6mo ago

Do you have any tips or tricks to fall asleep?

... I just wanna sleep

134 comments

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?
- 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.
- 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.

Do you suffer from hot sleeping? I do. I sleep best with a big pile of blankets on me. I sleep with a weighted blanket among others. But that combined with a prediliction for hot sleeping, and I have trouble waking up in the night in a sweat.
I got so desperate, I actually almost bought one of those expensive cool water circulation systems. But then I realized a low tech solution. It takes a lot of heat to melt water. The amount of energy required to melt two liters of water is of the same magnitude as the amount of body heat given off by a human over the course of a night.
Specifically, I learned that those old timey rubber water bottles for bed use? They works just as well as cold packs as hot packs. So I got a few of those and tried it. And it's helped immensely at improving my sleep.
I have two cheap Amazon special rubber water bottles with felt covers on them. I keep them in the freezer. Each night I grab the bottles, which freeze solid through the day. I simply sleep with them under the covers, and it immensely improved my sleep. The felt covers on the bottle act as insulators to ameliorate the temperature of the bottles. You can sleep with one against you and it just feels mildly cooling. It doesn't feel like sleeping on a block of ice.
I would say this method is about 90% as effective as one of those expensive bed water cooling systems. I researched those, and they cost $500 and up. Plus they required regular maintenance and had all sorts of problems with leaks and mold. This? This system cost me about $20 and requires no more work than taking something in and out of the freezer.
If you have problems with hot sleeping, try the stupid solution first. Buy some big rubber water bottles and freeze them, or try other cold pack solutions or similar total heat capacity.
- Doesn't this leave you with wet patches in your bed though?
  
  I think the bottles are sealed.
  
  It doesn't leave wet patches. If you used the bottle without the cover, it would. But the cover makes it so that heat energy only slowly leaches into it. In other words, the surface of the covered bottle is probably around 60F/16C. And the surface is fluffy, not smooth.
- timey rubber water bottles for bed use
  So in the UK we just call these "hot water bottles"
  Which I'm just now really thinking about as a term and on reflection it's a pretty rubbish name for them
  
  It's doubtless an artifact of history. Rubber water bottles like that go way back. Before the days of electric blankets, space heaters, boiler heating, gas furnaces, etc, heating was often provided by wood- or coal-burning stoves. With a rubber bladder like that, you could boil some water on the stove and take it to bed with you. If all you have is a fire to keep you warm, it's hard to use that fire to directly heat your bed. For someone sleeping in a cold bedroom in an old drafty house, a hot water bottle and a pile of blankets was how you often got through the cold winter nights. And stoneware versions of the same concept go back at least half a millennium.
  But ice available in the home? Some homes in the late 19th century and earlier sometimes had ice boxes - literally just insulated boxes that you could put ice in to keep food cold. The ice had to be cut off of frozen lakes in the winter and stored in big insulated ice houses for the rest of the year. But such ice would be too expensive and precious to fill a water bottle with. Maybe someone really wealthy could afford to do that. Maybe you could do it if someone was severely ill and needed a fever cooled. But pre-WW2, even if you had access to ice, it was too precious for most people to be able to justify using it just as a sleep aid.
  To make something like this practical, you really need a modern freezer. Even in the days of ice boxes, you wouldn't be able to pull something like this off unless you were willing to use up two liters of expensive bought ice every night. That's just not something most people could afford.
  The first domestic freezers as we know them now didn't appear until the 1940s. And it took decades for them to become ubiquitous in the homes of people in wealthy countries. It's only in the last 50 years or so that you could just assume a random person in a developed country has access to a freezer. And there are certainly still people who don't have such access.
  So yeah, we've had hot water bottles for many centuries, but the concept of a cold bottle or cold pack is only something that's been feasible for less than a single human lifetime. We were doubtlessly calling these things "hot water bottles" generations before the freezer was invented. It turns out they can also be used as ice packs, but the name was already established.
- Thank you. Just ordered one and I’m very excited to try this. I’ve been researching the cooling loops but they seem impractical and too expensive..
  
  Feel free to reply to this after you give it a try. It worked for me, but I'm curious if it works for anyone else.

Work out. It helps reduce stress and just makes you more tired

If you're the kind of person to keep yourself busy all day, then when you're trying to go to sleep might be the first time all day you've allowed your mind to wander! You need to find some other time in the day to allow yourself to daydream. Some tips are to not read anything while in the bathroom or turn the radio off in your car if you have a commute. Maybe even schedule some time to sit and think about things if you can.
Only use your bed for sleep and sex. Reading, eating, browsing on your phone, watching TV, or any other activity should be done elsewhere. This way you train yourself that it's sleeptime when you're in bed.
This is probably something that can't be done if you have a rotating shift, but go to sleep on a regular schedule. Go to sleep at the same time every day. Staying up late should a rare occurrence. Your body will become tired at the same time each day and it's much easier to fall asleep when you keep a schedule.
- but how do i summon wondering at my own volition when i want it to instead of descending upon us when i'm trying to focus

Cheap version: listen to the sounds of your breathing. Relax all your muscles from head to toe, then just try and isolate the sounds of air coming and going as you breathe. Focus on it long enough and hopefully you pass out.
Expensive version: https://www.moonbird.life/products/moonbird - set it for 4 seconds in, 6 seconds out and just bring it under the covers and get cozy.
- Your cheap version is my top recommendation. Basically, learn to practice mindfulness and use that when you go to bed. Focus on your body sinking into the bed, feeling cozy.
- This is similar to the meditation technique of anapanasati (mindfulness of the breath). I couple that with repeating in my head “rising” on inhale, “falling” on exhale and focusing on the tickling sensation on the tip of your nose with each breath. Next thing I know I’m waking up in the morning.

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.

People have said to relax your face and jaw. Take it a step further and relax your tongue from the roof of your mouth. It sounds silly, but I found it works for me.
That was a tip from the other site I saw years ago, and now if I'm tired and have 15 minutes I can usually grab a power nap by keeping this in mind.
- This sounds very much like what I read about how pilots on the front line rest. They would spend a lot of time in the air, and anytime there was downtime you took it. Some kind of research went into it and they came up with an entire process that would involve relaxing your body from head to toe, and then visualizing yourself somewhere else, like a boat in a lake or relaxing on a hillside. If you fail, you do the whole thing over. With enough training your mind becomes very adaptive and you can fall asleep faster and in highly disruptive environments. I believe it also had roots in meditation, where the more you do it the easier it gets.
  
  I have never tried meditation intentionally, but I've probably reached a similar state through relaxation. You've piqued my curiosity so I'll look into it, thank you

Sleeping hygiene is a good point. No phone in bed.
But also try to make it cozy
Have a nice duvet cover, I like cotton. No synthetics. Change it more often.
Temperature in your bed room should be lower, open your window before going to bed.
Have good curtains. But not too dark. Whenever I have a window shutter and I close it completely, I just don’t wake up and sleep over 8-10 h.
Here are my things I do when I can’t sleep
If my feed are cold, wear socks, or cloth but don’t heat the room too much.
Try to sleep in a different room (if you can). When I am just too active I move to my sofa for a change. It really helps me.
Important question. Are you alone or is someone next to you. If your sleeping schedule or preferences don’t mix with your partners, try separate beds. Cuddling sounds cute until you cannot sleep because of a snoring person next to you. And don’t be angry when your partner prefers to be separate.
- I follow all those ideas except the couch. When I can't sleep I change the scene, I sit in my bed and start reading. Eventually I'm sleepy enough to lie down again.
  If I can't sleep again I go back to reading. This is just to not associate lying down in bed and not sleeping. Reading in another room is probably best though.

I’m gonna chime in here. My wife asks me this a lot because she too has trouble going to and staying asleep. I however have some kind of sleep superpower. I can be asleep within 2 minutes after going horizontal.
I’ve always done this: start building a scene in your head. Any scene. Action, nature, whatever. Now picture yourself there in first person. Focus on the details. Make sure the trees have leaves. The pavement has lines and cracks and texture. Imagine feeling the wind on your body. From grass to cars to sky paint as detailed a picture as you can. Begin to form a story. Walk around and interact with things, people, animals. Maybe you have a storyline. As a boy I had an action sequence I would play out every night. Cuz you know. Boys. But as I got older those turned into hikes in fun places. Or keeping company with my current crush. Or a fun road trip…You get the idea.
I promise not long after you begin you will naturally begin to drift off. At least this is what has always come naturally to me.
Good luck and sweet dreams!!!
- This is going to be really hard for those of us who are aphantasic.
  
  I’d never heard of this. So do you dream at all?

First your bed is for sleep and sexy times and nothing else. That way your body is conditioned to go to bed whenever you lay down. Doing other actions in your bed reduces this impulse.
Second, monitor your stimulant usage which includes tea, soda or coffee. Caffeine impacts your sleep more than many realize.
Finally stop lolking at screens an hour or so before bed.
- If you want to jumpstart a sleep hygiene routine, complete physical exhaustion will help.
- The bed thing is not possible since it's the only private place I have in this house and even that my room is shared with my uncle that sleeps in other bed at the other side of the room.

wear yourself out during the day. easier to fall asleep if you're exhausted

If you have the "eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee" like me, get a fan.

For me I need some background noise. Something to keep my mind from wandering.
I used to have a playlist of more relaxing songs I'd listen to when trying to fall asleep. But lately I honestly just put on a youtube video I've seen before. In particular videos where it's mostly just someone talking about something. Being the computer nerd I am vwestlife of cathode ray dude are my go tos
- I fall asleep basically every night to a video essay on YouTube. Special thanks to Fern, Lemmino, and Tilted.
  
  I do this in recent times, but I have to be honest, it's clearly less helpful and worse than the old days when I fell asleep to a book. And even now when I try substituting a paper book in for audio or video content I fall asleep faster.
  So I guess that's a tip? Paper over audio over video?

Don't use blue lights. That includes most lights. Use red or orange lights after dark. Blue light wakes you up. (I mean do this in addition to some of the other suggestions.)

Relax all the muscles in your face.
- Specifically the jaw.
  I found that I was unconsciously clenching my jaw and would lie awake for hours. Once I started consciously unclenching I would fall asleep really quickly.

Minecraft Sweden on loop at low volume
- Legendary track. Everything from the original C418 Minecraft is so soothing.
  
  Ironic, Stal is what I use for my alarm.

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL0VMUYmhGI3Oqfb0V7X5R2EXoFkrJXOIj&si=SxhUM_qhNuCNd97s
Scientifically composed to put you to sleep. I’ve been listening to it for a few weeks now both with headphones and with the phone on the pillow.
- NGL that type of music gives me more anxiety
  
  I was curious too.
  After listening to a bit of the first and then randomly a few seconds of a few more songs, I agree. I don't like my night time music to build up or go from calm to a sudden full orchestra.
  That being said, I did find one I liked, called Ricter:Aria (pt1).
  https://youtu.be/0_6jmOmDUes?si=pMBVlb75bMMCEpVP
  Personally I have a playlists of music that works for me. Some nights it helps, others I end up shutting it off. Everyone's different.
  Beside music, there's a lot of other external factors that could be affecting your sleep (ignoring internal factors, see a therapists or something for those).
  Your pillow. is it flat and time to replace or too new and puffy). You might be able to toss it in the dryer on low for 10 mins to get some oomf back, that or it will explode.
  bed. too firm, too soft, too old, sometimes flipping the mattress 180 so head side is now the foot side helps.
  blanket. are you too cold without, too hot with?
  PJs, are they too heavy, scratchy material?
  room temp/humidity. Is the room comfortable, is there good air flow?
  light, is it too dark, too bright?
  does that goofy branch outside the window look a person?

I listen to video game retrospectives. I don't game anymore but these guys yapping on and on about morrow wind or whatever for 3 hours puts me to sleep immediately. I never played these games which is why I choose them. If I choose games I'm familiar with I'll watch it instead of zoning out.
Check out down the rabbit hole's 6 hour video about Eve for pure audio Xanax.

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

Imagine a place where you are most cozy and visit it every night when you try to sleep. And then maybe sound machines. And finally, deep breathing. Slowing your heart down through this will physically make your body want to go to sleep (so basically meditiation).
I do all of these in tandem, I have the sound machine going and I settle into my cozy part of my brain and then imagine my lungs as a cup filling up with water to the top while inhaling and then draining out as I exhale. The trick with this is to not stress yourself thinking about if you're doing your breathing right, just try and relax and focus.
Also melatonin. But that isn't effective for every situation.
Good luck.

No.
By which I mean... I've tried many tips/tricks and none have consistently worked.

I was searching for the same thing recently, and found someone who suggested choosing a category, e.g. city names, and going through the alphabet thinking of one for each letter. I find it works pretty well to sort of occupy my mind and help me drift off.
- This, but I personally find it important to emphasize that you should incorporate slow methodical breathing (box breathing). On the inhale, I focus on the next letter (just the letter, e.g.: "A"). Then on the exhale, I think of the thing (e.g.: "Artichoke").
  If I can't think of anything I try again on the same letter a few times and eventually skip if I can't. I'm trying to sleep, not stress myself out 😅
  Seriously though, this is a fantastic method if you struggle with racing thoughts at night.

Write about the things that worry you the most.

When I had trouble sleeping, I would have even more trouble sleeping because I was upset I wasn’t sleeping. Then I read somewhere that just lying there with your eyes closed and not moving was like 80-90% as effective as actual sleep.
I didn’t bother to check if that was true, but it did allow me to let go of worrying whether I was sleeping. And that allowed me to actually fall asleep.

Body Scan meditation exercise. https://youtu.be/BlWo7sqWLNk here is an example

Stop thinking about falling asleep. With your inner voice tell yourself you're going to stay up all night. Close your eyes, relax, lie still, and tell yourself that you're going to stay up all night; you'll pass out after a while.
Also invest in a high quality white noise generator or weighted blanket.

I am a chronic insomniac. At my worst I can average less than 90 minutes of sleep in a 24 hour period, which is actually very dangerous. Before bed I eat some bland protein (plain super firm tofu and a handful of almonds), never carbs, and I microdose either Indica or if that is not available, Indica based Delta 8. Microdose is the key word here. I take two deep puffs and that's it. Enough for a little head buzz but not enough to get high. Bundle up, close my eyes, and most of the time fall asleep for a solid 4-6 hours.

Obviously it's person-dependent. I find what helps me most is turning on audio to something I actually want to listen to. That gets my mind off going to sleep. And I fall asleep instead of listening to the things I want to hear. So I've got a bunch of audiobooks from Audible. I've recently cancelled that, however. I've got so many, and plan to use the phone app Libby in conjunction with my local library. Also, I subscribe to a bunch of podcasts.
When I lie down I just set the timer to 30m or "end of chapter", and I rarely have to extend that.

When I close my eyes and see my demons, I engage them in a staring contest and fall contentedly asleep.

Yellow zzzquil. The regular one works too but the yellow one is better.

Don't use your phone at night. If you absolutely have to, enable adaptive warm light (if there's such a feature on your phone), which gradually turns the white balance to warm in the evening. This is because staring at the screen will send the signals to your brain to wake up, especially the blue-ish spectrum of light, plus whatever content you're engaging with (news, social media, texts from friends) will make your mind occupied.
But again, best is to not use your phone at all.
Read a book. Pick a topic you're interested in, buy a book and just read before you sleep. Yes, I see the contradiction - an interesting book will make your mind occupied too. Yet I find that a book relaxes me in my own world, while on your phone you'll meet many different topics, lots of quick stimuli, maybe that's why. I don't know.
These strategies work for me.

Breathing exercises to steady your heart rate
Meditation to clear your mind
Ultimately, becoming wholly present so that your mind is at rest. A clear mind and consciousness will wrap you in a comforting blanket and sweep you off to Dreamland!

cuddle with big dog

Breathing exercises, actuating that vagal nerve

For those who like sounds while sleeping, I heartily recommend mynoise.net. It has amazing soundscapes... static noises, rainforest wildlife, medieval library, starship bridge... It is excellent for sleeping, adding some background noise, or enhancing the atmosphere of a DND session.
- I use them as well except in their app, works brilliantly

Drugs hard core prescription sleeping pills. I'm sorry but if you're as desperate as I was and have tried everything then hard sleeping drugs typically with a benzodiazapine in it

You know.. ( ͡~ ͜ʖ ͡°)
- Not really
  
  I think this person means masturbation. Which doesn't work, there is far, far better advice here than waxing the dolphin.

Antiques Roadshow.

As someone who is disabled my go too is a nice comfortable bed, my service dog by me, a weighted blanket which never new how amazing it helps my sleep. And my CPAP machine.
These help me sleep, oh also I have sleep as android help me track my sleeping patterns and play thunderstorms every night to drown out everything around me so my brain can relax

I have been practicing the 99 count down of breath. Each breath count down.
Slow down your breathing as you count. Your thoughts will drift off and that’s good, but come back to it as soon as you realize you stopped counting. I rarely get past 50. The more you practice the better you will get at it, as sleep likes routine.

I agree with what other people have said plus:
The bed should only be used for sleeping, when you wake up get out of bed and don't go back. Don't use your laptop or phone in bed, if you still have a tv - don't watch it in bed.
This helps set the situational subconscious expectation that the bed is for sleeping.
- People ignore this. Actually do it.
  No phone or books in bed.

Turn on some video without commercials and something at a more or less constant volume, like Ancient Aliens or How It's Made. Set the sleep timer for 30 min. Turn the screen off if your TV supports it. Set the volume low/moderate. Get comfortable in bed in your favorite position, close your eyes, and listen to the video. I usually don't ever hear the sleep timer turn it off.
- I did this back when I had insomnia. It worked great. I would usually do it while some movie that I am very familiar with was playing, even if it had a lot of sound variation. For me, that involved a lot of Jaws and Alien movies.
  
  YMMV but when I've listened to videos with action and peril, the sudden shouting/explosions/whatever would wake me up.
  If you have ad-free YouTube, James May The Reassembler, Astrum, and John Michael Godier are excellent to fall asleep to.

I like to think of nostalgic memories.

I had sleep issues for years, almost failed high school because of it and then I was late to my own graduation. Now I have a routine that serves me well: Wake up and go to sleep at the same time every day, no caffeine, no sugar at night, nightlight on my monitors at night, listen to boring audiobooks with a sleep timer, don't lay in bed watching TV.

5mg melatonin and 200mg L-Theanine works for me. I order from Thorne. I believe they are reputable.
- According to my SO's sleep doctor, most people don't need that high of a dose. He recommends 1mg.

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.

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Exercise will control your circadian rhythm, set your metabolism on a more consistent routine, and help you sleep better. Endurance based exercises are best; cycling, swimming, running, rowing, etc. You need 1 hour every 3 days at a minimum in my experience. Don't think in terms of a week, just do it somewhere between daily and every 3 days no matter what. Even someone like me that has major chronic health problems from a broken neck and back manages to pull off this one. In fact, I fall apart and turn into a sleepless zombie if I fail to maintain my exercise routine. I'm likely one of the most sleep deprived people here. This works when nothing else does or is possible.

If you have trouble sleeping in general, it might be a bad habits thing. Melatonin supplements can help to get you tired. 1mg before you go to bed is enough, if you try to relax and sleep. They don't do anything if you do stuff that keeps you awake however.
This particularly anything exciting like sports, listening to energetic music, watching tense movies, playing fast or demanding games etc. Avoid any such thing for at least two hours before you try to sleep.

Exercise

I've found that I have to keep my hands off my body, the stimulation of being touched keeps me alert.

134 comments