Help what is your technique for falling asleep?

[not4us]

techniques I have googled just ain't work.

 

[Beautifulletdown]

What have you tried so we know. I have medication to sleep if I can't. Outside of melatonin and chamomile, I'm not sure what else can help. I'm sure someone will coming along with more advice. Good luck.

 

[Deleted member 1465]

I had a meditation technique that used to work before I was this ill...

I'd imagine myself lying in a boat on an endless calm sea. The boat would sink into the sea leaving me floating. I'd sink deeper and deeper down, able to breathe the water fine. Then I'd visualise each part of my body first relaxing then dissapating into the sea. Eventually I'd imagine myself as spreading out and becoming the entire ocean.

Good luck

 

[Hexen]

Tried it all it didn't work for me. Did you fuck up your sleep schedule as well?

 

[Stan]

Two techniques that I have are:

1. Listen to a really boring podcast on something that I have no interest at all, but really try and focus and learn from it. Somehow doing that makes me really bored and I fall asleep sometimes. Got that tip from being at lectures or business meeting where people regularly had to do 'Stan Watch' and poke me when my head started to droop.

2. Dark room, close eyes and clear mind. Your brain expects optical input and gets confused so it starts to create optical things for you. I mostly get a swirling image like oil on water. You then focus on the 'light show' without thinking of anything else, try and keep stray thoughts out If one pops into my head I tend to start over again. But it can work. I think its more to do with calming my mind than anything else.

 

[Boochky]

My technique is to take 5 psych meds at the maximum dose. :/

But I would suggest trying valerian. The Sleepytime Extra tea has it and would help even when I was manic, but it made me wake up to pee an hour later. So I switched to the capsules. I heard Valerian is related to Valium but I don't know if that's true. Good luck!

 

[irrelevant_string]

Benzodiazepines, some syrup for babies called Calma B, Valerian oil, melatonin...
Only benzodiazepines work, but I wouldn't recommend anyone to take them, ever.

On days when I decide not to take them, it's similar to what Stan described.
I'd try listening to classical music, nature sounds or an audiobook or a podcast that I'm not particularly interested in.
Meditating in some sense too I suppose, in that I try to notice when my attention drifts into thoughts about studying or stupid things that I've done. Do not reinforce them and thoughts just somehow fade away when you notice them.

I heard Valerian is related to Valium but I don't know if that's true.

I think that they're supposed to have a similar effect and that that's about it for relatedness, but I don't know.

 

[CyanideSoup]

Now I use medication but before that I used to listen to rain sounds/white noise to help me sleep. At one point it helped block out the mental fuzz enough to let me sleep but I think I relied on it too much as I'd use it any time I felt overwhelmed. On rare occasions if I just get too wound up to sleep I found submerging my face in ice cold water for at least 30 seconds shocks my body and I tend to feel exhausted after. I hope you find something that helps.

 

[Rachel74]

Was always benzo and Gin.
Now it's Cbd oil capsules, magnesium and over the counter nytol.

 

[gingerplum]

A cocktail of Vodka, Tramadol, and Unisom.

 

[SlackJim]

weed and white noise

 

[alexithymia]

I take Seroquel so I can sleep. And Propranolol so that my pounding heart doesn't wake me up.

 

[Fragile]

passing out on drugs.

I've had insomnia all my life and have tried every single thing there is and then some more, only thing that really helps is a high dose of benzos or gaba substance and then some weed, i would not recommend benzos since the withdrawals are HELL and they build both tolerance and dependency fast, but give weed a shot if you haven't already, it really helps.

 

[Final Escape]

I eat like 4 weed edibles, and a couple 3 mg melatonin tablets.

 

[puppy9]

I'll just fake sleepy heavy eyes, when it's heavy I'll open it again and keep repeating many times. Works for me though.

 

[mattwitt]

The only thing that actually makes me fall asleep sooner than I normally would is Melatonin.

If I want to sleep longer than 6 - 8 hours like I normally do then I take diphenhydramine like an hour or 2 before I would normally fall asleep. It literally helps me sleep 10 - 16 hours but then I'll be up for like 30 hours.

 

[Escargot Shorts]

as of lately, a cold shower so i'm not too warm, melatonin, and listening to The Disintegration Loops

 

[Orin]

i play this game called Marvel Contest of Champions..... its Arena game mode to be specific. Basically i keep grinding and grinding until i'm too sleepy to continue. Not sure why this specific game works.....i've tried other mindless, boring games but this seems to work best.

 

[Skathon]

I never "go to sleep" but fall asleep accidentally/naturally when I am not able to resist it. Staying awake is usually far more problematic.

 

[LegaliseIt!]

Because sleep is the only good part of my life, it is extremely elusive, and nothing works. I'm not allowed sleep meds because of an OD attempt, and chronic physical pain just adds to the hell on earth.

 

[noctiva]

ASMR videos (just listen with closed eyes, don't actually watch them), I was surprised how well they work sometimes, if I find the right sounds. (I like ear cleaning, head massage, rain drops, wood tapping, some kind of crinkle sounds but not others, etc etc, I hate it when anyone talks!)

Diaphragm breathing and counting breaths (either 1-100 or 1-10 and starting over)

I don't take any sleeping medication, any medication I've tried didn't give me restful sleep, it gives me blackout, and with blackout I'm physically out for x hours, but afterwards I don't feel rested, it's an unnatural thing to just be 'turned off and then rebooted'. There are no dreams, no feeling of refreshment or regeneration afterwards. I've had insomnia since I was little, I remember so many nights I couldn't sleep, I cried, I was hyperactive, my mother was crying to try to get me to sleep, or she was screaming at me, or she physically pushed me down on the bed and told me to bloody fucking sleep now, she turned the lights off and left me lying in the dark and said the monsters will get me in the dark if I'm not quiet, anything so she had peace. So I tried a lot of medication for sleeping for a long time. Nothing worked. But I've not been taking medication for at least 10 years now and I'm getting better, most nights I can deal with just breathing meditation, some nights if it doesn't work I take ASMR videos in addition.
Bad nights are maybe 1 in 10 nights alone, 1 in 100 nights with my partner holding me.

 

[Daniela]

4-7-8 breathing

breathe in for 4 seconds
hold in your breath for 7 seconds
breathe out through your mouth for 8 seconds

Repeat until sleepy.

Or, take melatonin

 

[Brick In The Wall]

I focus on slow breathing and relax my entire body. Sometimes I listen to lectures/debates/documentaries with my eyes closed. Lately I've just been pushing myself to the point of pure exhaustion.

There's many natural or herbal methods. You probably just need to experiment with a bunch of different things to find something that works best for you. Best of luck finding a solution.