meditation thing from my real estate agent... soothing female voice talking about visualizing this and that

i'll also listen to npr podcasts... but this can be dangerous if it's interesting.... usually i fall asleep 1/2 way through fresh air and talk of the nation.... although science friday can keep me awake and this american life def. doesn't work

el d, yes, exercise is the most helpful

Re: Falling asleep
 

O'Dweeds mon!

Re: Falling asleep
 

like el d was alluding to, i feel exercising right before i go to sleep helps a lot...it's tiring and it has definitely helped me fall asleep..

Re: Falling asleep
 

i often have a very difficult time falling asleep. i occasionally experience what is apparently known as exploding head syndrome (its not as bad as it may sound). has anyone else experienced this?

Re: Falling asleep
 

[ QUOTE ]
One thing that definitely works is merely writing things down that I need to accomplish for the next day.

[/ QUOTE ]
This is a nice benefit of the GTD method of organization. Check out the book, "Getting Things Done" by David Allen. It's a pretty widely used technique and most EDFers probably already at least know of it. The main idea is to commit every single one of these thoughts about future events, reminders and commitments to paper using a system that will never fail you. When you can trust that everything is in the system and will be there when and where you need it, then your mind will not waste itself on thoughts that are already taken care of. I can attest that it is awesome.

Also, melatonin.