What do you do when you can't sleep?
7h 10m ago by piefed.world/u/toomanypancakes in asklemmy
This, apparently.
Yup. It is currently the time for sleep, and yet here I am.
Make up stories in my head.
Rub one out.
Practice meditation.
A good night is when I do all three in order :-)
Make up stories in my head.
This is super effective to help get to sleep. Just waking fantasies of being a superhero, or in a zombie apocalypse or being super rich. Any fictional narrative to keep the mind from wandering to racing thoughts or stresses. Gets me to sleep every time.
All the most effective stuff you can do to get better sleep is done ahead of time (like daily exercise, not spending time in bed when not sleeping, keeping a sleep schedule, avoiding caffeine/alcohol etc), so if I get to that point there isn't that much to be done. Getting up and doing something nonstimulating other than lying in bed for ten minutes can help a little bit sometimes. If there's something in my sleep environment that is abnormal and it's possible to correct it that will help. Lowering the temperature can help.
Fully agree, that part helped the most with improving falling asleep time and sleep quality.
More melatonin and breathing exercises i referenced in other comment are for those abnormal, one off occasions and usually the cause can be pointed back to some daily activity.
Yeah, tbh I also take .5mg melatonin before bed regularly and add a valerian root tablet on top of that occasionally
Same, 1,9mg of melatonin, but if any of the preparation during the day isn't on point. That melatonin does absolutely nothing. With the preparations It's providing a slight push to speed up falling asleep.
I read many years ago that insomnia is a survival mechanism due to low calories.
I get up and have a light meal. Seems to work for me.
make food, wrap up in soft blankets, talk to strangers on the internet. might as well at least be comfortable if I can't be unconscious
I used to just do hobbies until physical exhaustion would force me to sleep.
Now i sleep 9 - 14 hours on the regular 🤷♀️ Don't fuck up your circadian rythm kids
My sister is a registered nurse, and she has a pro tip. Electric blanket. I wrap myself, and I am out like a light.
Also, I am a "sleeper" after r/Futurama_Sleepers when I was over there, so I just download episodes of my favourite tv shows, usually American Dad, Family Guy, Venture Brothers and what not, onto this old phone I have, and set the screen to the lowest brightness, sometimes the screen is off, and the volume low and I watch till I fall asleep. I have not made it past 20 minutes yet in the years I have done this.
Electric blanket as in a heated blanket? How would that help you sleep? I sleep on a heated blanket but u only do that because otherwise the bed is too cold for me but I don’t feel the heat does anything to help me sleep.
Well, the cosy warm feeling tends to lead me to sleep. It works like a charm.
Yes, heated blanket. Around me.
Go Team Venture
Go Team Venture.
Take more melatonin and try boxed breathing exercises. Keep trying until i fall asleep or morning comes.
Boxed breathing? Tell me more 😊.
Just a variation of general breathing exercises.
Created to calm the body and nervous system down, generally used to help with anxiety, stress, insomnia.
- Breathing in while counting to 4(roughly 4 seconds).
- holding breath while slowly counting to 4.
- breathing out while counting to 4.
- waiting for 4 seconds before breathing in again.
https://www.webmd.com/balance/what-is-box-breathing
I found putting a number of seconds on it made it much harder for me because I was concentrating so hard on breathing exactly x seconds. Just making it even and slow worked much better. YMMV
Yeah completely fair, just slowing down and controlling breathing is good enough for me as well.
I don't necessarily subscribe to this belief but there are certainly purveyors of breathing excellence who would tell you that the count for each side of the box is important.
I agree that counting is challenging.
You've heard of the sandman, right? Well, now you know why marital artists punch buckets of sand
Marital artists punching stuff sounds, bad.
Melatonin just makes most people super drowsy during the day.
Most people do take it without any preparation and in too strong dosages. Basically using it as a high dose stand alone sleeping pill rather than a sleeping aid in conjunction with general sleep hygiene, which starts already during the day.
Like if i have to resort to the last method, i will be drowsy during the next day, but it's better than being completely sleep deprived.
That sounds a bit presumptive.
Like most supplements, if you already have enough of whatever thing then taking more wont be beneficial.
Not really presumptive if you're aware that like 99% of the adult population are disrupting their circadian rhythm, and natural melatonin production, with screens and artificial light.
But yes, like any supplement, don't take it unless you have a deficiency.
What I always do: read and/or write.
Night is often much quieter than the rest of the day, which makes it perfect for quiet activities like reading and writing. And in the early morning I can even stop reading/writing in order to listen birds singing which is even better... before the roaring motorized traffic cover their tiny voice for the rest of the day (yes, I do live in a busy city).
Hearing the birds waking up is usually how I know I've gone from staying up pretty late to staying up really late. I am listening to them right now. It's pretty :)
It is, indeed :)
Whatcha reading? I just finished The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K Le Guin. I already feel like I need to re-read it because it is dense but I've just picked up The Language of the Night so I'm gonna finish that one first. I've known about Le Guin forever, she's always on the lists of notable sci-fi authors, but somehow I've never read her stuff until now and I think I'm hooked.
I just finished reading of Cordwainer Smith first volume of his Instrumentality of Mankind. I read it in a French translation I was given, not expecting much out of it, I was almost decided to just give to a friend of mine but then decided to give it a chance, just reading a few pages to see what it was all about and if it was any good... I could not put it down. Most of the time, I was very much impressed. It's smart, it's bright, deeply humane, and very imaginative too. It was subtle or not so subtle, depending the story. And most of the time it was very well crafted. I felt like a moron to never have read anything by this dude.
I liked the book so much I picked the next 3 volumes of that set... in their French translation, like the first volume I just read, as I was unable to get my hands on any English print edition.
This evening, not sleeping, and alone in our new but yet unfurnished apartment (save a few books, obviously), I started re-reading of The Hobbit, this one in its original English ;)
What a coincidence, Le Guin speaks very highly of Cordwainer Smith in The Language of the Night. Gonna have to give him a go soon.
Does she? Had no idea, but that may not come has a surprise they both shared the same ability to create entire worlds that were so effing convincing :)
Listen to a audiobook for a book I've read before. I have a sleepy mask with headphones built in so I don't bother my partner.
I have audiobooks on a 30min sleep timer, shake to reset timer, and a 30 min rewind when my sleep timer expires.
I either get sleep, or progress through the story. Win-win.
I make some nods to sleep hygiene: my phone goes black and white before bed. Some problem apps are soft locked. But I'm not great at the practice. Regardless, my sleep problems are chronic pain related, so sometimes I just have to rest and wait/hope for exhaustion to take me.
podcasts and audiobooks do it for me.
Find the right voice and I'm out like a light.
The guy that does "a short history of" from noiser is magic. I do find the content interesting but the voice is more important. Also turn the volume down so you have to concentrate to hear it - this staves off ruminations.
I listen to calming sleep stories and try to lie still. That way even though I can’t sleep I try to let my body and mind rest as much as possible. Listening to calming sleep stories is entertaining enough that I don’t get frustrated by the lack of sleep and also calming enough that I feel like I’m resting.
Smoke some weed
Meditate
i scroll lemmy... yeah i should stop doing this
Last in bed with my eyes closed for hours, then get up and go to work.
Not sleep. shrug Seriously, I've tried every trick in the book and a boatload of medication, even the medicine didn't work longterm.
Yay, crippling insomnia!
Have you tried getting regular exercise?
This is like... the third trick in the book after turning off the lights and not looking at a screen. It's frustrating that people make super obvious suggestions assuming that if someone can't sleep it's because they haven't tried at all
yeah
I’ve tried every trick in the book
but have you tried the first trick in the book?
Probably the first as you say, but many overlook it because it takes much more commitment than a simple pill.
Usually just get up and go on with my day. Most of my work is flexible hours anyway.
Stop browsing the internet, try and relax, go to my mental happy place and slowly drift into sleep.
I head over to YouTube and put on videos of old NFL games. The announcers talking puts me to sleep.
Bully my brain
I have no idea. I'm an excellent sleeper.
Writhe
But also, Zipoclone.
Gym these days. I'll do a 2.5km jog/run and then row for 2k and if I still have the good brain juice, 5k on the bike. That's usually enough to at least get me a fair bit tired.
I find a comfortable position, close my eyes, and let my mind drop me somewhere in my imagination.
Most often, its a frozen lake surrounded by evergreen trees with snow swirling. In this I'm usually skating along the ice at the pace of my breathing. The sound of my breathing in and out is like the sound of my skate making each push on the ice; the fan in my room feels like the cold wind on my face.
But it can be other places my mind goes and I find this incredibly peaceful. Before I know it, I've actually drifted off to sleep. I've been doing this for about two months and have begun to keep a journal on where my mind goes in these moments each night
I recently came into solo RPGs, so playing the lighthouse at the edge of the universe is actually best before going to bed or insomnia
https://lostwaysclub.itch.io/the-lighthouse-at-the-edge-of-the-universe
Ur looking at it.
If I don't have a book to read. Just finished Rendezvous with Rama which was sooo good.
I read a book that's written in a foreign language. It keeps my brain somewhat busy, thus avoiding "circulating" thoughts and then soon I get tired again.
I put on mock the week scenes we'd like to see, with a 20 minutes delay to start brown noise. Usually the constant short amusements will settle my mind.
https://youtu.be/Ota4KXGdkm4 for example.
I start planning D&D ideas for campaigns or think about my character in the campaign I’m in is going to react in the next session.
Usually this works to put me to sleep pretty quickly.
Lately I have been waking up in the middle of the night and then I start pondering and castrophizing and my night’s sleep is fucked.
If I don’t get back to sleep quickly I make myself get out of bed for 30 minutes.
Depends on what I want to accomplish when I can't sleep.
If I don't have to be up early the next day and/or don't have anything terribly demanding the next day, I will embrace the insomnia to an extent. Play a game for a bit. Maybe go do some work on the computer. Empty the dishwasher. Just find useful things to do that will help make the next day(s) a bit lighter.
If I do have to get up, have a heavy day, or just would prefer to sleep, then I do fairly standard things. I'll go grab something to read (sans a screen). I'll find something relaxing to listen to (no videos, just audio). I'll try various visualization / relaxation / counting techniques.
And if all else fails, I'll just find some random movie to watch and sit/lay on the couch or in a recliner to veg out.
For me, not being able to sleep sucks, but lying down with my eyes closed and embracing my thoughts still leaves me feeling better the next day compared to getting up, moving around, etc.