Ask Lemmy

dont move at all. get comfy, then stop moving. dont even scratch a slight itch

Sleep got a lot better for me when I followed medical advice and avoided my bed for anything but sleep (and the other thing, lol). Your brain needs to not associate your bed with work, school, video games, etc., so it can work as a trigger. Ever since I did that, I sleep within minutes of laying down.

Laying down and watching an old black and white movie puts me out quick. I've been watching the old Universal monster movies this month and it has been a struggle lol. Also started taking melatonin and that helps me sleep too. If I can't sleep due to stress/anxiety I imagine I'm dying and that seems to work.

/c/futuramasleepers

I like a podcast called Fall of Civilizations. It's very calming, quiet accounts of dark periods in history. Despite the juxtaposition, it's very chill and relaxing.

Do relaxing activities before bed.

Nothing. I’m cursed. I will lie awake until 2am at times. I’ll wake up at 3 am and not fall back asleep until 6.

I haven't seen exercise mentioned nearly enough in this thread. Doing an hour of yoga before bed makes sleep soo much easier.

Jack off first

My go to is counting backwards from 100. I typically time the counting with my breathing, and I try to slow my breathing. Most nights I’m usually out by the time I hit 80. If you find your mind wandering, try to bring your thoughts back to your Breathing. I started doing this after I had been meditating for a while, so it felt fairly natural. If you’re new to meditation, do some basic meditation training to get the idea. Most meditation trainings start with learning how to focus on your breathing.

Don’t drink coffee or tea past 4:00PM

Warhammer 40K lore.

No phone, No light, no noise, slightly cold temperature, read a book, have vigorous sex.

Alternatively some strains of weed also work allegedly.

How To Trick Your Brain Into Falling Asleep | Jim Donovan | TEDxYoungstown https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5dE25ANU0k

Meditation works really well for me.

It's really simple: you stfu and listen.

Turn off the narrative, the inner monologue, the train of thought. You probably can't shut it down completely - that's okay, just let it go each time you notice it.

Meanwhile, the back of your mind is constantly generating chatter. Passively eavesdrop on that chatter. You won't be able to make much of it out, it's mumbling and disconnected scraps, like someone else's conversation across a cafe. That's okay. Just kind of tune in; if you get stuff, you get stuff.

Being still enough to listen relaxes your body, and the listening-state and the space you create for it soon fills up with dream-gibberish - and that segues smoothly into actually dreaming.

Jerkoff without porn

I'm able to sleep almost immediately basically wherever I lay my head, so I've never really had any problems sleeping. However the most important change I've ever made for sleep quality was how I consume caffeine. Yes, I believe you can fall asleep while totally wired, I can too. The problem is that the sleep quality will be terrible and definitely can contribute to insomnia.

So first, the FDA nailed the appropriate amount of caffeine in a day. Don't consume more than 400mg in a day, and keep track. Too much caffeine with overstimulate you and will contribute to any feelings of anxiety while awake or trying to sleep.

Second, stop consuming caffeine several hours before bed. The biological half life of caffeine is between 6-8 hours, so if you have 400mg at 2pm, you'll still have roughly 200mg in your system at 10pm. That's where your sleep quality will get impacted. My personal rule is that I should space out my consumption over the morning, and stop having any caffeine at all in the afternoon.

No screens for two hours before bedtime.

Read a book or listen to music.

Melatonin works for me.

Hot shower.

• Only lay in bed for sex and sleep, nothing else.
• Make sure your screens are off or have an orange filter for nighttime.
• Toke it up, if you want and it's legal, about 20 minutes before bed.
• Go to bed around the same time each night.
• and the most important... INVEST IN A GOOD MATTRESS!

Not affiliated at all, just a customer, but AmeriSleep beds have been the best beds I've ever laid in! They have just enough give in firmness to avoid hip pain while sleeping on my side, but support those pressure points evenly with your spine.

Progressive relaxation. Seriously.

In addition to all the above, I found a weighed blanket really helped me. Make sure your room is very dark, pitch black. If it is not, upgrade your blinds or a sleep mask. I got one that's simple and cotton and it works wonders.

Now its winter I also have a heated blanket.

I heard the US military swears by a bodyscan meditation exercise. That works for me, or at the very least calms me way down. Sometimes I'll try and take a short walk through the night, because I love it, but thinking about leaving the bed an getting ready for outside makes me very sleepy :) . Good luck falling asleep, unwanted awakeness is super boring and gets old really quick.

Take 1 g of niacin and 1 mg of melatonin right before bed.

Exercise. If you aren’t physically tired you’ll have a hard time falling asleep. Most people with physical jobs have no problem sleeping.

Working out helps a bunch.

Medication:

Diphenhydramine 50mg.

Then diphenhydramine + Melatonin (20mg) (if I want to be dead asleep but will be groggy in the morning. Only used as last resort).

Breathe in to a count of 4, hold to a count of 7, then exhale to a count of 8. Do it until you fall asleep.

** The added benefit of this method is you're also cleaning out the stagnant air from the bottom of your rib cage/lungs (from smoking, pollution, etc).

• Partial tip: There's often the suggestion of concentrating on breathing, usually with some kind of regular pattern. This is an alternative to try.

You'll need to have been in bed for a while, mind racing. Take how extreme that racing is and then taking a similarly extreme, almost uncomfortably deep breath to match it. This requires having been in bed for a while.

Hold it for a bit. Don't count seconds - avoid numbers. As soon as you get the vaguest hint from your body that you need to let it out and breathe normally again, do so. Try to relax as much of yourself as possible as you do that. This is not a "hold your breath till you pass out" thing. You want to go back to breathing normally.

If the breath was too deep and that freaked you out a bit, try going a bit more shallow on the next one.

This has sometimes worked for me, especially if I've been asleep already and can't get back to sleep.

Sometimes I've tried a regular breathing exercise after that.

Other times I have got out of bed and done something mindless for a while until I felt tired again. No doomscrolling.

• More traditional tip: No caffeinated beverages for at least 6 hours before you go to bed. Yes, six. Nine's even better.