# I have trouble falling asleep quickly... any tips?



## Chamberlain (Dec 28, 2012)

It has been going on for a couple of years and I actually don't really know why.
It can take from 30-45 minutes to 3-3h30 to fall asleep each night. Unless I had a really exhausting day (climbing a small mountain when it wasn't planned at all, visiting a whole city in a day by foot instead of taking the transports, etc.), it seems like it takes ages for me to be able to sleep.
I usually go to bed before midnight on weekdays. I would go under the blankets, find a comfortable position (or I'd rather say: twist and twist again in my bed until my feet go from stone cold to boiling hot), and then... Wait and think. I think about a lot of things, I "daydream" a lot before sleeping, and I can't help it. My mother told me "try to think about 'nothing'", but is it even possible? When I try to empty my thoughts, it's like plunging and empty glass in a water bath, it gets full within seconds - I think about anything that comes into mind. Not stressing or exciting or scary things - I _know_ they'll prevent me from falling asleep quickly. But just "stuff". The music video I watched today, the characters I created in my head are living their chill life, what I bought today at the convenience store... I don't necessarily focus a lot on them, but they're just in my mind. I need darkness and silence around me to sleep so I'm not bothered by stimuli, but in my head, it can't be as quiet as I wish it were.
I also frown a lot when I close my eyes, I have no idea why. Sometimes, I wake up and feel the sides of my tongue are numb, because I've been biting on it the whole night - but it's not bleeding.
However when I fall asleep, then I usually have a full night. I rarely, or never, wake in the middle of the night because I'm hungry, or to go to the toilets, or because I had a nightmare. Also, I usually have nightmares (or at least, very weird dreams) somewhere in the morning - between 5 and 7 I would say.

Any suggestion / advice? Thank you!


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## Babieca (Jul 31, 2011)

I've recently started listening to audio books. It's really helped.


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## NT the DC (May 31, 2012)

Sex.


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## hela (Feb 12, 2012)

Ambien or melatonin


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## telepariah (Jun 20, 2011)

Don't worry about the nightmares. Those are just your subconscious mind doing its job. :tongue:

Thinking about nothing is meditation. It's easy--and helpful for me. It is effective in learning to handle stress, which is something that used to keep me up a lot. 

Also, as you noted, the more active you are, the more easily you can fall asleep. Being physically active and on my feet all day has really helped me to fall asleep more easily. I'm getting more REM sleep too. My problem is staying asleep. I am continually awakened by nerve pain in my neck, head, and shoulders. In the last 9 months I have become a lot better at falling asleep. I still don't sleep that much--usually 4 to 6 hours-- but I think the sleep is better quality.

My simple rules are:

*** No caffeine after noon (hard to keep to this one)
*** Eat a lighter dinner 
*** Limit alcohol intake
*** Meditate every day
*** Stay up at least 4 hours after dinner
*** Take a shower and put on clean pajamas right before bed every night.
*** No TV in the bedroom. I don't watch TV anyway.
*** No reading in bed. This is a tough one and a guilty pleasure of mine.
*** I have to keep the windows open even on really cold nights.


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## Intensely So (Oct 12, 2012)

Masturbate.
(Tires you out).
However I wouldn't recommend relying too heavily on it for various reasons, but it does work,

Also I like to put my ipod speaker on a timer and fall asleep to music while it turns itself off.
Music usually does the trick.


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## Chamberlain (Dec 28, 2012)

hela said:


> Ambien or melatonin


Are these drugs? I'd try non-drugs methods rather, I just don't really feel comfortable around sleeping pills (unless I really need some good sleep, i.e if I have to take a plane)



telepariah said:


> My simple rules are:
> 
> *** No caffeine after noon (hard to keep to this one) ✓
> *** Eat a lighter dinner
> ...


I'm not really sure about what a "lighter" dinner is, but I usually try not to eat too much anyway. Meditation has always been tricky to me, because when I try (I don't try hard enough you would say), there's music playing in my head - I have a mini DJ in my brain who likes to play whatever's in the playlist. I don't have a TV but actually reading sometimes helps me sleeping, now that I think of it especially if it's Schopenhauer or Kant. But they can be quite boring. I like to sleep in warm rooms though, I always need a blanket, in winter or summer.


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## hela (Feb 12, 2012)

Chamberlain said:


> Are these drugs? I'd try non-drugs methods rather, I just don't really feel comfortable around sleeping pills (unless I really need some good sleep, i.e if I have to take a plane)


Ambien is, melatonin is counted as such in certain countries: Melatonin - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


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## Holgrave (Oct 11, 2011)

I always drink a glass of milk. What works for my mom though is a glass of orange juice.


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## cocoabean (Jan 2, 2013)

If you are a heavy coffee drinker, try to cut down to 3-4 cups a day, and stop drinking after lunch. Then at night, try a cup of white tea with a little skim milk and honey about 30 minutes before you want to sleep. If you're sensitive to caffeine, chamomile tea works wonders. There is even a "sleepytime" blend sold at whole foods, dominick's, etc. Try writing down whatever is on your mind while you're having tea! Hopefully it will make it easier to unwind.


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## Chamberlain (Dec 28, 2012)

@cocoabean I only have a latte in the morning so I'm not that of a heavy drinker :3 however I'm not a big fan of tea with milk (straight Earl Grey Team here). I don't live in the US so I might not find the blends you're talking about. But thanks for the advice


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## cocoabean (Jan 2, 2013)

Earl Grey is amazing! The sleepytime blend is chamomile and a little vanilla, so maybe you'll like it without milk? I feel for you, not being able to sleep is the wost.


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## fairytales (Nov 15, 2010)

I have the same problem and find the one thing that works for me is practicing some basic mindfulness techniques. The main idea is to acknowledge the thoughts that are keeping you awake, accept that they are there.. then let them go. Focussing on your breathing and returning your focus to the breath everytime your mind wanders.Turn On, Tune In, Nod Out: A Mindful Approach to Sleep - Part 1 | Psychology Today


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## ilab (Nov 26, 2012)

I totally feel for you!! Sometimes when I accidentally get past my sleepy point (by goofing around on the internet), I have to wait another two to four more hours until I get sleepy, and even then I can't sleep right away.

There was a point in my life when I decided to try and create a routine for myself, and forced myself to wake up consistently at 6am every morning. When I succeeded, I naturally got sleepy at around 10 or 11 and went to sleep like a baby  However...I have trouble with routine...but I think this is the best method IMO


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## unINFalliPle (Jul 8, 2012)

Drink Chamomille tea.


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## All in Twilight (Oct 12, 2012)

When you're lying in your comfortable position, focus your thoughts only on your body. Feel your feet and relax them. Feel your legs and release the tension, your butt, your hands, arm, shoulders, neck, your face etc. all the way up to your head and then you go down again. Just feeling your body and the tension and release the tension. Make everything wobbly like jelly. Release the tension and only think about that. You'd be surprised to discover how tensed you normally are. But you'd fall asleep pretty fast because your blood starts running again and you're not thinking about your daily problems.

Just practice this every day. After a few weeks you'll see some great results already.

I am sure there are exercises to be found on youtube.


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## Devil (May 12, 2011)

As has already been pointed out milk does help you sleep (though not really because of tryptophan). However if you're not on a low carb diet or have real dietary concerns having a meal rich in carbohydrates a bit before you go to sleep also helps you fall asleep quicker.


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## funcoolname (Sep 17, 2011)

I do no caffeine after noon, plain chamomile tea an hour or 2 before bed, an audiobook or a "help you get to sleep/deep relaxation/etc" meditation/recording on low volume, finish exercise before 5 PM, and no computer use when I want to sleep, it is a black hole..


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## Sarin (Aug 30, 2011)

Like most people said: limit your caffeïne intake.. the effect of caffeïne in the human body has a half-life of about 5 hours, so if you drink vast amounts in the afternoon, the effects still haven't worn of by the time you want to go to bed.

You also mentioned that you only fall asleep quick enough if you do something energyconsuming..
In that case I encourage you to do so, go to the gym and workout for an hour or go outside for a long walk if the weather is good and you have the time to do so.
I workout 1,5 hours a day and I'm happy to see my bed every evening.

What also may work is to have a fixed time to go to bed..
I always go to bed between 23:00 and 23:15.. even if I don't feel tired.
Most of the time I need less than 20 minutes to fall asleep, tired or not tired.


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## Nicko (Dec 6, 2011)

I've had issues falling asleep my entire life, it used to be much worse earlier tho. Neither my body or mind doesn't tire easily, I had frequent periods in my life occuring every second month on an average where I get a sort of weird version of Insomnia. I couldn't sleep for 2-3days, but I wasn't even tired neither mentally or physically.. 
I was like "gotta sit down and take a break for 10-30minutes" kinda tired after lots of physical labor but that was it.. I wouldn't sleep for 2-3days then sleep for 6-9hours, then repeat, sometimes for as long as 2weeks, then I would start getting tired again enough to sleep every night.. usually for 2 months before it started up again.

There is a few things I've managed to work out in order to sleep better, 
#1 is the physical stuff is being more healthy, I excercise at the gym every day, one day with muscle exercise and then the next day I only do cardio, then repeat. and I eat a lot more healthy to keep a healthy metabolism up.
#2 is getting mentally tired, I do this course on a site called lumosity, takes about 15minutes of my time once a day.. its basically a gym for your cognitive functions. Now if I'm still very mentally active at night before I go to sleep I tend to just play games there until I start feeling mentally exhausted.. simply as that, I know it sounds strange but those games really puts pressure on you mentally
#3 Is something I picked up while trying to learn meditation. It's a fairly easy technique in order to empty your thoughts. Basically just put your focus on your breathing and create a circular breathing, as in you breath in with your nose and out with your mouth, take deep breaths like that so that it takes up to 5seconds to exhale it all. Now after you feel you've been breathing like that long enough to have it go like it automatically, let it. Then just try and observe how your body breathes without you interfering with it.. I do that I usually fall asleep within 15minutes every time.

#1 Is to make your body scream for rest
#2 Is to make your brains agree with the body about sleeping
#3 Is to smooth talk yourself into going to sleep, your consciousness 


Hoooowever, if you don't feel like exercising neither physically or mentally or taking up meditation techniques in order to fall asleep you can do what I do on my "days off" where I'm wide awake physically and mentally when I should be getting to sleep... Light up one big ass blunt filled with maryjane and that bitch will knock you out faster then you can see the punch coming :3

Having a couple of beers, or alcohol enough to get you a little tipsy before hitting the bed has also worked for me if your shy off the herb ;p


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