What do you do when you have trouble falling asleep?

[chaitea]

counting sheep, literally lol. I get to 100 and I'm out.

or lighting candles, soft music, lots of blankets and pillows.

 

[ceo]

playing 3ds and/or listen to audio, i guess technically its unhealthy due to the blue light (i have flux on my laptop which eliminates blue light, you should look it up if you use it late at night! and there's an app called twilight that does the same for tablets/phones) ever since i had a game boy advance when it launched in EU i've played on handhelds before sleeping, it really helps me relax, often i have it recharging while playing in bed cause i end up falling asleep with it turned on 6_6;;

 

[Acruoxil]

I usually sleep super late at night so I generally pass out and have absolutely zero trouble sleeping lmao

 

[Trystin]

Imagine things that won't happen. Or blink your eyes really fast for a minute (may or may not have done this on multiple occasions???)

 

[Daisy0717]

Sometimes I clean my room or bathroom. I also draw.

 

[KeatAlex]

Watch tv, Usually that's the problem tho, Surf online, or hanky panky. Sometimes I actually exercise to try to get tired.

 

[avdhpns]

From what one of my psyche professors taught us is that insomnia is the result of an over active phonological loop (essentially the 4-8 seconds of memory one has at any given moment). One way to de-circuit the phonological loop is to fill it with meaningless information until the mind gets bored and falls asleep. For a lot of people, this would be counting. For myself, I find reciting rhymes, saying the alphabet backwards, or prayers works with modest results. The trick it to make it boring enough to numb the mind but easy enough where it is effortless.

When I absolutely need to fall asleep pronto, I usually drink a melatonin drink (Neuro: Sleep). If that doesn't work, I combine it with a xanax (not good to mix pills, but it has results and I am still alive).

 

[Nodokana]

Play my 3ds or the guitar

 

[N a t]

Nothing. I suffer.

 

[dizzy bone]

Also when you wear socks in bed for like 10-15min and then take them off omg that is the best feeling ever.

YES lol I thought I was the only one who did this.

since getting back into ACNL again every time I go beetle hunting I always get super sleepy, even if I was wide awake moments earlier.

also

Spoiler

flick the bean haha

 

[bara_no_uta]

When I fall asleep -- this is probably going to sound completely ridiculous and ngl I'm slightly embarrassed -- I usually make up fanfictions in my head?? Sometimes it's thinking about ones I actually plan to write. I know people are saying it's better not to think about things that are kind of making your brain work, but I don't find any correlation between it and having trouble falling asleep personally. Well, I'm rarely trying to come up with actual plot. It's more like either I have a plot in mind and am struggling to figure out my starting place, or else I'm in the midst of the story and don't quite know where to take it next. I don't take what I come up with when trying to fall asleep too seriously. More like I just try things out, trying any possible option I come up with and following it to its conclusion until I either fall asleep or come up with something better. I guess it's kind of like that expression about -- what was it, cats?? If you throw enough cats at the wall eventually one will stick?? Anyway, alternatively it's something that I don't have any intention to write at all and is often silly and pretty pointless. Like "let's just dump these characters in this other/random setting and see what happens" or "what would [characters] think if they watched Frozen" or stuff like that. Anyway, so the TLDR here is that when I'm having trouble sleeping I'm generally content to keep doing this for quite a while.

If I'm really struggling to fall asleep, well. They say that if you've been struggling to fall asleep for half an hour you should get up and do something else because clearly it's not working and people tend to start stressing themselves out about not being able to fall asleep. Now, some people say the ideal is reading a book or something because the light from electronics is bad. And they might be right; I'm hardly a sleep expert. But in my anecdotal experience that never works, because I get too absorbed in the content imo. Even if I'm reading something really boring like my statistics textbook, my brain is working to try to understand it, because otherwise it feels rather like a waste of time.
So, I tend to do something low-thought on my computer for half an hour or so, then try again. (Rise, repeat if necessary.) Like just scrolling through tags on tumblr. If I try to do something like actually writing fanfiction, I'm definitely not going to end up going back to bed until like 3am lol, which isn't the greatest of plans to say the least.

If that doesn't work, then I never really know what to do lol. (Which is just awesome when my schedule gets completely thrown by something. Some months ago I traveled abroad and when I came back it took like a month and a half to get my schedule sorted out!! I tried melatonin once but had side effects not worth dealing with.)

 

[seliph]

Continue rolling around in bed and hoping



Sometimes I scream

 

[idiotdoomspiral]

i go on my phone until i die

 

[demoness]

having to take trazadone, zoloft, and percocet... when i sleep i'm just dead to the world for 12 hours with a heart rate of 40 if no one wakes me. :/

 

[piske]

Honestly, I just lay there until I eventually get so exhausted that I just pass out. Unfortunately, that's usually around 5 AM and that only leaves about an hour, hour and a half for me to sleep. But I've found that personally nothing else works... not reading, not doing an activity, nothing. I even try to take extra melatonin but that usually doesn't work either. Fortunately, I don't experience this very often but it always throws a wrench in my day when it does... ; v ;

 

[Crysta1Gamer]

I do nothing at all when I can't fall asleep. I just close my eyes and try to sleep without opening them to check what time it is. I feel like if I just do that I'll eventually fall asleep. I try to not open my eyes also because I feel like that'll reset my project. I don't think that works that much but that's what I do.

 

[Claude]

Avoiding caffeine after noon if you have to be in bed around 8-9 PM really does work, especially if anxiety is contributing to sleep issues.

 

[LadyOfOuran]

I watch ASMR videos on youtube! Especially ones without talking

 

[AquaStrudel]

I make up stories in my head. They get pretty edgy and dumb but hey it works

 

[Eudial]

Watch videos, or listen to relaxing music. Usually works.