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?

  • Dessalines@lemmy.ml
    7·
    7 days ago

    Some things that help me at least:

    • Only use bed for sleeping.
    • Don’t use screens at least an hour before bed.
    • Keep phone out of arms reach when in bed. Ideally in another room (these devices weigh heavy on our psychology, and the further they are from us, the less distracting they are).
    • Leave blinds open at night so you wake up with the sun. Try to sync your body / circadian rhythm with your environment if possible.
    • Get lots of walks and outside time during the day. If you have a lot of energy, work out more during the day.
    • No coffee / intoxicants in the evening.
    • Drink lots of water.
    • Don’t try to fix your sleep problems at night. Most of your remedies should be getting on the right foot the next day, and making habits of those.
  • RBWells@lemmy.world
    4·
    7 days ago

    My husband can do that, and honestly I think it’s because he doesn’t sleep deeply enough, and gets up too early. So exhaustion works.

    I fall asleep in a reasonable amount of time (satisfied with it) and exercise is the main thing I can tell helps me. Next most important I wait until I am actually sleepy before trying to sleep. Smaller factors but still helpful - progesterone (post menopause) before bed, putting down the phone an hour before bed, and a routine - I take a shower & do skincare.

  • hydrashok@sh.itjust.works
    46·
    9 days ago

    Train yourself. Pavlov’s sleep. Every time you go to bed, watch/listen to the same thing. Eventually, your brain associate the thing with “time to sleep”. That’s how it works for me, anyway. I turn on the same movie and pass out in minutes. Don’t do it with one of your favorites, though.

    And also, don’t do things like lay in bed watching TV or messing with your phone all the time. You want the bed to be mostly mentally associated with sleep

    • Piege@lemmy.world
      7·
      8 days ago

      Fun story, i used to do a lot of fly-in/out for a mine close to the artic circle which involved getting stuck on loud propeller planes for hours.

      At some point, I realised that I could fall asleep before take-off but rarely during. Unintentionnally, I trained myself to fall asleep before takeoff.

      Now, I just fall asleep before takeoff in any plane which makes my wife mad when she is excited to travel somewhere and I just doze off …

    • TheReanuKeeves@lemmy.worldOP
      6·
      9 days ago

      I usually fall asleep to random youtube iceberg videos. Never thought about doing the same piece of media every night. My initial thought is that I’ll get bored of it after x amount of sleeps and then my mind starts wandering into my anxious thoughts. I’ll give it a shot though

      • hydrashok@sh.itjust.works
        5·
        9 days ago

        Maybe finds a few you like and make a playlist, then just watch those specific ones? Something that you can mentally focus on when in bed with your eyes closed, but also something that’s not competing to hold your visual attention as well as no giant volume swings for your audio attention. Don’t want to fall asleep to quiet dialog only to be woken by the shootout in the next scene, or fall asleep to a mellow ballad and awoken by a rock track, for example.

        Edited to add: around getting bored with it— I have changed what I listen or watch every few years, but it’s a very slow ramp up of new and ramp down of old. Something your brain recognizes and likes, but isn’t trying to stay awake to read the next page or see the next episode or upcoming challenge or whatever.

        • TheReanuKeeves@lemmy.worldOP
          3·
          9 days ago

          I think at the core, I am applying the same idea or concept of getting into a routine but i don’t focus too much on the words they’re saying as much as the tone or cadence of speech. Honestly now that I think of it, it feels like falling asleep in a lecture lol. Like it doesn’t matter who’s talking or maybe even what they are talking about, as long as they keep droning on monotonously

    • BeUnique@lemmy.zip
      3·
      8 days ago

      I did this with the original Twilight Zone episodes! As soon as I hear that iconic intro I feel tired. It doesn’t work perfectly and I sometimes still have trouble sleeping but it helped a lot. It took years of doing this. I picked Twilight Zone because it’s interesting enough to turn on but not interesting enough to stay awake for.

      I have seen every episode hundreds of times at this point I bet.

    • GnuLinuxDude@lemmy.ml
      2·
      8 days ago

      My “thing” is a Hercules movie from Mystery Science Theater 3000. Those movies are so low intensity, and I’ve fallen asleep to them hundreds of times over the past few years. I put a sleep timer on my ancient iPad on low brightness and low volume for 15m, and I’m usually asleep before time’s up.

    • teawrecks@sopuli.xyz
      2·
      8 days ago

      The only time I’m able to fall asleep with something playing is when I’m majorly sleep deprived or I’m sick. My brain can’t turn off when it’s by itself, much less when there’s something playing. If my brain is being handed information, I’m immediately wide awake for it.

      • Elextra@literature.cafe
        3·
        6 days ago

        I did!! I used to lay awake and struggle to fall asleep. I also used to be okay as a college student and gamer getting 4 hours of sleep.

        Thus, no more. I got a job I actively work 8+ hours and when I lay down now I KO within 5 mins and sometimes mid conversation with my husband.

        I of course want to leave you with more tangible things to try.

        Once, with my friends, we went to a spa with a salt room. Best nap I have ever had in my life. I was then inspired to improve my quality of sleep and these worked for me:

        • Sleep face mask (I dont know if weight makes a difference?. Mine is unweighted)
        • Weighted blanket. Make sure to look up the math on your size and weight needed
        • Quality bed. (Nolah)
        • Quality pillow (Coops Home Goods Pillow)
        • If all else fails, reading in bed puts me to sleep.

        I swear I’m an adult but my friends and I also have adult sleep overs lol. I have found some use white noise machine, ear plugs are among some things I haven’t tried but works for them.

        Good luck on your sleep journey!

    • davel@lemmy.mlEnglish
      51·
      9 days ago

      I doubt you’re actually old, because that’s not how it usually works.

      Addressing Sleep Problems in Older Adults

      As many as 57% of older adults complain of major disruption of sleep, 29% struggle to fall asleep and 19% complain of early-morning awakening.

      • Elextra@literature.cafe
        1·
        6 days ago

        Not old and yes very true older adults naturally sleep less. But my sleep has changed significantly since I have aged.

      • Maeve@kbin.earth
        3·
        9 days ago

        Chronological age is different than cumulative age. I’m not sure if those are the correct terms.

  • Soulphite@reddthat.com
    19·
    9 days ago

    I have what I self proclaim a “float switch”. Once my head tilts a 45 degree angle, I fall asleep. I’ve been like this all my 39 years of existence. I cannot go to these new movie theaters labeled “Dream Lounger Ultra XL” with those reclining king size sofas because I can’t justify paying $30 to take a nap.

    My wife gets mad at me how fast I fall asleep. I can’t fucking help it!

        • TheReanuKeeves@lemmy.worldOP
          1·
          8 days ago

          Just looked that up, interesting phenomenon for what we see as an apex predator. Even more crazy is what I read after the definition of tonic immobility lol

          “In 1997, an Orca in the Farallon Islands was seen holding a White Shark upside down for 15 minutes. Whether intentional or not, the Orca likely caused the shark to enter tonic immobility. Defenceless, the shark, suffocated. This also happened again in 2000.”

          Nature is crazy

  • Ada@piefed.blahaj.zoneEnglish
    14·
    9 days ago

    I hate sleep, so I get it over with as quickly as possible. I fall asleep quickly and I wake up quickly and spend as little time as possible in between

    • BassTurd@lemmy.world
      7·
      9 days ago

      I envy you. Waking up is bar none the worst part of everyday. I don’t necessarily mean that in depressive sort of way, but coming out of sleep is the worst feeling. If I could have a normal and healthy life sleeping 12+ hours at a time, I would.

        • JeSuisUnHombre@lemmy.zip
          5·
          9 days ago

          “Night owl mode” “asleep before midnight”

          This is what I read at almost 1am with probably still at least a half hour before I’m going to fall asleep tonight (about average for me with sometimes a bit later)

          Tap for spoiler

          Not trying to shame or one up or anything, just think it’s funny

  • SubArcticTundra@lemmy.ml
    10·
    9 days ago

    Be tired enough. I jave ADHD and my strategy is to stay up until I am literally falling asleep. The next day can be tough sometimes though if I need to get up early. On those nights I just take Melatonin

    • PoliteDudeInTheMood@lemmy.ca
      1·
      8 days ago

      Finishing a project at 2am. I should goto bed

      ADHD Brain: Hear me out! What if we start another project?

      Sometime around 5am I realize what time it is.

  • Elvith Ma'for@feddit.org
    8·
    8 days ago

    I usually fall asleep very quickly. Yes, having some kind of anxiety about the next day or such can keep me up and sometimes there’s a night where I just don’t seem to fall asleep instantly by myself.

    Rule number one: Keep your bed the place you sleep in. Don’t do anything else in it. You can’t fall asleep because of anxiety? Get up, go somewhere else, try to deal with it/calm down and then get back to sleep.

    If you don’t know why you can’t fall asleep, get up, try to wind down a bit. Maybe drink a little bit of water, go to the toilet, whatever then come back and try again. Try to keep the lights off or as dimmed as possible in that time.

    Sometimes if that doesn’t help, you can use some relaxation techniques to help. My go to: Lay down, find a comfy spot. The easiest: Focus on you I this moment. How does it feel in your bed? Focus on the warm fluffy place you’re in. “Feel” how you sink in more and more into your pillow and mattress with every breath. Usually that’s enough to get me to sleep. If you can’t fall asleep doing this, go a bit further. Imagine you’re in a meadow/on a beach/wherever in nature. Feel the imaginary sun on your skin. The sand/gras/moss/… Under your bare feet. Breathe the fresh air. Focus on your imaginary sensations and observe them.

    Those imaginations can be hard if you’re not used to them. It’s OK if you’re not focused on them in the beginning and that some random ideas and thoughts cross your mind and keep breaking the illusion. Find a way to deal with them. Accept that it has happened and move on. My preferred way to “block them”: imagine a red heavy curtain falling like in a theater completely blocking your view of those thoughts/images. Acknowledge that you identified and consciously ignored them, “turn around” and return your focus to your imagination.