I had a very difficult time falling asleep last night, which is not all that rare anymore. And that was after taking a couple acetaminophen PM pills. Which didn’t help me fall asleep, really, but did give me some vivid dreams.
What do you guys do when you cannot fall asleep? Do you take a sleep aid? Read? Watch TV? Doomscroll? Karate chop to the back of the head?
I watch TV till my brain drifts away and I zoom off to dreamland only to wake up with a sore neck and a wet shirt from all the drooling.
Or when I worked from home in a non violent job with professionals sometimes I’ve just said “fuck it” and worked in the middle of the night. Things were amusing when I sent emails to my boss only to get a quick reply back and finding out my boss is doing the same thing. This happened several times.
I’m impressed by people who can fall asleep while watching TV.
In college I could fall asleep through anything, but adult me will just watch episode after episode of Forensic Files or whatever so I can’t have a TV in my bedroom. Even in hotels I have to consciously put the sleep timer on the TV to auto shut off or else I’ll stay up watching whatever.
It’s a superpower my dad had. When I was younger I used to laugh at dad snoring while sitting in his easy chair after an episode of Kojak or Streets of San Francisco.
Now, I do the same but with Netflix.
Sometimes I count down from 100 slowly, counting breaths. Usually that works. Alternatively, vibrator.
ha, yeah, not vibrator for me but been there, done that, and it can definitely help!
Takes a while to figure out how much works, about 1/4 to 1/3 of one of these will do it but prepare for some crazy dreams and possible cotton mouth when you wake…
https://velvetcannabis.com/eagle-rock-menu/products/1814320/wyld-boysenberry-1-1-1-cbd-cbn-indica-enhanced-gummies-100mg-thc-cbd-cbn/
I start with breathing normally, but saying “one” in my head with each exhale. If I’m not out cold in 15 minutes, then I get up and read. If I’m still screwed, then I just give up and start writing and try to figure out when I can take a short nap during the day.
YES. The recovery nap.
…varies pretty wildly…if I’m definitely not in any danger of sleeping but sensible folks would be already I do read things that don’t calm me down despite that seeming pretty dumb…but since that stuff was already getting served up by the mind I asked to wind down to idle it makes less difference than it sounds
…other times I’ll try to watch something undemanding until I clock that I’m not taking it in any more…that can work
…but eventually I get too tired to watch & listen at the same time & that’s where the stash of stuff that uses less brain to read than spins up if left to its own devices are handy
…oddly audiobooks mostly go in one ear & out the other though so if I’m too tired to focus on a page it’s generally some sort of non-fiction radio/podcast thing I’ll lay there listening to with my eyes closed pretending that’s the same as being asleep?
I don’t have trouble falling asleep, but sometimes I get up a little earlier than I’d like.
Yeah, my wife loves to fall asleep with the TV on; I am the opposite. My body knows dark and quiet means sleep time. (I am a dad so of course I can dad nap anywhere but at night I generally don’t do that.)
I’m luckily a very good sleeper, but in the rare times: First a book, that usually relaxes my mind. Then if still awake, change of venue (couch or recliner) to see if that helps get me in the groove. Failing that, I might take a benadryl but the danger there is waking up completely groggy so I try to avoid. I’m “no screens” late but occasionally I’ll put a quiet podcast in my earbuds and sometimes that can help too.
Failing that, sometimes I’ll just say OK, screens and just stay up for a while! Find time to nap the next day.
These days, I read until I pass out. I’ve learned to read on my side so that my phone/book doesn’t hit my face when I pass out. Reading backfires when the book has good pacing, then I’m up all night.
I fall asleep quickly but wake up 2-3 hours later. I’ve got a bunch of herbal things I take. L-Triptophan. Some sort of sleep gummies. I also take Unisom from time to time. Sometimes the full pill and sometimes (if it’s getting close to dawn) just half. Most all of that gives me crazy dreams but I’ll take that over no sleep.
Very occasionally I’ll take something stronger, like Xanax. But the supply is limited and so I don’t do that unless I’ve been like a full day without any decent sleep.
Has anyone tried Melatonin? I wonder if it has always been around but gets better marketing or if it’s a new(ish) fad.
…a friend used to swear by it for the jet lag recovery…but where possible these days they say the THC leaning options work better for them
ive tried it and it does nothing for me….daughter swears by it tho….soooo *shrugs* could be my bouncy adhd ass needs something a little stronger
I’ve taken it and it does work. It actually makes me dream even more crazy dreams.
My wife took it for awhile. She said she slept better when she stopped taking it.
if i have the time..ill read myself to sleep….but most of the time i get into bed far too late and just stubbornly keep my eyes shut in the hope some sleep happens before my alarm clock goes off
not too much sleep tho…like last night where i was out like a light almost instantly….and then slept through all my alarms and the first couple hours of my workday….
is the kind of shit even i dont get away with too often….i will say i felt properly rested when i did finally get to work tho