… I just wanna sleep
I went to the doctor and told them I had insomnia. Got diagnosed with depression. So now I take Seroquel and sleep ok. My point is to get a doctor’s opinion to rule out a medical condition.
If I cant watch/listen to content I try to “render” a pov trip of like a rollercoaster or some sort of “on rails” vehicle going through some sort of landscape whether its a realistic cityscape, abstract and colorful shapes, a tunnel underground or though an ocean. I let my brain sorta just decide what it wants to do like if the landscape changes I dont try to go back to the previous one or try to “customize” it. Its a bit hard to explain what I mean without me sounding like im talking about my brain as a completely separate entity from myself but it really is like it has a mind of its own and im just letting it do its thing as long as the topic is “strictly” to generate a scene of going through a tube or riding a “pre determined” path. If it starts to get “bored” and even very slightly veer back into normal thoughts or something else I sorta quickly but gently nudge it into another scene or to increase the detail which is hard for maybe the first minute or two but with this method im asleep really quickly. At the start ill probably switch “scenes” a couple times a second.
It feels like im letting the brain sorta tire itself out with a method that can be described as gently guiding a boat downstream
Still awake op?
What I usually do is think about all the time today when I wanted to be left alone. To be uninterrupted. To just get five minutes to myself.
Because now, I have it. I have all the time in the world. I can do nothing. I can let my mind wander. No one will interrupt, no one will dump bullshit on me. Countless times today I just wanted a pause button for five minutes and now I have hours to just do nothing.
Then I wake up and realize “nope, all that time is now gone”. Can’t catch a fuckin break.
Focus on your breathing, and how the air feels in the back of your throat.
Repeat a mdeditative mantra in your head.
Do the thing where you tense up your whole. Ody and then slowly release it from the fingers and toes inwards. I think this is what US marines use to get to sleep in adverse conditions.
Play an audiobook on speaker quietly under your pillow. The more boring the story, the better. They have non-story podcasts just for this too.
When I close my eyes and see my demons, I engage them in a staring contest and fall contentedly asleep.
- Daily Exercise
- Concept Album musics
Consistent daily exercise
Apps that generate soft sounds of rain or waves.
Hammer or perhaps large frying pan
For me, what works is an ADHD medication along with not trying to fall asleep. Trying to fall asleep causes me something in the area of anxiety and guilt, so I end up frustrating myself awake. If I focus on a mindless task like scrolling through Lemmy or reading a book, I get engaged in that and end up accidentally falling asleep. The funny thing is that I have to keep doing my mindless task until I fall asleep, so many times, I wake up looking like I passed out in the middle of something with my glasses still on and my phone laying around. I’m actually curiously impressed that my glasses or phone haven’t broken yet.
I feel you bro/sis, except the glass part. I woke up over a phone or a laptop to discover what random things my body did. Once I was debugging a crashing function and waking up I saw the offending test passed. It took a while to discover that the ‘miracle’ was my asleep body deleting some other code somewhere in the callchain ;)
Look up Progressive muscle relaxation: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Progressive_muscle_relaxation
There are plenty of videos on YouTube, try a few and pick one you like.
Concentrating on breathing also helps.
Write about the things that worry you the most.
My (probably not very healthy) hack is to watch YouTube. My brain focuses on one thing and all the thoughts keeping me up just stay quiet.
If you have persistent sleep problems even after applying all the advice, if you can afford it, consider taking a sleep test/study to learn what’s the core issue
Sleeping is my super power - I fall asleep within two or three minutes every night. Here’s how I do it.
- No caffeine ever.
- Listen to the same white noise track every night while sleeping. Your brain will recognize that the track equals time to sleep.
- Go to bed at the same time every day, even on weekends.
- Don’t hang out in bed. The bed is only for sleeping or sex. No phone use in bed.
Not possible when you works different shifts
Howso? Like some nights you get off at 5pm and sometimes you’re working til 9?
Sometimes I work all night
That there is your problem. Circadian rhythm is a real thing.
Yup, ok, that’s like trying to sleep on extra super difficult mode. Follow all the advice you like on here, but definitely get yourself some sleep meds. A therapist can prescribe them for you, and they’re typically easier and cheaper to find/schedule than a regular doctor.
That’s unfortunate. Hopefully you can at least have a set schedule on most nights since you can’t do it every night.
difficult when you only have 1 room
Like a studio apartment? Maybe it would help to have a “daytime setup” for your bed where pillows and cushions make it more like a couch, and a “nighttime setup” where it’s made up to sleep.
more like, I live with my parents, but hey, thanks for the tip! I never thought about this, I’ll try it.
To add to this. If you can’t sleep after about 15-20 minutes get out of bed and do something to relax your brain. Reading or meditating works well. Definitely no phone or TV, don’t read anything captivating. Read something boring you aren’t into. After you feel ‘sleep pressure’ go back to bed.
Over time this helps your body associate the bed with just sleeping. But it takes time and dedication. Find a routine.
Also highly recommend always going to bed and getting up at the same time, even weekends.
