Ask Lemmy

I have a lot of them. Sleep and I are in an... enemies to lovers kind of relationship.

There's hate-fucking, is what I'm saying. I hate it so much and it's all I want.

Some of my advice might be bad advice due to my ADHD but I can't tell what might work for you so.

Also, I have left off a lot of stuff that I have done that is... not good. If you need harm reduction options, let me know.

1. I wear an eye-mask. The gentle, soft, cool (not cold!) pressure is a reminder to my brain that it's bed-time.

2. Don't eat too close to bed.

3. Make sure there's nothing uncomfortable (like a tag from the sheets) touching me.

4. Play a TV show I find comforting but that doesn't need my 100% attention, at a low enough volume that I can't quite hear it unless I'm very, very, very quiet. This helps make me some moving/jittering/jiggling. (I play Futurama. Can't get a nightmare from Futurama.)

5. I take l-theanine. It's supposed to make people "alert" and "calm" but my doctor recommended it to me and it's sedating effect is so strong it significantly drops my blood pressure. (Very useful if I have to take stimulant medication.)

6. Which leads to I take prescription medication. It doesn't quite do it, and is hit-or-miss, hence the list.

1. Daily Exercise
2. Concept Album musics

Don't try to fall asleep.

The effort is what's keeping you awake. Sleep when you feel tired.

If you don't feel tired at night, then you may not be doing enough mental or physically engaging activities during the day.

Still awake op?

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.

History documentaries with good narrator and minimal loud music

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.

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

Consistent daily exercise

Apps that generate soft sounds of rain or waves.

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.

https://www.realsimple.com/military-sleep-method-7552781

I used to struggle with sleep. It turned out I’m bipolar. Thankfully, it mellows with age and I learned how to manage it. I was probably ~23 when I got diagnosed. Just sharing because it’s useful to know that sometimes there’s a very specific reason why sleep seems elusive.

You can get sleeping pills for such a situation. I also use melatonin gummies. You can get CBD gummies in a lot of places. Meditation might help.

The most important aspect of sleep management for me is keeping a solid routine. I go to bed at the same time every night and get up early even on my days off. Breaking that routine leads to issues, resuming the routine solves them quickly.

Two things that helped me in the past year:

• Avoiding caffeine after 10:00AM or so. I cut coffee completely, but I noticed positive effects by just drinking all caffeine before ~10:00AM.
• Sleep mask helped me a ton. Turns out we are super sensitive to the most minute amount of light.
• At least for me, not eating past ~6:00PM makes falling asleep way easier.
• Regular exercise (of any kind) allows you to fall sleep easier. Probably has to do with regulating hormones/biological subsystems.
• NO PHONE on bed. Bed is only for sleep and sex. In my opinion anyway.

Hope this helps!

That's a great question to not have a good answer to. I've been smoking weed and drinking vodka cause I'm bored and will inevitably pass out eventually but that's not good advice

As some others have mentioned, regular workout will help a lot. Another thing you can do is cardio for 10 minutes before sleep and ending with a few minutes stretch to tire and loosen up your body. Also try to sleep at the same time daily. Your circadian rhythm will aid you too.

I turn the brightness on my phone as low as it goes, turn on night shift to get rid of blues, and read (white text on black background / dark mode).

Don’t read in continuous scroll; find a way to turn the page with minimum animation.

Read something you don’t find so compelling as to keep turning pages but enough that you’re happy to read.

I find history books most successful at the moment since there is often no desire by the author to build tension, suspense, etc that keeps you alert.

Following the breath works for me regularly. Meditation makes me sleep.

Hammer or perhaps large frying pan

A lil weed before bed has been a game changer for me

Drink for 48 hours straight.

New years was fucking way to much this year.

Close your eyes. It's impossible to stay awake with your eyes closed. True fact. They're hardwaired right to your brain eventually your brain is like "aight, I'ma head out."

Achieve alot during the day