Are you just always tired? Do you have some kind of bedtime ritual? Have you had issues sleeping in the past and how did you handle that?
Easy, I wake up three hours later and toss and turn or give up and read.
It doesn’t work every time (I am very much not someone that can just switch off), but I have found “floor time” to help as a method of meditating. Initially I was just doing stretches of time for the sake of countering being slumped posture all day without a specific intention of being a sleep aid. Some of us randomly do it on the cold floor at work if physically stressed out, which is why I thought to try it at home in the dark.
Tend to either have some long form video play that I have watched before and find nice for sound, or put buds in and set like a 20~30min sleep timer for podcast episodes I like and marked to never delete in a favorites section of the app. Ended up also finding some buds (Soundcore Sleep A10 for anyone that wants to know) that can auto-stop playback if they detect sleep (guessing they use like a heart-rate sensor). So they can act as an additional stop if I fall asleep before the actual sleep timer (sadly I have misplaced them ATM). Which help silence my own thoughts, and anchor onto the audio (and thoughts get kept to the video/podcast). And use the timer to formerly end the “floor time” or to avoid losing my place.
Only other thing I try to allow myself to drift into thinking about is if I feel like I have tensed-up or periodic moving my head to each side for a few mins each to stretch my neck. I just stare into the back of my eyelids, but sometimes the darkness of the room (or into something covering my eyes) for times that staring into the back of my eyelids feels weirdly stressful in the same way a staring contest does when open (very annoying feeling).
I have a high level (in my understanding) of Aphantasia, which for people that haven’t heard of it, is not being able to “see” imaginations like folks that talk about “imagine a ball of light” or other guided things. Not fully lacking complete ability to “see” things, but ranging from only the idea (nothing) to extremely quick flashes of mostly super low details. So I try to learn how to focus on keeping the flashes a little longer and “see” simple things or pull the image of the room as I would be seeing it from my spot on the floor if my eyes were open. Made some progress here and there, while still not being able to do it outside of these times. Which I think might be helping me start to nod-off into really light sleep where dreams are close to starting.
Which can slip into that weird sudden falling feeling people have sometimes before fully falling asleep. However even if that happens, I can use that as a stopping point for “floor time” and move into the bed and fall asleep soon after. As my mind/body are much closer to whatever state needed for going over the edge of sleep. If the “falling” thing doesn’t happen, I might reach a slightly deeper sleep where I am dreaming but can either still hear the show/podcast in the dream or it is influencing the dream to some in the short time I nod-off.
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Had insomia in highschool. Didn’t know what it was but taught myself guided meditation to overcome it.
For me, it was usually a song being stuck in my head. I would see myself floating up and away from the earth amd into space where the void was silent.
I also learned to pay attention to the mental “feel” I had while driftong off to sleep and pictured myself sinking into sleep like a submarine beneath the waves.
I know these aren’t super helpful descriptions because if I could really verbalise and teach it I would be doing that for a living.
The times I fall asleep quickest are days where I’ve been out in the sun. Doesn’t matter if it’s intense yard work, or relaxing on an inner tube, the sun takes it out of me and I don’t even want to open my phone before bed.
ADHD…two minutes tops. Could even gulp down a litre of energy drinks or coffee right before. And I even have to force myself real hard to go to bed at around 3-4am. Otherwise I would just stay awake in my hobbies another day 😁
Pot.
Waking up early everyday, and getting stoney mcstone stoned about an hour before bed each night. Fucking bliss.
For me, most importantly I lay in bed with my eyes closed those are the two big prerequisites to sleep. If you’re getting out of bed or keeping your eyes open to use your phone or whatever, of course you’re not gonna get to sleep.
From there, what I do doesn’t matter much. I think about stuff, make up a story, just imagine a bunch of swirly lights and patterns, doesn’t much matter. Keep your eyes closed and eventually sleep happens.
ASMR. Every night. I’m out in 30 minutes or less. Praise be to Lucy Harper of the YouTube channel Creative Calm. Her videos have been helping me (and I’m sure many others) sleep for over a decade
I’m an introverted person who finds people exhausting, and I’m around people all day long. I hit some kind of point of extreme burnout about three years ago and things never let up, so I’m functional pretty much all the time but if I get any peace and quiet for more than about 30 seconds I just pass out indefinitely until someone wakes me up again lol.
CBTI is the answer to everyone’s inability to sleep. Cognitive behavioral therapy (Insomnia) it’s worth looking up and learning about, if you can’t get there alone it’s worth finding a CBTI therapist if sleep is that problematic
I’m happy it (presumably) worked for you, but be mindful that some people don’t benefit from CBT, either due to it being ineffective or suffering from other issues. I’ve been to several courses, and it’s interesting how it spins your understanding of sleep on its head. It’s also crazy how fast new things get introduced in the years I’ve taken it.
I wish I could vouch for how effective it is on ‘falling asleep as soon as your head hits the pillow’. It seems others in group sessions find that it’s better/restful sleep, but not necessarily instant. But the people I’m usually grouped with have aggressive forms of insomnia.
Parenthood. You reach the point of pure exhaustion somewhere around 6 months. Depending on your child, it can last for years.
In my head i’m making a “movie”. I make the same “movie” pretty much for 30 years now. I didn’t got really far at all, i always start from the beginning and usually fall asleep bevore i reach the end of my already existing script. During the day or before i go to bed, i sometimes think about things that could happen in the “movie” later on, but i usually never make it that far. I often end up tweaking the beginning over and over until i fall asleep. It hardly ever takes me longer than 5 - 20min to fall asleep.
I kind of do that too, only I don’t start from the start each time. Mine’s just an ongoing thing that’s been going for years now.
I used to take at least an hour to fall asleep. Then I had two kids. I can now fall asleep within a minute or two.
Worth it.
I have separated my living space into “zones” in my head. When I am awake, I am not allowed in the sleeping zone, aka my bed. By only being in my bed when I am going to sleep, I have trained my body that it is the “sleeping place.”
