Falling asleep

[Chaostracize]

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.

[splashpot]

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.

[TheWorstPlayer]

Kick her out of bed

[AMT]

1) rub one out
2) read
3) drugs

in no particular order

[SlowHabit]

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

[Chaostracize]

[ 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.

[Chaostracize]

[ 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.

[AceLuby]

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.

[KingDan]

[ 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.

[quirkasaurus]

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. :-)