Comments on: How You Put Yourself To Sleep

By: Scott

Scott — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 21:23:29 +0000

One word- NyQuil.

By: sneezy

sneezy — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 20:55:15 +0000

I LOVE to sleep. I hate getting up in the morning…can I get a list of ways to haul my a$$ out of bed every morning? Sometimes I can’t go to sleep. I’m a night owl and usually have to make myself when I know I need to be up in eight hours. I use Melatonin every night, it kicks in after about half an hour, but you have to be lying still and being quiet. If I’m really having trouble I use two of the above mentioned techniques put together, with a twist. I count backwards from 100 using my breathing as a guide so I don’t race through, and if I lose track or my mind starts wondering I start over from 100. I’ve gotten to 1 two times. If that doesn’t work, it’s time for a bottle of wine because something is really bothering me.
Lots of math in these comments…hmmm.

By: Chris

Chris — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 19:44:51 +0000

I do the multiplication tables in my head. It gets my mind on one subject and the repitiveness lulls me to sleep.

By: Brittany

Brittany — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 17:08:21 +0000

I do a pilates class 3 times a week, and at the end of the class we do a 3 minute relaxation track. The instructor gets us to concentrate on our breath, and relax all our body parts. She tells us to tuck in our chins a bit, and will slowly start with the head all the way to the toes telling us what to relax, even our tongues. This works so well I have the hardest time getting up afterwards.
So, if I can’t sleep at night, I just do this in my mind!

By: Fran

Fran — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 16:24:20 +0000

I mentioned to a friend at work how much trouble I have falling asleep. Being the wannabe psychologist that he is, he gave me some mumbo jumbo about how the memories and thoughts in my short term memory that were supposed to move into my long time memory while at rest were on what he called a tape loop. My mind was just constantly replaying the day and it was keeping me from falling asleep. He “recommended” that I get a pen and paper, lay down, turn out the lights, and just write. Anything. Stream of consciousness. What ever thought, word, or phrase popped into my head. Just write. He said that would move all the short term stuff and place it somewhere else so that I could sleep.

Barely resisting rolling my eyes at this crap, I decide what did I have to lose? So that night I did just what he said. After about 20 minutes of writing, miraculously I fell asleep and stayed asleep. I could not believe that it worked. I continued to do this for about a month and my writing eventually dwindled to just a few sentences a night before I no longer had to rely on this to sleep. It’s also very interesting to go back and see some of the weird stuff I wrote during this time. I only occasionally need to fall back on this now. Love that guy and his weird psychobabble.

By: Mike

Mike — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 16:20:46 +0000

What i do is to pick a single random word and think that word at random intervals. It sounds odd but what I think it does is to focus your mind on a single task. That disrupts whatever other thoughts you have and allows the brain and body to relax.

By: Steve

Steve — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 15:46:20 +0000

I used to try counting, but would get pissed off the higher I got in the numbers as it meant I still wasn’t asleep. So here’s the answer:

Make sure you clearly see each number in your head and count this way: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 9, 8… rise, lather, repeat.

Works like a freakin’ charm– even if it takes a while to fall asleep, the highest you’ll have counted is 10 so you’re not constantly being made aware of just how long you’ve not been sleeping.

By: bre

bre — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 15:39:43 +0000

I remember learning, maybe in college, that most of the techniques mentioned here work because of engaging both sides of the brain. i.e., Counting sheep engages one side with a mental activity, visualizing them engages the other side. This occupies the brain enough to keep whatever thoughts that are keeping you awake at bay. So, the more you focus, the less you think about what’s stressing you or whatever.

I had trouble sleeping as a teenager, but have no trouble at all now. It takes me about 30 seconds to fall asleep. My husband and I commute together to work, so I also sleep in the car. I get a 20-minute power nap twice a day. My husband laughs at me, but I swear it’s what’s keeping me alive since I only get about six hours of sleep each night.

By: kate

kate — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 15:06:17 +0000

Kate,

Maybe it is our name! I was that kind of baby too–after my first night home, I slept through the night every night after that. It’s still extremely rare for me to be in bed for more than 5 minutes without crashing.

So maybe there’s more parenting advice in here…name your kid “Kate”. :)

By: Hawkeyegirl

Hawkeyegirl — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 14:34:51 +0000

Ingrid- I know exactly how you feel. Letters and numbers have always had a gender to me, I thought I was nuts until I read this post.

On another note…
I’m a lifetime insomniac and I’ve tried almost everything thats been mentioned. What works usually depends on why I’m not sleeping. If I’m stressed or upset, I use the relaxing one body part at a time thing. If my mind is running a hundred miles an hour, I try telling myself a story- but sometimes this backfires because I get so excited about the story.
I also sleep with the TV on, but always muted and I MUST have a fan on, or I’ll lose my mind. My boyfriend hates it.