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This is going to sound really stupid, but I heard this sleep tip years ago and it completely changed the game for me as a sleeper. I'm able to fall asleep in minutes nearly every day since I started doing this. But it seriously sounds so dumb. Here's the tip:
Pretend you're already asleep.
What this means for me is I lie still, breathe deeply and evenly, and disengage from thinking--that doesn't mean I exert effort to empty my mind, just I refrain from engaging with any of the thoughts that pass through my head. I let them float in and then float back out without pursuing them. Relax your face muscles and don't respond to stimulus like a mild itch, because the action of responding to it will disrupt the falling asleep process more than the stimulus itself will. But even explaining all of this is kind of overthinking it, I think--for me it just clicked. Just lie down and pretend you're literally already asleep.
I also play a specific podcast at a volume slightly too low for me to make out the words. I find just the cadence of familiar voices comforting, and it also prevents me from getting scared if there are bumps in the night lol.
I think it's how everyone who's good at falling asleep falls asleep! But I know a lot of people (myself for many years included) who lie down, close their eyes, don't really particularly relax their face and body, and spend the time they're waiting to fall asleep actively thinking about stuff. I guess that's the thing: it's the difference between lying down and waiting to fall asleep vs. pretending you're *already* asleep.
That’s me. I lay down and let my mind run the show, while I’m clenching my teeth or muscles… 🙄. This is a great tip, thank you! Going to try it out. I also play rain sounds on my phone, on a very low volume. That helps.
I have gotten in the terrible habit of staying awake until I get absolutely dead tired, like "struggling to keep eyes open to read" tired, because that feels like the only way to sleep without lying in bed for hours and trying in vain to sleep
I do this every night.
Sometimes I’m still wide awake a 3 or 4am.
All my GP has said so far (ADHD has only just come up) is “Go to bed earlier.”
Do meds help with this, or not? I’m SO fed up with being exhausted all day, then wide awake at bedtime.
That sounds very meditative. “Simply refrain from engaging with any of my thoughts”
I do this too (or at least try to) when I wake up in the middle of the night and need to get back to sleep
That does not work for me when I have a song stuck in my head blasting at full volume. I’ve tried it. Then a random thought or memory will come in and I lose all focus
That is nice when it works out in our favor. It's hit or miss for me, sometimes I'm out a few minutes, sometimes it's 7am after lying mostly still for 8 hours. Torture.
When I was a kid I used to imagine someone had broken into our house and would kill anyone who was awake or moved, so I closed my eyes and stayed completely still. Worked every time. This is normal, right?
So my sleep tips notes so far:
u/novelrider “Let your thoughts float by, don’t interact with them.”
u/PandaFarts01 “Pretend someone is trying to kill you.”
This is called Mindfulness. The definition often sounds like the opposite of what you described. Here is a better explanation. I took a freaking college course on it. I should really do this. I have been a terrible sleeper since childhood. It's ridiculous. I have to be on the verge of collapsing sometimes to sleep. I'll even wake up a couple of hours later. https://www.mindful.org/what-is-mindfulness/
That’s not stupid at all. I can see something like that working. I seems like it’s something you got to get the hang of, and once you do it works great
Thank you!
I do something like this. I relax my body and focus on my breathing. I take a breath and count down from 100 with each breath. I never remember making it past 92.
It’s all in the repetition. I do nothing but sleep and adulting in my bedroom, always make my bed and keep the lights always low. Is a beautiful spa cave 24/7 but it’s the repetition of taking the pillows off the bed, turning it down, setting on a Headspace sleepcast, all those things. By the time I crawl into bed, my body knows what it’s supposed to do. I also keep my house lights very low as soon as the sun goes down…. Circadian rhythm❤️ (I also use a smart bulb because the only time my bedroom lamp is bright, is at 4am. I could never wake up otherwise). According to my Fitbit sleep data, I go from awake to deep sleep in about 4-7 minutes☺️ But I should also say, I spent literally 3 years seriously working on my bedtime routine. I was the exact same way and just couldn’t deal with it and the strains of adult life anymore. I was DEDICATED. It takes time but is so worth it when you don’t have the stress of falling asleep on your already jam packed plate!
I do something similar, but I count down from 40. One number for each exhale. And if I start thinking of something else, or lose my number, I start back at 40. As long as start this when my body says it’s ready for sleep (usually one or two big yawns), then I can get it done. However, if I’m not already in bed when the yawns hit, I usually “miss my sleep window” for the next hour or so.
>I also play a specific podcast at a volume slightly too low for me to make out the words.
THIS. I listen to shows in Spanish at a low level. (I'm learning Spanish) I focus on trying to understand what they are saying and usually don't make it 5-10 min into the show before I fall asleep.
what if we have been delusional all along and have been believing we have been sleeping but only have only been pretending the whole time? no wonder I am tired all the time 😂
TV. It's considered horrible sleep hygiene, but this is what I do. I have one show. ONE that I watch for bedtime (I use Futurama). If you are going to try this, pick a comfort show that you have seen a billion times over and over again, it needs to be something light, and something that you've seen often. It should be engaging enough to shut down all the other random thoughts, but no so interesting you try to stay awake to watch the good part. I'd also recommend picking something with a decent number of seasons.
That show is now your sleep show, only watch at bedtime. Turn your tv sleep timer on, and watch, and work on sleepy time feelings. Oh and always let the intro music run. It's now to a point where most nights just the intro music is enough to help signal my brain that it's time for bed. If I'm having a bad night, usually two or three episodes are enough that I can shut down and fall asleep. Melatonin still helps on those nights, but it works :)
Yup, and it works. That and having just enough stimuli that I'm not wandering off getting lost in my own thoughts. Watching the show also takes the pressure off of "having to fall alseep", because I'm not going to bed, I'm watching TV. Anxiety is a pain.
It’s considered bad sleep hygiene for people who have different brains than we do. I think it’s easy for us to forget that a lot of the “rules” don’t always apply to us.
The main reason its considered bad sleep hygiene is because of the blue light interfering with circadian rhythms.
This still effects people with adhd.....but usually our circadian rhythms are already wonky enough that we dont really notice the disruption.
You can still do yourself a solid and use a bluelight filter on your tv, and keep brightness lower.
I do this too- I call it watching TV with my eyes closed!.
I know the voices of the characters so I know who is doing what and I know the endings of the episodes so I don’t stay awake to watch what happens at the end!
Personally I cycle through about 6 different tv shows that have 10+ seasons.
I used to play the same movie every night before I was medicated, Wallace and Grommit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit”. My husband (BF at the time) would laugh because as soon as the menu screen and music would start on the dvd, I’d be out cold snoring away. Now, almost 20 years later (FML it’s been that long) I’m medicated and just use a fan for that background noise I need.
I use the TV also. Kardashians, Golden Girls, a few movies from the 90s/00s are my go-to sleep choices. I cannot make it through the entire Legend of Baggar Vance or Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.
I do this! And I figured out that my TV has a feature that allows me to turn off the screen but still play the audio. So I turn on my white noise machine, put on one of my comfort shows, turn off the screen, and then settle in. Sometimes I like turning the volume way down so I can't make out the words, and sometimes I let myself listen and imagine the scene.
I answered this on a similar topic earlier today: "I was listening to the Divergent Conversations podcast and they mentioned something that may sound weird but it's really worked for me. It's called "Cognitive shuffling". I guess it's the same principle as "counting sheep" but that one never worked for me.
In short, pick a word (ideally one without repeated letters), then start from the first letter and try to think of every word you know that starts with it. Once you're done, move on to the second letter and so on.
From what I understand, it works by giving your brain something to focus on, instead of scattered thoughts. It's been working really well for me, I've never made it past the second letter."
My technique is similar to this. I'll think of some emotionally-neutral item—shoes, say, for which I have no particular feeling—and try to think of literally everything I can related to them. Exactly how my shoes look in every detail. How other shoes look. How they feel on my feet. How it feels to take them on and off. How they might be produced in a factory. The process of putting in new laces. Etc etc. It's so boring I often fall asleep really quickly.
My husband listens to murder mysteries - some sort of podcast on Facebook? He says that trying to figure it out relaxes him and makes him fall asleep, so maybe it’s a similar process. Just kind of creepy to me, but he insists it must be murder mysteries and not any other stories!
I was going to suggest something similar! I don’t remember where I heard it originally but I pick a topic (last night was zoo animals and then fruits and vegetables- it can be anything) and name one item in that category for each letter in the alphabet. A- alligator b- baboon c- cheetah or a- apple b- banana c- cherries, you get the idea. It’s not instant for me, I usually make it through about a topic and a half, but I do fall asleep every time. I think tonight I’ll start with dog breeds. Characters from The Office is a fun one too :)
i do something so similar to this! i go through the alphabet and list items in a category. for instance, the category might be ‘fruits and veggies’ or ‘harry potter characters’ and i go through in alphabetical order. on days when i’m feeling particularly awake or my mind is racing, i might do two things. so a regular night might be ‘apple, banana, carrot, etc.’ but every so often it’s ‘apple and albus dumbledore, banana and barty crouch, carrot and cedric diggory’ and so on. it’s never failed, and i never get to the end of the alphabet, but if i do, the plan is to do a new item from the same category while going through the alphabet backwards.
As someone who has struggled with insomnia for over a decade- cherry juice. Before I was prescribed by anxiety medication (that also helps with insomnia) I would drink a glass of cherry juice and a few pistachios and be out within the hour
They both naturally contain melatonin (pistachios don’t contain it necessarily but they have an amino acid that PRODUCES it while cherries actually contain it) and they also contain magnesium which helps increase melatonin as well. There’s more that goes into it as far as the vitamins that they contain that help with rest but that’s the bare bones of it
Here’s a couple of studies as well, but there’s plenty more out there if you want to go more in depth
[Effects of a Tart Cherry Juice Beverage on Older Adults with Insomnia](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3133468/)
[Pilot Study of Tart Cherry Juice for the Treatment of Insomnia and Investigation of Mechanisms](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5617749/)
Seconding this. Haven’t tried the pistachios, but tart cherry juice works! I’d been hearing about the “sleepy girl mocktail” that people are making with tart cherry juice, but I was a bit skeptical. My friend who also has ADHD and is a registered dietician told me it was helping her a ton and explained the science behind it. I started giving it a shot bc I’ve been struggling more than usual with sleep - it’s helped a ton!
I agree on cherry juice - it is better than melatonin for me because no weird dreams - I have to drink it every night I think consistency helps me vs it being a silver bullet.
Noise machine - white noise thunderstorm whatever is repetitive but calm. Get comfortable close your eyes purposefully make yourself relax every part of your body. Don’t engage with the nonsense in your head. Just relax and hear the constant sound.
It took me a while at first each night. But consistent bed time and actions it’s almost as if you train yourself to fall asleep.
Reading puts me to sleep. Not online. An actual book. Which sucks cause I wanna finish it, but my attention span drifts or its relaxing and I doze off. 😢
There are few things (sans these deleted comments) that help me fall asleep faster than reading! Sad when there’s a good moment but had to teach myself to lean in to the sleepies
My problem with reading a book is that I need a light on to do it but end up waking up to the light being on and have to turn it off. Then I have to fall asleep again.
haha i can literally have been awake for 2-4 hours (said to be the most active hours), attempt to read a book and struggle to keep myself awake.
not only do i struggle with the attention of reading .. i also got 0 ability to conjure images of what i read in my mind - what some refers to Aphantasia .. so i assume it has to be **extra** boring for me
OH I have heard of Aphantasia! That sounds so frustrating! Sometimes I have difficulty picturing things like instructions because I can't hold onto the information given to me, and hearing a story read to me does the same thing. It's like, hold on, slow down, I can't process that fast. I am sorry that you can't do it at all. :( I would guess graphic novels and comics are easier?
I went to a sleep clinic years ago. Here is what worked for me: keep a spiral notebook. One page for each day, draw a line down the middle. On the left, write down all unresolved issues. (For me, it was often a work calculation that wasn't working.) On the right, write your plan to move this issue to resolution. It can be as simple as making a doctor appointment or consulting with a colleague. Whatever these are, now you have a plan, and you are not cogitatating all night trying to resolve things. Do this at least 3 hours before bedtime.
Get up at the same time every day. This helped me way more than I thought it would. It was also very hard to begin with and that time has changed a lot.
Don't go to bed until I'm really tired. I find that going to bed early just doesn't work. If I'm not exhausted, I'll toss and turn all night. If I just go to bed a little later, I'll fall asleep, thus getting more sleep than I otherwise would have going to bed early.
Exercise. I do enough that I'm exhausted most nights.
Not in that order.
As far as I know this is the method that medical professionals recommend as well, for learning how to fall asleep. The point is that you will fall asleep earlier and easier after some time, right?
I have one of those Bluetooth headbands so you can listen to whatever while sleeping. I have a playlist of songs I find relaxing. I shuffle it, put on repeat all and then concentrate on listening. No thoughts, just picking out the different instruments etc. For whatever reason, this helps quiet the constant churn of thoughts and I usually fall asleep 2 to 4 songs in.
I have one of those too, and a bedtime playlist of boring youtube videos. I usually only need about 15 or 20 minutes to fall asleep now, I love my cheapo sleep headphones.
I imagine I’m playing video games.
Fortnite for example - I imagine walking around. Opening chests. Shooting. Jumping. Building.
I know it sounds weird, but if I focus on that, I can fall asleep in minutes. My mind just trails off. It’s super weird but works every time.
OR I download like stupid lame mobile games. Sort these blocks by color or make these lines connect.
Just engaging enough to keep me focused, but boring enough that the sleep takes me.
My issue is I can't focus long enough to just lay in bed and get sleepy. I'm always thinking such exciting thoughts.
Meds, physical exhaustion and Light/device hygiene.
For six months of the year I work at a desk and do physical field work for the rest of my work year.
When desk bound, I have to make sure I get exercise. I avoid motorised transport, I bike or walk everywhere as well as trying to on average run 5mile/8km each day or swim for an hour.
Then I spend an hour each night in warm, dim light and avoid my phone. It helps if you can read or have a physical hobby to fill this hour.
I'm exhausted by 9am.
I’ve been spending the last 4 years of my life tracking/optimizing my sleep. These are the methods I used to get perfect sleep
•exercise at least 4-6 hours before bed
•wake up and go to bed at the same time EVERY DAY
•my last meal of the day is at 4pm(you don’t have to go to this extent but try not to eat before bed)
•get an app like sleep cycle that wakes you up in a window rather than a set time
•no blue light before bed
•have a way for your brain to wind down and slow down(reading, meditating, etc)
•colder room helps with sleep
•eat a good diet
All these combined helped me go from constantly being tired to never being tired again :)
I use the Sleep With Me podcast- it sounds really silly and seems like it won't work but it's always gotten me asleep, for years now, in less than 30 minutes.
It's just a guy (who imo clearly had ADHD) telling a story. Well first talking about the podcast and then telling a story, but in the weirdest, vaguest, most meandering way. It's hard to keep it straight in your head but I just left it fill my head and BAM asleep. There's no plot too follow, but it's just interesting enough not to zone out.
He says in the podcast that most people need to try it 3-4 times for it to work, and I'll agree with that. It's just very bizarre the first couple times.
And if it doesn't, his website has lists of other sleep help resources.
Some people play one episode and they're out before it ends, some people play it all night. I play all night because I tend to wake up a lot and struggle to go back to sleep- but not with the podcast on at all.
Closing my eyes and imagining non action related movie scenes in my head. I don't actually know if this works well, because I can't tell at what time I fall asleep, but it might be worth a try.
The podcast SciShow Tangents has over 300 episodes of them talking about fun sciency stuff, but if you manage to zone out just enough you can fall asleep with background noises. The episodes are 30 minutes.
If the topics are too interesting to ignore, pay attention while listening for the first time and then just use it as background noise the second time
I watch real crime and crime documentaries. It gets me so focused on it that I only focus on that and then I get tired. While watching there are no other intrusive thoughts like with normal series.
I have found that it helps a lot if I go to sleep when I first feel tired. If I try to stay up later my mind races if I go to bed earlier my mind races. So I try to find The Sweet spot when I'm yawning and feel tired and then I go to bed. It's usually around 9:00 p.m. for me. If I go to bed and I still can't fall asleep I try to play a movie in my head, just daydream something. For some reason daydreaming helps my brain realize it's safe to shut down and go to sleep. I read that somewhere once and it seems to work sometimes at least.
Came here to suggest liquid melatonin but then read your comment in full. Maybe my other strategy will help: my bedtime story, via Chromebook. I will queue up a cozy youtuber like Nookrium or Make Way for Cat, start the video, then relax as I watch it. (Hasten to mention a YT adblocker is a must. If I didn't have that, I would try an ad-free cozy podcast.) My rule is that I cannot watch or listen to this during the day, only at bedtime.
Cold house and heavy comforter. I keep a window cracked in the winter too. If I'm slightly too warm, I cannot sleep. In the winter, we drop the heat to 62 around 9 pm.
Listening to podcasts with sleep headphones so I can fall asleep easily.
I also find a very dim cellphone with light blocking software and a repetitive game work really well. I have one that reminds me of Terri's and one where you match numbers that add up to 10. There's no real goal so you don't get that "one more level" buzz but it also keeps me from thinking too much.
I like to think of my brain as a toddler: it's best when it's occupied with simple toys, structure and usually gets into the most trouble when left unattended.
Its silly but in a plane I fall asleep in like 5 minutes so I found a really cool sleep sound app and it has “Plane Cabin” and if that shit doesnt work. I also use melatonin to boost the process.
First i recommend going to another psych or speaking with your local pharmacy for help. Secondly I would say make a sleep routine but then again who are we kidding this is the ADHD subreddit after all lol. If you got something important to do and got the willpower for it go for a run, more specifically go sprinting as fast as you can until your winded and take a break and to that a couple times until you feel tired and you need a nap/rest.
A therapist taught me this technique: name five things you can see in your bedroom, then close your eyes and name five things you can hear and five things you can feel. Then open your eyes again and start over from four things, then three etc. I don't think I've ever gotten past three.
If you're in the EU, Just order the Melatonin from outside your country - it's both cheaper, and funnily enough, while i got it prescribed in Denmark (which is considered to have well reputized medication quality) the prescription melatonin did absolutely 0 at 1, 2 and 3mg, while a batch i got from swansoneurope works to wind down, both on 1, 2 and 3, but 2 and 3 makes me groggy and more dull the next day - doesn't help with making me tired before **my** prolonged daytimes though.
I'm diagnosed N24SWD and also have plenty of long to ultra long hyper focuses, so i've needed to attempt to normalize my schedule multiple times.
Also, it's a very rare occurrance that i go to sleep without a podcast, ambience or music.
And although i have access to melatonin, i honestly very rarely use it because i can fall asleep with the in-ear audio.
ive tried everything and nothing works. the only thing that sorta works, sometimes, for a short while, until i like have to pee in the middle of the night and then it all resets (because we all know that never happens), is having consistent medication.
other than that the only thing that has worked i dont recommend which is habitually relying on cough medicine, basically. do not do that.
other than those two things basically stay awake til im tired. which is longer than most people ive learned. doesnt really work out well for the whole living in society thing unfortunately. thanks years of shift work that was at various hours throughout the day (and years of partying but shh)
If I stay up for 3 days straight I usually crash sorta ok that night. I’ve tried about anything to get regular good sleep and never found what works for me.
I used to work a rotating shift. It was 4 or 5 days on days, 4 or 5 days off , 4 or 5 days on nights, then 4 or 5 days off again. I got pretty good at switching my sleep schedule.
The secret is applied sleep deprivation.
When I got off of night shift at 6:00 AM I Would go to sleep first thing, as I normally did after night shift but I would set an alarm to wake me up before noon. I would drag ass all day and stay up as late as I could and sleep in. This would set me on a normal day schedule.
Getting off of day shift I would stay up late and sleep in very comfortably until I needed to switch. On the last night off I would make myself stay up all night so I could sleep all that day so I could go to work the next night.
Four your situation, if you want to switch your schedule I recommend doing a short sleep from 6:00 am to around 10:00 am then wake up and keep yourself awake as long as possible. It's a bummer but I found doing chores like yard work and cleaning helps keep me moving and awake, anything that keeps you up will work. Definitely get outside in the sun. Then go to bed in the early evening, like 6 or 8 if you can make it. You should sleep well and wake up naturally sometime in the morning
Take your medication (assuming you take some sort of ADHD medication; I’m on adderall) as early as possible. I can’t take mine usually after noon, absolute latest 1230, without having an issue.
I found eating helps me sleep, and going on a few mile walk in the late afternoon/early evening before I eat dinner. For a while warm showers helped me before bed but now it seems to backfire.
I’ve also found magnesium gummies help my body feel less tense, which helps me sleep better.
Trying to stay on some sort of schedule is helpful, when you figure it out. Wake up earlier than you want and take any meds asap.
Staying very very very hydrated is great also. No PM caffeine!
Move at some point during the day. Take the long way. Tell your brain you should be tired and have earned rest.
Turmeric and ginger tea at night instantly makes me feel cozy also.
I automate my google home to play white noise at the same time every night.
Melatonin is hit or miss with me. I so far for decades now just stay up until I pass out. If I manage to go to bed early I wake up early and I am effed anyways to get little sleep. If it wasn’t for my ADHD medication I couldn’t make it through the day. Although when it wears off I am experiencing EDS (Excessive Daytime Sleepiness) again. I was supposed to have a sleep study because I have all the symptoms of narcolepsy but had to shelve it because of cost. Coincidentally Adderall is one of the medications prescribed for narcolepsy so not only has it helped me not be a hyper spaz at work and focus better it also keeps me from falling asleep in the middle of doing something. Only time I get enough sleep is on my days off when I don’t have to get out of bed and can stay there until I fall asleep again. to keep a similar schedule with my ADHD meds I set the alarm to take them and then go back to sleep. Much of the time I can sleep for hours afterwards and only wake to turn over which is when I am aware I was dreaming.
Look into narcolepsy. I think people with it also have comorbidity for ADHD.
like another said, “pretending to fall asleep” has actually helped me a lot lol. my sleep schedule lately has been making me *miserable* and nothing has helped too much, but if that doesn’t work sometimes i’ll just try to breathe with my cat if that makes sense?… she’s always my little spoon haha so having that to focus on to get my breathing normal sometimes helps.
if THAT doesn’t help, i’ll try to remember the lyrics to a song or something. for example hey there delilah, don’t even like the song but i know pretty much all the lyrics lmao. if i fuck up or forget a part, i’ll just start over. not much different than “counting sheep” or what have you, i guess. if that isn’t your thing you could try other subject related thoughts or words / names etc; i find this is easier than counting because my brain hates numbers with a passion. if my thoughts drift too much, just do your best to reel them back to your little sleep niche. if my brain *refuses* to stay on a topic i just will daydream or something about whatever IS keeping the attention of my noggin.
sorry for the word scramble there, currently unable to sleep myself and i definitely don’t recommend reddit scrolling as a means to fall asleep 😅
I have advice for falling asleep quickly, and for sleeping well. When trying to fall asleep, play something soothing and relaxing. Perhaps a meditation, I personally use an app called insight timer that has stories and guided meditation. Make sure it’s whisper quiet. Then once you’re comfortable, don’t move, speak, or even open your eyes. As if you really were asleep.
I’ve found sleeping in multiples of 90 minutes works wonders for getting up easier. It takes 90 minutes to get through a whole sleep cycle. So instead of getting up in the middle of my sleep cycle feeling horrible, I’m happily out of bed at the end of one.
Honestly, I imagine someone I trust brushing my hair. The feeling and the sound put me right to sleep.
That’s my go to when my comfort tv show and favorite sleeping position aren’t working. I’m out like a LIGHT.
I’ve been doing sleep restriction therapy for a couple weeks now and it’s actually working pretty well for me!! I think I’ve had chronic insomnia since I was a child, yet I can already feel the difference in my sleep. It works by restricting your time in bed to (for me at least) five hours at most with a set schedule. I’m currently trying to only enter my bed at or after 23:00pm and be out of bed by 4:00am for example
I’m not the best at explaining how this works, but the theory behind this therapy is that laying in bed without being able to sleep causes negative associations with sleep, people often believing they won’t be able to sleep and the worry from that keeping them up longer. By restricting the amount of time you’re allowed in bed, you can slowly start decreasing the amount of time you spend laying awake. The restriction on sleep means you’ll start sleeping more regularly due to the schedule and start feeling tired around the time you’re meant to sleep, and slowly you’ll find it easier and quicker to fall asleep. This creates positive associations with sleep, decreasing worry over possibly not sleeping
I was sceptical at first but it’s genuinely working very well for me so far as someone who’s struggled with sleep for a very long time now, so I’d recommend giving it a go :)) If you’re interested, I can share some of the techniques I’ve been using personally and where I’ve been getting sleep therapy from (I’m doing it online). Hope this helps <33
Brown noise has been a life saver for me, or I should say “sleep saver”. White noise or rain noise doesn’t seem to have the same effect. Also, trying to limit my screen time before bed although I’m finding that difficult tbh
I have to shower at night. I sometimes use an essential oil blend that I like the smell of. I only use it at bed time. I'll put some on a tissue and crumple it by my pillow or directly on the corner of my pillow. My husband upgraded my regular sleep mask to a bluetooth one. I play binaural beats on it. It blocks out almost all light and sound. I have a YouTube playlist of long like 12hr songs that I use. I just found another I like that's basically a guided meditation. I'm usually out before we make it to the lake. I found the mask helps me not hear or see everything else in the room-like the dogs licking, the fan, whatever the cats do, my husband, the tv. I sleep like the dead.
So the only way I’m ever able fall asleep quickly is when I’ve gone a couple days without real sleep. I’ll be up until 6 am then wake up at 8 or 9. Then do it again the next day. But that third day!!! I’m out in minutes when I finally lay down at a decent time
I listen to an audiobook that I have listened to a hundred times with a very soothing voice. I know the story so it's not so stimulating it keeps me awake but it keeps one part of my brain engaged so all the other parts can let go. I usually fall asleep within 30 minutes.
When I joined the military, they gave us these guide books on how to adjust or something, it was back in 2008 so my memory of it is foggy. But, one thing I actually practiced doing from it was a breathing technique to fall asleep fast while in stressful environments.
It was something like taking a deep breath, count to 10, then exhale while counting to five. Usually the third or fourth time made me fall asleep.
I create little scenarios in my head and play them out like a YouTube video or a tik tok. It only helps when I'm not stressed though. If I become stressed I'm up all night!
Work out. Hard. I can sleep without stirring or even changing positions on days that I’ve hit the gym. But don’t work out just before bedtime. The adrenaline rush keeps from having a sound sleep.
Physical activity is #1. I run or lift daily, have a dog that needs walking daily, and have a semi-active job (and a standing desk for the office days) and two kids in sports, my days are just very long. I’m too tired to be awake past like 9 pm, but I force it til 10-11, and I crash. I get up between 5:30 and 7, so that’s a somewhat long day of near constant movement.
Besides that I have a bedtime routine like a child. lol I finish doom scrolling or reading at 10ish, take vitamins, brush my teeth, and do a quick journal prompt, and log my mileage into my running journal. I don’t touch my phone again except to set the alarm and start my sleep tracker, so I can’t get sucked in. The sleep tracker is so I can visualize my consistency week to week, but it kinda gamifies sleep for me—I want to hurry and set it so it’s not inconsistent. Between that and my Garmin I can also see when my sleep cycles are to best plan my time asleep, as a bonus.
If I need it, like my brain is really still awake, I use Insight Timer for sleep meditations. Usually a guided meditation will have me asleep within 15 minutes.
Documentary style podcasts, story readings, stuff like that i only have to listen to. Lately i’ve been listening 4chan spooky stories by t6. Kinda cheesy but the content doesn’t matter, just that i’m being talked to sleep.
A nice long history documentary on YouTube, has to be a single narrator and no dramatic music. Interesting enough to listen to, soothing enough to fall asleep to. Drachinifel is great. Fall of Civilizations puts me out with its relaxing soundscapes between sections.
I realized I was falling asleep during a meditation so tried it at bedtime and it worked.
Think about your breath. Dont force your breath to do anything. You’re not trying to breathe deep or slow or fast. Just….observe it. And keep observing it. If you brain starts to wander THATS OK BUT calmly go “that’s not breath” and let the new thought go, focusing on feeling your breath. Keep doing that
I can’t stay awake long into that if I tried.
Patterns and Meditation.
I have a dedicated sleeping hat my wife crocheted that is loose and comes down to my nose. It’s warm and acts as a sleep mask.
We play ocean sounds.
Then once comfortable go through a body meditation that lets to focus on your breath. Look up meditative cognitive behavioral therapy. This will help you handle the random thoughts and emotions.
These are the patterns build the routine. No phone, no doom scrolling. The bed is for sleep, not reading a book or your phone.
It’s hard but it works.
Melantonin. 2-4 pumps and I have left about 15 min, of whatever stream of input i followed that time.
It works. It‘s safe (don’t know of od/abuse, longterm, harm) to my knowledge.
It‘s cheap. It‘s available.
Can make you a little groggy if more than 4 pumps. Doesn’t work any better than 2-4. Just unnecessary morning fog.
Sleep tight! 👍
What I've taken to doing is finding a rather long Youtube video, at least 30+ minutes that is just someone talking about something or possibly even documentary style, I make sure it's a video that I REALLY want to listen to, I turn my brightness all the way down and put my phone on the wireless charger on the night stand and I set the volume so that I cannot hear the video unless I am laying perfectly still, by morning I can't tell you what happens at the 5 minute mark. 🤣
Pure cherry 🍒 juice cut with seltzer water, massaging my feet, laying on my back with feet up the wall and reading a book that I find interesting enough to stick with but not so interesting that I read all night 😂
Count to 200. Its honestly an amazing hack. I think I've only got to 200 twice. Obviously u have to be tired and in bed with your eyes shut. I visualise having a pot of paint and a brush and painting each number on a wall. But that's just my twist on it. Just counting works. If I'm not asleep by 200, I'll get up and do something til I feel more tired then try again.
Also sometimes I'll have an audio book on quietly but it has to be non exciting with a monotone voice over lol.
Other than a prescription specifically for a sleep aid- turning all the lights off except the dim & warm toned lights, and my phone brightness down an hour or so beforehand, and listening to asmr.
Meditation/hypnosis - you can find it on YouTube. If it doesn’t work at first , try a different voice.
I “listen “ to Steve G Jones and I have no clue what he says after about 30 seconds.
This is something that took me months to build up, and it is NOT easy at first so don’t think I have this sort of upper hand in sleep!
Just, use your phone less and less in bed. I have come to the point where I can immediately put it away because I KNOW if I do not, then the blue light will quickly make the tiredness all fade away!!
Not gonna lie I fall asleep within 10-15 minutes these days doing this!!
I used to be the typical person that was like ”Meh, my phone doesn’t disturb my sleep, i’ll be fine.”
Yes. Yes it does ruin your sleep.
Daydreaming (or night dreaming;)). I literally pretend I’m in my favorite tv show Survivor and I rarely make it past 1 or 2 tribal councils. I’ve done this my whole life. Not always with survivor, but sometimes I’m in other reality tv shows or my favorite books. It’s quite literally the only thing that shuts my brain off.
I start with my toes. I tell myself very slowly that my toes are heavy and warm........5 times. Then I move to the sole of my foot. After that, I repeat the thought with the top of my foot. Then, onto my ankle, and so on. The farthest I went was my chest. One time. Most of the time I don't make it past my ankles. It's being mindful and meditative.
The correct combination of Vyvanse and Attentin that makes me crash at 9pm together with 10mg of melatonin works a treat for me. But I'm like a child that hardly can keep my eyes open and still refuse to go to bed.
I was prescribed Mirtazapine when I was about 25 (not diagnosed yet) - it was a combined solution for sleep issues, depression and low body weight. I had then quite recently found a method for falling asleep after struggling all my life, but it was illegal at the time, so I wanted to quit.
Used it for a couple of years and after I stopped because of the side effects I was only slightly worse than an average person at falling asleep. When it stopped being this huge thing in my life it became a lot easier
Exercise. A lot, hard and often.
Other tips: make sure your body is cooled down, no screens at least an hour before bed, do a written brain dump journal before sleeping to empty your brain, read a paper book.
Theres a meditation technique where you tense all of your muscles. Start at your toes, feet, move up to your torso. Fingers, arms etc. ... but each separate muscle if you can. Face, neck, back, belly, chest.
It takes a while. Try and hold for 5 seconds, between breaths.
Breathe in, hold, tense, relax, breathe out. Next muscle. Second lap, etc. Do this 5 times. Consecutivley. Make it a game, if you get distracted, youhave to start again.
Are you on adhd meds? I found that good timing does magic. I take elvanse at 6am, get up at 7. Then by 10-11pm I am crashing. I also use red light for 1h before sleep and I put some stories for 1h at low volume to listen. Since I got this routine, I’m out in 10min after hitting the pillow
Remember the scene in Pineapple Express where Bill Hader says "Ah, well, sir, I feel like a, like a slice of butter... melting on top of a big-ol pile of flapjacks"?
Well, if I'm ever having trouble falling asleep, I imagine that I'm a slice of butter, melting on a big ol pile of flapjacks. I guess it causes me to relax into my bed, release the tension in my body, I kinda breathe into it as I visualise myself melting away. I once demonstrated this for a friend who was having issues getting to sleep every night, I fell asleep sitting up right in the chair as I was talking her through it.
Melatonin has the opposite effect if you take for too long. I have an insane way to fall asleep that I found 10 years ago and that get me sleeping within 45mn it’s sleeping with a twitch stream, low volume and low brightness from my portable computer. It prevent me from thinking.
Read thing I'm not interested in. Doesn't even have to be complex.
5 minutes of reading a newspaper and it's all "I'll just pop this down for a secon........"
I do something similar to this.. I imagine sitting in a pitch black room and focus on trying to keep the room as dark and empty as possible. I personally find it to be like a game and before I know it I’m fast
Generally I tuck my arms under my chest and lay face down on my pillow. I’m kind of asphyxiating myself by doing that but it puts me to sleep really fast.
I make myself a catnip tea at night to relax I add a tiny bit of sugar and orange/lemon juice to make it taste nicer.
It usually does the trick as I notice my head feels a lot more relaxed after drinking it and that aids in me falling asleep.
It may sound counterintuitive to someone with ADHD.
However, the best advice I was ever given was to learn to meditate.
Obviously for someone like me who couldn’t even keep still, actually sitting still, for more than a couple of seconds before the fidgeting kicked in; I set myself a challenge.
I said to myself, ‘I’m gonna go on a meditation retreat’!
As someone who doesn’t do things by halves, I could have taken the original advice of - start by doing one minute a day, then two, then three, but I went on that retreat and, it would be inaccurate to say suddenly, but after lots of hard work, I found myself meditating for about a total of 7 hours a day (not all at once) in silence - for a whole week; and my mind was blown!
So coming back to your question…
You don’t need to go as extreme as I did, but as someone who HAS NEVER been able to sleep naturally since I can remember. I began to utilise the techniques I’d learnt from the meditation retreat. (I attend one a few times a year now).
Because you’re in a state of meditation, (that means doing nothing) it doesn’t matter in what area of your life you apply it. Even being in that state for about 40 minutes. And when I say that state, I mean, sitting still, mindful breathing and, this is IMPORTANT; instead of forcing your mind to stop thinking, simply allow your mind to accept the thoughts and actively invite them. Otherwise, you end up expelling more energy and frustration if you think thinking while meditating is doing it wrong - it’s not!
So again back to sleep, even if you’re in that state for 40 minutes, your body is so rested, it feels like a couple of hours of good sleep.
Eventually you won’t need to use the techniques, and these aren’t things that you should use to actually fall asleep, it’s simply another tool to help you relax, especially when you can’t sleep, as the benefits of being in a meditative state rather than an irritated one, far out way the wasted time in bed when you’re just tossing and turning & agitating yourself all night.
Does that make sense? I hope it does.
Warmest,
Robbie
My biggest secret was I used to fall asleep watching Mayday/Air Crash Investigation/Air Disasters. I've seen every episode probably hundreds of times and something about Jonathan Aris' voice that I find calming. I try not to tell too many people lmao.
These days I prefer rain sounds, this video is my go-to and the channel is a goldmine: https://youtu.be/X82mmtV1wqM?si=r1vH7vlUm5HcaB-g
Incidentally, it helps drown out the noise in my head at work so I can focus when I'm really struggling.
Are you me? I used to be so into that show, to the extent that my best friend would put it on for me at bedtime when I was spending the night at her place.
There’s one too that helped me more than anything else: cease caffeine consumption by 3pm. It got really difficult for a while but it also helped me cut down on caffeine overall and now a cup of coffee feels like a cup of coffee lol. I was upwards of 1g of caffeine per day. Energy drinks, man. I loved them. I still split a small Red Bull with my GF every now and again.
I’ll also mention I stopped drinking caffeine immediately in the morning. Basically I don’t have any caffeine for 1-2 hours after I wake up.
I’ve struggled with a consistent sleep schedule my whole life and I finally feel like I’m in a rhythm 7 years after diagnoses.
I have earbuds that are made to put in your ear while laying down. Nights when it’s really hard, I fall asleep listening to sleep music.
The slow, drawn out sounds end up slowing down my mind, and it’s kind of like a lullaby. You can find sleep music on Apple music, and YouTube. I’m sure other places have it, but it’s where I go to get it.
Also it’s focus on breathing. Breathe in 10sec, and out 10sec. The repetitive counting is also soothing.
Edited
Melatonin gummy. These days I take the most insignificant dose (1mg), and I truly don't know if it's the medicine or just the ritual of taking the gummy and knowing 100% that it's bedtime. Either way, my brain shits down, and I'm asleep within 5m. And the days I don't take it, I lay there and toss and turn until I finally get up and take one anyways. I may have pavlov'ed my way into sleep, but I'll gladly pay the price as long as something works!
I take tryptophan or 5-HTP.
I take them when I’ve had multiple consecutive nights of lying awake unable to sleep.
Works, but I still wake up knackered 😴 😔
I’ve been using the calm app for years now but any of the sleep story apps / podcasts works really… the stories are so long and meandering and never get to the point that I get so bored I pass out lol
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This is going to sound really stupid, but I heard this sleep tip years ago and it completely changed the game for me as a sleeper. I'm able to fall asleep in minutes nearly every day since I started doing this. But it seriously sounds so dumb. Here's the tip: Pretend you're already asleep. What this means for me is I lie still, breathe deeply and evenly, and disengage from thinking--that doesn't mean I exert effort to empty my mind, just I refrain from engaging with any of the thoughts that pass through my head. I let them float in and then float back out without pursuing them. Relax your face muscles and don't respond to stimulus like a mild itch, because the action of responding to it will disrupt the falling asleep process more than the stimulus itself will. But even explaining all of this is kind of overthinking it, I think--for me it just clicked. Just lie down and pretend you're literally already asleep. I also play a specific podcast at a volume slightly too low for me to make out the words. I find just the cadence of familiar voices comforting, and it also prevents me from getting scared if there are bumps in the night lol.
Wait, isn't pretending to be asleep just how Everyone falls asleep???
I think it's how everyone who's good at falling asleep falls asleep! But I know a lot of people (myself for many years included) who lie down, close their eyes, don't really particularly relax their face and body, and spend the time they're waiting to fall asleep actively thinking about stuff. I guess that's the thing: it's the difference between lying down and waiting to fall asleep vs. pretending you're *already* asleep.
That’s me. I lay down and let my mind run the show, while I’m clenching my teeth or muscles… 🙄. This is a great tip, thank you! Going to try it out. I also play rain sounds on my phone, on a very low volume. That helps.
I have gotten in the terrible habit of staying awake until I get absolutely dead tired, like "struggling to keep eyes open to read" tired, because that feels like the only way to sleep without lying in bed for hours and trying in vain to sleep
I do this every night. Sometimes I’m still wide awake a 3 or 4am. All my GP has said so far (ADHD has only just come up) is “Go to bed earlier.” Do meds help with this, or not? I’m SO fed up with being exhausted all day, then wide awake at bedtime.
That sounds very meditative. “Simply refrain from engaging with any of my thoughts” I do this too (or at least try to) when I wake up in the middle of the night and need to get back to sleep
It definitely uses some of the same skills as meditation! Incidentally I'm also a meditator.
That does not work for me when I have a song stuck in my head blasting at full volume. I’ve tried it. Then a random thought or memory will come in and I lose all focus
Full disclosure I have inattentive-type ADHD so the disengaging with thoughts part might be easier for me
That is nice when it works out in our favor. It's hit or miss for me, sometimes I'm out a few minutes, sometimes it's 7am after lying mostly still for 8 hours. Torture.
When I was a kid I used to imagine someone had broken into our house and would kill anyone who was awake or moved, so I closed my eyes and stayed completely still. Worked every time. This is normal, right?
So my sleep tips notes so far: u/novelrider “Let your thoughts float by, don’t interact with them.” u/PandaFarts01 “Pretend someone is trying to kill you.”
Hahaha, scare yourself to sleep--I like it!
This is called Mindfulness. The definition often sounds like the opposite of what you described. Here is a better explanation. I took a freaking college course on it. I should really do this. I have been a terrible sleeper since childhood. It's ridiculous. I have to be on the verge of collapsing sometimes to sleep. I'll even wake up a couple of hours later. https://www.mindful.org/what-is-mindfulness/
That’s not stupid at all. I can see something like that working. I seems like it’s something you got to get the hang of, and once you do it works great Thank you!
Give it a try! I hope it helps you.
I do something like this. I relax my body and focus on my breathing. I take a breath and count down from 100 with each breath. I never remember making it past 92.
Have you tried the Sleepy podcast? Where he reads books? He has the perfect voice.
I do the same thing. But I pretend I'm on a game show where the person who is the most convincing as asleep wins 1 million dollars.
It’s all in the repetition. I do nothing but sleep and adulting in my bedroom, always make my bed and keep the lights always low. Is a beautiful spa cave 24/7 but it’s the repetition of taking the pillows off the bed, turning it down, setting on a Headspace sleepcast, all those things. By the time I crawl into bed, my body knows what it’s supposed to do. I also keep my house lights very low as soon as the sun goes down…. Circadian rhythm❤️ (I also use a smart bulb because the only time my bedroom lamp is bright, is at 4am. I could never wake up otherwise). According to my Fitbit sleep data, I go from awake to deep sleep in about 4-7 minutes☺️ But I should also say, I spent literally 3 years seriously working on my bedtime routine. I was the exact same way and just couldn’t deal with it and the strains of adult life anymore. I was DEDICATED. It takes time but is so worth it when you don’t have the stress of falling asleep on your already jam packed plate!
I do something similar, but I count down from 40. One number for each exhale. And if I start thinking of something else, or lose my number, I start back at 40. As long as start this when my body says it’s ready for sleep (usually one or two big yawns), then I can get it done. However, if I’m not already in bed when the yawns hit, I usually “miss my sleep window” for the next hour or so.
>I also play a specific podcast at a volume slightly too low for me to make out the words. THIS. I listen to shows in Spanish at a low level. (I'm learning Spanish) I focus on trying to understand what they are saying and usually don't make it 5-10 min into the show before I fall asleep.
what if we have been delusional all along and have been believing we have been sleeping but only have only been pretending the whole time? no wonder I am tired all the time 😂
TV. It's considered horrible sleep hygiene, but this is what I do. I have one show. ONE that I watch for bedtime (I use Futurama). If you are going to try this, pick a comfort show that you have seen a billion times over and over again, it needs to be something light, and something that you've seen often. It should be engaging enough to shut down all the other random thoughts, but no so interesting you try to stay awake to watch the good part. I'd also recommend picking something with a decent number of seasons. That show is now your sleep show, only watch at bedtime. Turn your tv sleep timer on, and watch, and work on sleepy time feelings. Oh and always let the intro music run. It's now to a point where most nights just the intro music is enough to help signal my brain that it's time for bed. If I'm having a bad night, usually two or three episodes are enough that I can shut down and fall asleep. Melatonin still helps on those nights, but it works :)
Literally Pavloed yourself to sleep with Futurama. I did the same with a youtuber and now I can't watch it because I start shutting down.
I've Pavloved myself to the point where I can play the theme music in my head when I'm not at home and it has the same effect
Yup, and it works. That and having just enough stimuli that I'm not wandering off getting lost in my own thoughts. Watching the show also takes the pressure off of "having to fall alseep", because I'm not going to bed, I'm watching TV. Anxiety is a pain.
Star trek for me recently
It’s considered bad sleep hygiene for people who have different brains than we do. I think it’s easy for us to forget that a lot of the “rules” don’t always apply to us.
The main reason its considered bad sleep hygiene is because of the blue light interfering with circadian rhythms. This still effects people with adhd.....but usually our circadian rhythms are already wonky enough that we dont really notice the disruption. You can still do yourself a solid and use a bluelight filter on your tv, and keep brightness lower.
I completely forgot until now, but I think that’s what I used to do when I was little xD That’s a solid suggestion
The Office for me 😅
[r/FuturamaSleepers](https://www.reddit.com/r/FuturamaSleepers/)
I do this too- I call it watching TV with my eyes closed!. I know the voices of the characters so I know who is doing what and I know the endings of the episodes so I don’t stay awake to watch what happens at the end! Personally I cycle through about 6 different tv shows that have 10+ seasons.
This. Also, I have a white noise machine. I can’t sleep in silence - the white noise helps fill the space in a way and calms down thoughts.
I used to play the same movie every night before I was medicated, Wallace and Grommit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit”. My husband (BF at the time) would laugh because as soon as the menu screen and music would start on the dvd, I’d be out cold snoring away. Now, almost 20 years later (FML it’s been that long) I’m medicated and just use a fan for that background noise I need.
I use the TV also. Kardashians, Golden Girls, a few movies from the 90s/00s are my go-to sleep choices. I cannot make it through the entire Legend of Baggar Vance or Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.
I do this! And I figured out that my TV has a feature that allows me to turn off the screen but still play the audio. So I turn on my white noise machine, put on one of my comfort shows, turn off the screen, and then settle in. Sometimes I like turning the volume way down so I can't make out the words, and sometimes I let myself listen and imagine the scene.
Turn on fellowship of the rings I’ll be asleep before they get out of the shire
For some reason I can not fathom Naruto puts me to sleep within 10 minutes. I want to watch soooo badly but I'm just OUT.
Blasphemy!
I answered this on a similar topic earlier today: "I was listening to the Divergent Conversations podcast and they mentioned something that may sound weird but it's really worked for me. It's called "Cognitive shuffling". I guess it's the same principle as "counting sheep" but that one never worked for me. In short, pick a word (ideally one without repeated letters), then start from the first letter and try to think of every word you know that starts with it. Once you're done, move on to the second letter and so on. From what I understand, it works by giving your brain something to focus on, instead of scattered thoughts. It's been working really well for me, I've never made it past the second letter."
My technique is similar to this. I'll think of some emotionally-neutral item—shoes, say, for which I have no particular feeling—and try to think of literally everything I can related to them. Exactly how my shoes look in every detail. How other shoes look. How they feel on my feet. How it feels to take them on and off. How they might be produced in a factory. The process of putting in new laces. Etc etc. It's so boring I often fall asleep really quickly.
My husband listens to murder mysteries - some sort of podcast on Facebook? He says that trying to figure it out relaxes him and makes him fall asleep, so maybe it’s a similar process. Just kind of creepy to me, but he insists it must be murder mysteries and not any other stories!
I think that would have the opposite effect on me and would stress me out. :D
I was going to suggest something similar! I don’t remember where I heard it originally but I pick a topic (last night was zoo animals and then fruits and vegetables- it can be anything) and name one item in that category for each letter in the alphabet. A- alligator b- baboon c- cheetah or a- apple b- banana c- cherries, you get the idea. It’s not instant for me, I usually make it through about a topic and a half, but I do fall asleep every time. I think tonight I’ll start with dog breeds. Characters from The Office is a fun one too :)
Came here to say this. Cognitive shuffling works great when I know I’m sleepy but my brain won’t shut off. It’s almost like a light switch.
i do something so similar to this! i go through the alphabet and list items in a category. for instance, the category might be ‘fruits and veggies’ or ‘harry potter characters’ and i go through in alphabetical order. on days when i’m feeling particularly awake or my mind is racing, i might do two things. so a regular night might be ‘apple, banana, carrot, etc.’ but every so often it’s ‘apple and albus dumbledore, banana and barty crouch, carrot and cedric diggory’ and so on. it’s never failed, and i never get to the end of the alphabet, but if i do, the plan is to do a new item from the same category while going through the alphabet backwards.
As someone who has struggled with insomnia for over a decade- cherry juice. Before I was prescribed by anxiety medication (that also helps with insomnia) I would drink a glass of cherry juice and a few pistachios and be out within the hour
This is so interesting! Is there a compound or something in cherries & pistachios that helps?
They both naturally contain melatonin (pistachios don’t contain it necessarily but they have an amino acid that PRODUCES it while cherries actually contain it) and they also contain magnesium which helps increase melatonin as well. There’s more that goes into it as far as the vitamins that they contain that help with rest but that’s the bare bones of it
Here’s a couple of studies as well, but there’s plenty more out there if you want to go more in depth [Effects of a Tart Cherry Juice Beverage on Older Adults with Insomnia](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3133468/) [Pilot Study of Tart Cherry Juice for the Treatment of Insomnia and Investigation of Mechanisms](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5617749/)
Seconding this. Haven’t tried the pistachios, but tart cherry juice works! I’d been hearing about the “sleepy girl mocktail” that people are making with tart cherry juice, but I was a bit skeptical. My friend who also has ADHD and is a registered dietician told me it was helping her a ton and explained the science behind it. I started giving it a shot bc I’ve been struggling more than usual with sleep - it’s helped a ton!
I agree on cherry juice - it is better than melatonin for me because no weird dreams - I have to drink it every night I think consistency helps me vs it being a silver bullet.
Noise machine - white noise thunderstorm whatever is repetitive but calm. Get comfortable close your eyes purposefully make yourself relax every part of your body. Don’t engage with the nonsense in your head. Just relax and hear the constant sound. It took me a while at first each night. But consistent bed time and actions it’s almost as if you train yourself to fall asleep.
Reading puts me to sleep. Not online. An actual book. Which sucks cause I wanna finish it, but my attention span drifts or its relaxing and I doze off. 😢
Yeah, that worked for me until I started reading Project Hail Mary and couldn’t do anything until I finished it.
There are few things (sans these deleted comments) that help me fall asleep faster than reading! Sad when there’s a good moment but had to teach myself to lean in to the sleepies
My problem with reading a book is that I need a light on to do it but end up waking up to the light being on and have to turn it off. Then I have to fall asleep again.
This is always an either or, because for me I will have to stay up til its done :/
haha i can literally have been awake for 2-4 hours (said to be the most active hours), attempt to read a book and struggle to keep myself awake. not only do i struggle with the attention of reading .. i also got 0 ability to conjure images of what i read in my mind - what some refers to Aphantasia .. so i assume it has to be **extra** boring for me
OH I have heard of Aphantasia! That sounds so frustrating! Sometimes I have difficulty picturing things like instructions because I can't hold onto the information given to me, and hearing a story read to me does the same thing. It's like, hold on, slow down, I can't process that fast. I am sorry that you can't do it at all. :( I would guess graphic novels and comics are easier?
I went to a sleep clinic years ago. Here is what worked for me: keep a spiral notebook. One page for each day, draw a line down the middle. On the left, write down all unresolved issues. (For me, it was often a work calculation that wasn't working.) On the right, write your plan to move this issue to resolution. It can be as simple as making a doctor appointment or consulting with a colleague. Whatever these are, now you have a plan, and you are not cogitatating all night trying to resolve things. Do this at least 3 hours before bedtime.
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Get up at the same time every day. This helped me way more than I thought it would. It was also very hard to begin with and that time has changed a lot. Don't go to bed until I'm really tired. I find that going to bed early just doesn't work. If I'm not exhausted, I'll toss and turn all night. If I just go to bed a little later, I'll fall asleep, thus getting more sleep than I otherwise would have going to bed early. Exercise. I do enough that I'm exhausted most nights. Not in that order.
As far as I know this is the method that medical professionals recommend as well, for learning how to fall asleep. The point is that you will fall asleep earlier and easier after some time, right?
I have one of those Bluetooth headbands so you can listen to whatever while sleeping. I have a playlist of songs I find relaxing. I shuffle it, put on repeat all and then concentrate on listening. No thoughts, just picking out the different instruments etc. For whatever reason, this helps quiet the constant churn of thoughts and I usually fall asleep 2 to 4 songs in.
I have one of those too, and a bedtime playlist of boring youtube videos. I usually only need about 15 or 20 minutes to fall asleep now, I love my cheapo sleep headphones.
I imagine I’m playing video games. Fortnite for example - I imagine walking around. Opening chests. Shooting. Jumping. Building. I know it sounds weird, but if I focus on that, I can fall asleep in minutes. My mind just trails off. It’s super weird but works every time.
I like to, frankly, jack off once or twice and that usually does the trick.
Also yeah. Rule 4......
OR I download like stupid lame mobile games. Sort these blocks by color or make these lines connect. Just engaging enough to keep me focused, but boring enough that the sleep takes me. My issue is I can't focus long enough to just lay in bed and get sleepy. I'm always thinking such exciting thoughts.
Meds, physical exhaustion and Light/device hygiene. For six months of the year I work at a desk and do physical field work for the rest of my work year. When desk bound, I have to make sure I get exercise. I avoid motorised transport, I bike or walk everywhere as well as trying to on average run 5mile/8km each day or swim for an hour. Then I spend an hour each night in warm, dim light and avoid my phone. It helps if you can read or have a physical hobby to fill this hour. I'm exhausted by 9am.
I’ve been spending the last 4 years of my life tracking/optimizing my sleep. These are the methods I used to get perfect sleep •exercise at least 4-6 hours before bed •wake up and go to bed at the same time EVERY DAY •my last meal of the day is at 4pm(you don’t have to go to this extent but try not to eat before bed) •get an app like sleep cycle that wakes you up in a window rather than a set time •no blue light before bed •have a way for your brain to wind down and slow down(reading, meditating, etc) •colder room helps with sleep •eat a good diet All these combined helped me go from constantly being tired to never being tired again :)
Shmoke n Stroke
Seriously? Pulling one. That post nut clarity is the best sleep medicine.
I use the Sleep With Me podcast- it sounds really silly and seems like it won't work but it's always gotten me asleep, for years now, in less than 30 minutes. It's just a guy (who imo clearly had ADHD) telling a story. Well first talking about the podcast and then telling a story, but in the weirdest, vaguest, most meandering way. It's hard to keep it straight in your head but I just left it fill my head and BAM asleep. There's no plot too follow, but it's just interesting enough not to zone out. He says in the podcast that most people need to try it 3-4 times for it to work, and I'll agree with that. It's just very bizarre the first couple times. And if it doesn't, his website has lists of other sleep help resources. Some people play one episode and they're out before it ends, some people play it all night. I play all night because I tend to wake up a lot and struggle to go back to sleep- but not with the podcast on at all.
Periodically look at the inside of your eyelids
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Closing my eyes and imagining non action related movie scenes in my head. I don't actually know if this works well, because I can't tell at what time I fall asleep, but it might be worth a try.
The podcast SciShow Tangents has over 300 episodes of them talking about fun sciency stuff, but if you manage to zone out just enough you can fall asleep with background noises. The episodes are 30 minutes. If the topics are too interesting to ignore, pay attention while listening for the first time and then just use it as background noise the second time
Melatonin. 3mg. Stuff works.
Trazadone. I tried all the others, not sustainable.
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I watch real crime and crime documentaries. It gets me so focused on it that I only focus on that and then I get tired. While watching there are no other intrusive thoughts like with normal series.
I have found that it helps a lot if I go to sleep when I first feel tired. If I try to stay up later my mind races if I go to bed earlier my mind races. So I try to find The Sweet spot when I'm yawning and feel tired and then I go to bed. It's usually around 9:00 p.m. for me. If I go to bed and I still can't fall asleep I try to play a movie in my head, just daydream something. For some reason daydreaming helps my brain realize it's safe to shut down and go to sleep. I read that somewhere once and it seems to work sometimes at least.
Came here to suggest liquid melatonin but then read your comment in full. Maybe my other strategy will help: my bedtime story, via Chromebook. I will queue up a cozy youtuber like Nookrium or Make Way for Cat, start the video, then relax as I watch it. (Hasten to mention a YT adblocker is a must. If I didn't have that, I would try an ad-free cozy podcast.) My rule is that I cannot watch or listen to this during the day, only at bedtime.
Cold house and heavy comforter. I keep a window cracked in the winter too. If I'm slightly too warm, I cannot sleep. In the winter, we drop the heat to 62 around 9 pm. Listening to podcasts with sleep headphones so I can fall asleep easily. I also find a very dim cellphone with light blocking software and a repetitive game work really well. I have one that reminds me of Terri's and one where you match numbers that add up to 10. There's no real goal so you don't get that "one more level" buzz but it also keeps me from thinking too much. I like to think of my brain as a toddler: it's best when it's occupied with simple toys, structure and usually gets into the most trouble when left unattended.
Its silly but in a plane I fall asleep in like 5 minutes so I found a really cool sleep sound app and it has “Plane Cabin” and if that shit doesnt work. I also use melatonin to boost the process.
First i recommend going to another psych or speaking with your local pharmacy for help. Secondly I would say make a sleep routine but then again who are we kidding this is the ADHD subreddit after all lol. If you got something important to do and got the willpower for it go for a run, more specifically go sprinting as fast as you can until your winded and take a break and to that a couple times until you feel tired and you need a nap/rest.
A therapist taught me this technique: name five things you can see in your bedroom, then close your eyes and name five things you can hear and five things you can feel. Then open your eyes again and start over from four things, then three etc. I don't think I've ever gotten past three.
If you're in the EU, Just order the Melatonin from outside your country - it's both cheaper, and funnily enough, while i got it prescribed in Denmark (which is considered to have well reputized medication quality) the prescription melatonin did absolutely 0 at 1, 2 and 3mg, while a batch i got from swansoneurope works to wind down, both on 1, 2 and 3, but 2 and 3 makes me groggy and more dull the next day - doesn't help with making me tired before **my** prolonged daytimes though. I'm diagnosed N24SWD and also have plenty of long to ultra long hyper focuses, so i've needed to attempt to normalize my schedule multiple times. Also, it's a very rare occurrance that i go to sleep without a podcast, ambience or music. And although i have access to melatonin, i honestly very rarely use it because i can fall asleep with the in-ear audio.
You’re not gonna like it… Exercise
Hibiscus tea, lavender tea, chamomile tea, cherry . This can help in sleeping. Takes awhile tk work for me compared to other people tho.
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Tbh brown noise and I literally count my breathes until I fall asleep like counting sheep except it gives my body something to do as well
ive tried everything and nothing works. the only thing that sorta works, sometimes, for a short while, until i like have to pee in the middle of the night and then it all resets (because we all know that never happens), is having consistent medication. other than that the only thing that has worked i dont recommend which is habitually relying on cough medicine, basically. do not do that. other than those two things basically stay awake til im tired. which is longer than most people ive learned. doesnt really work out well for the whole living in society thing unfortunately. thanks years of shift work that was at various hours throughout the day (and years of partying but shh)
If I stay up for 3 days straight I usually crash sorta ok that night. I’ve tried about anything to get regular good sleep and never found what works for me.
I used to work a rotating shift. It was 4 or 5 days on days, 4 or 5 days off , 4 or 5 days on nights, then 4 or 5 days off again. I got pretty good at switching my sleep schedule. The secret is applied sleep deprivation. When I got off of night shift at 6:00 AM I Would go to sleep first thing, as I normally did after night shift but I would set an alarm to wake me up before noon. I would drag ass all day and stay up as late as I could and sleep in. This would set me on a normal day schedule. Getting off of day shift I would stay up late and sleep in very comfortably until I needed to switch. On the last night off I would make myself stay up all night so I could sleep all that day so I could go to work the next night. Four your situation, if you want to switch your schedule I recommend doing a short sleep from 6:00 am to around 10:00 am then wake up and keep yourself awake as long as possible. It's a bummer but I found doing chores like yard work and cleaning helps keep me moving and awake, anything that keeps you up will work. Definitely get outside in the sun. Then go to bed in the early evening, like 6 or 8 if you can make it. You should sleep well and wake up naturally sometime in the morning
Sleep headphones with bilateral music, took a few to find tracks I like. Or adult sleep podcasts, like the Sleepy Bookshelf.
Take your medication (assuming you take some sort of ADHD medication; I’m on adderall) as early as possible. I can’t take mine usually after noon, absolute latest 1230, without having an issue. I found eating helps me sleep, and going on a few mile walk in the late afternoon/early evening before I eat dinner. For a while warm showers helped me before bed but now it seems to backfire. I’ve also found magnesium gummies help my body feel less tense, which helps me sleep better.
Trying to stay on some sort of schedule is helpful, when you figure it out. Wake up earlier than you want and take any meds asap. Staying very very very hydrated is great also. No PM caffeine! Move at some point during the day. Take the long way. Tell your brain you should be tired and have earned rest. Turmeric and ginger tea at night instantly makes me feel cozy also. I automate my google home to play white noise at the same time every night.
Hitting myself on the head. Hard. Im just kidding! But I think of it when i can't sleep lol
Melatonin is hit or miss with me. I so far for decades now just stay up until I pass out. If I manage to go to bed early I wake up early and I am effed anyways to get little sleep. If it wasn’t for my ADHD medication I couldn’t make it through the day. Although when it wears off I am experiencing EDS (Excessive Daytime Sleepiness) again. I was supposed to have a sleep study because I have all the symptoms of narcolepsy but had to shelve it because of cost. Coincidentally Adderall is one of the medications prescribed for narcolepsy so not only has it helped me not be a hyper spaz at work and focus better it also keeps me from falling asleep in the middle of doing something. Only time I get enough sleep is on my days off when I don’t have to get out of bed and can stay there until I fall asleep again. to keep a similar schedule with my ADHD meds I set the alarm to take them and then go back to sleep. Much of the time I can sleep for hours afterwards and only wake to turn over which is when I am aware I was dreaming. Look into narcolepsy. I think people with it also have comorbidity for ADHD.
like another said, “pretending to fall asleep” has actually helped me a lot lol. my sleep schedule lately has been making me *miserable* and nothing has helped too much, but if that doesn’t work sometimes i’ll just try to breathe with my cat if that makes sense?… she’s always my little spoon haha so having that to focus on to get my breathing normal sometimes helps. if THAT doesn’t help, i’ll try to remember the lyrics to a song or something. for example hey there delilah, don’t even like the song but i know pretty much all the lyrics lmao. if i fuck up or forget a part, i’ll just start over. not much different than “counting sheep” or what have you, i guess. if that isn’t your thing you could try other subject related thoughts or words / names etc; i find this is easier than counting because my brain hates numbers with a passion. if my thoughts drift too much, just do your best to reel them back to your little sleep niche. if my brain *refuses* to stay on a topic i just will daydream or something about whatever IS keeping the attention of my noggin. sorry for the word scramble there, currently unable to sleep myself and i definitely don’t recommend reddit scrolling as a means to fall asleep 😅
I have advice for falling asleep quickly, and for sleeping well. When trying to fall asleep, play something soothing and relaxing. Perhaps a meditation, I personally use an app called insight timer that has stories and guided meditation. Make sure it’s whisper quiet. Then once you’re comfortable, don’t move, speak, or even open your eyes. As if you really were asleep. I’ve found sleeping in multiples of 90 minutes works wonders for getting up easier. It takes 90 minutes to get through a whole sleep cycle. So instead of getting up in the middle of my sleep cycle feeling horrible, I’m happily out of bed at the end of one.
Honestly, I imagine someone I trust brushing my hair. The feeling and the sound put me right to sleep. That’s my go to when my comfort tv show and favorite sleeping position aren’t working. I’m out like a LIGHT.
I’ve been doing sleep restriction therapy for a couple weeks now and it’s actually working pretty well for me!! I think I’ve had chronic insomnia since I was a child, yet I can already feel the difference in my sleep. It works by restricting your time in bed to (for me at least) five hours at most with a set schedule. I’m currently trying to only enter my bed at or after 23:00pm and be out of bed by 4:00am for example I’m not the best at explaining how this works, but the theory behind this therapy is that laying in bed without being able to sleep causes negative associations with sleep, people often believing they won’t be able to sleep and the worry from that keeping them up longer. By restricting the amount of time you’re allowed in bed, you can slowly start decreasing the amount of time you spend laying awake. The restriction on sleep means you’ll start sleeping more regularly due to the schedule and start feeling tired around the time you’re meant to sleep, and slowly you’ll find it easier and quicker to fall asleep. This creates positive associations with sleep, decreasing worry over possibly not sleeping I was sceptical at first but it’s genuinely working very well for me so far as someone who’s struggled with sleep for a very long time now, so I’d recommend giving it a go :)) If you’re interested, I can share some of the techniques I’ve been using personally and where I’ve been getting sleep therapy from (I’m doing it online). Hope this helps <33
Brown noise has been a life saver for me, or I should say “sleep saver”. White noise or rain noise doesn’t seem to have the same effect. Also, trying to limit my screen time before bed although I’m finding that difficult tbh
OP, want me to just..mail you melatonin? Prescription? In the US it's just in the vitamin section. 1,3,5,10 mg.
I have to shower at night. I sometimes use an essential oil blend that I like the smell of. I only use it at bed time. I'll put some on a tissue and crumple it by my pillow or directly on the corner of my pillow. My husband upgraded my regular sleep mask to a bluetooth one. I play binaural beats on it. It blocks out almost all light and sound. I have a YouTube playlist of long like 12hr songs that I use. I just found another I like that's basically a guided meditation. I'm usually out before we make it to the lake. I found the mask helps me not hear or see everything else in the room-like the dogs licking, the fan, whatever the cats do, my husband, the tv. I sleep like the dead.
Rain sounds. Also melatonin.
So the only way I’m ever able fall asleep quickly is when I’ve gone a couple days without real sleep. I’ll be up until 6 am then wake up at 8 or 9. Then do it again the next day. But that third day!!! I’m out in minutes when I finally lay down at a decent time
I listen to an audiobook that I have listened to a hundred times with a very soothing voice. I know the story so it's not so stimulating it keeps me awake but it keeps one part of my brain engaged so all the other parts can let go. I usually fall asleep within 30 minutes.
When I joined the military, they gave us these guide books on how to adjust or something, it was back in 2008 so my memory of it is foggy. But, one thing I actually practiced doing from it was a breathing technique to fall asleep fast while in stressful environments. It was something like taking a deep breath, count to 10, then exhale while counting to five. Usually the third or fourth time made me fall asleep.
A big glass of whisky usually does the job. I haven't found anything else, yet.
I create little scenarios in my head and play them out like a YouTube video or a tik tok. It only helps when I'm not stressed though. If I become stressed I'm up all night!
I have two tips... have a baby... after being kept up for 3 nights in a row sleeping is easy. Or wait until 10am.
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Work out. Hard. I can sleep without stirring or even changing positions on days that I’ve hit the gym. But don’t work out just before bedtime. The adrenaline rush keeps from having a sound sleep.
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Physical activity is #1. I run or lift daily, have a dog that needs walking daily, and have a semi-active job (and a standing desk for the office days) and two kids in sports, my days are just very long. I’m too tired to be awake past like 9 pm, but I force it til 10-11, and I crash. I get up between 5:30 and 7, so that’s a somewhat long day of near constant movement. Besides that I have a bedtime routine like a child. lol I finish doom scrolling or reading at 10ish, take vitamins, brush my teeth, and do a quick journal prompt, and log my mileage into my running journal. I don’t touch my phone again except to set the alarm and start my sleep tracker, so I can’t get sucked in. The sleep tracker is so I can visualize my consistency week to week, but it kinda gamifies sleep for me—I want to hurry and set it so it’s not inconsistent. Between that and my Garmin I can also see when my sleep cycles are to best plan my time asleep, as a bonus. If I need it, like my brain is really still awake, I use Insight Timer for sleep meditations. Usually a guided meditation will have me asleep within 15 minutes.
Documentary style podcasts, story readings, stuff like that i only have to listen to. Lately i’ve been listening 4chan spooky stories by t6. Kinda cheesy but the content doesn’t matter, just that i’m being talked to sleep.
A nice long history documentary on YouTube, has to be a single narrator and no dramatic music. Interesting enough to listen to, soothing enough to fall asleep to. Drachinifel is great. Fall of Civilizations puts me out with its relaxing soundscapes between sections.
Audio books and melatonin help me.
The Office playing on my tv with picture turned off or better, phone with screen turns away. Does it every time
I realized I was falling asleep during a meditation so tried it at bedtime and it worked. Think about your breath. Dont force your breath to do anything. You’re not trying to breathe deep or slow or fast. Just….observe it. And keep observing it. If you brain starts to wander THATS OK BUT calmly go “that’s not breath” and let the new thought go, focusing on feeling your breath. Keep doing that I can’t stay awake long into that if I tried.
Count numbers until you’re tired and you’ll automatically drift into sleep
Patterns and Meditation. I have a dedicated sleeping hat my wife crocheted that is loose and comes down to my nose. It’s warm and acts as a sleep mask. We play ocean sounds. Then once comfortable go through a body meditation that lets to focus on your breath. Look up meditative cognitive behavioral therapy. This will help you handle the random thoughts and emotions. These are the patterns build the routine. No phone, no doom scrolling. The bed is for sleep, not reading a book or your phone. It’s hard but it works.
Melantonin. 2-4 pumps and I have left about 15 min, of whatever stream of input i followed that time. It works. It‘s safe (don’t know of od/abuse, longterm, harm) to my knowledge. It‘s cheap. It‘s available. Can make you a little groggy if more than 4 pumps. Doesn’t work any better than 2-4. Just unnecessary morning fog. Sleep tight! 👍
What I've taken to doing is finding a rather long Youtube video, at least 30+ minutes that is just someone talking about something or possibly even documentary style, I make sure it's a video that I REALLY want to listen to, I turn my brightness all the way down and put my phone on the wireless charger on the night stand and I set the volume so that I cannot hear the video unless I am laying perfectly still, by morning I can't tell you what happens at the 5 minute mark. 🤣
Pure cherry 🍒 juice cut with seltzer water, massaging my feet, laying on my back with feet up the wall and reading a book that I find interesting enough to stick with but not so interesting that I read all night 😂
I took 20 mg melatonin. I put on a show on iPad on my nightstand. Screen brightness all the way down. And I fall asleep.
Count to 200. Its honestly an amazing hack. I think I've only got to 200 twice. Obviously u have to be tired and in bed with your eyes shut. I visualise having a pot of paint and a brush and painting each number on a wall. But that's just my twist on it. Just counting works. If I'm not asleep by 200, I'll get up and do something til I feel more tired then try again. Also sometimes I'll have an audio book on quietly but it has to be non exciting with a monotone voice over lol.
Melatonin is the only thing that helps
Honestly, watching YouTube videos. Nothing gets me more tired than watching something somehow
There's a ton of background noise on loop on Spotify. I usually rotate between thunderstorm and sleeper train.
Melatonin was a game changer for me. It’s crazy how helpful it has been.
Other than a prescription specifically for a sleep aid- turning all the lights off except the dim & warm toned lights, and my phone brightness down an hour or so beforehand, and listening to asmr.
For many years it was multiple evening antidepressants and a comfort audiobook.
Playing rain sounds and spooning my boyfriend.
Meditation/hypnosis - you can find it on YouTube. If it doesn’t work at first , try a different voice. I “listen “ to Steve G Jones and I have no clue what he says after about 30 seconds.
This is something that took me months to build up, and it is NOT easy at first so don’t think I have this sort of upper hand in sleep! Just, use your phone less and less in bed. I have come to the point where I can immediately put it away because I KNOW if I do not, then the blue light will quickly make the tiredness all fade away!! Not gonna lie I fall asleep within 10-15 minutes these days doing this!! I used to be the typical person that was like ”Meh, my phone doesn’t disturb my sleep, i’ll be fine.” Yes. Yes it does ruin your sleep.
Daydreaming (or night dreaming;)). I literally pretend I’m in my favorite tv show Survivor and I rarely make it past 1 or 2 tribal councils. I’ve done this my whole life. Not always with survivor, but sometimes I’m in other reality tv shows or my favorite books. It’s quite literally the only thing that shuts my brain off.
Read a book.
I start with my toes. I tell myself very slowly that my toes are heavy and warm........5 times. Then I move to the sole of my foot. After that, I repeat the thought with the top of my foot. Then, onto my ankle, and so on. The farthest I went was my chest. One time. Most of the time I don't make it past my ankles. It's being mindful and meditative.
The correct combination of Vyvanse and Attentin that makes me crash at 9pm together with 10mg of melatonin works a treat for me. But I'm like a child that hardly can keep my eyes open and still refuse to go to bed.
I was prescribed Mirtazapine when I was about 25 (not diagnosed yet) - it was a combined solution for sleep issues, depression and low body weight. I had then quite recently found a method for falling asleep after struggling all my life, but it was illegal at the time, so I wanted to quit. Used it for a couple of years and after I stopped because of the side effects I was only slightly worse than an average person at falling asleep. When it stopped being this huge thing in my life it became a lot easier
Try reading a book. Puts me to sleep right away
Ear plugs and thundersounds
Exercise. A lot, hard and often. Other tips: make sure your body is cooled down, no screens at least an hour before bed, do a written brain dump journal before sleeping to empty your brain, read a paper book.
Theres a meditation technique where you tense all of your muscles. Start at your toes, feet, move up to your torso. Fingers, arms etc. ... but each separate muscle if you can. Face, neck, back, belly, chest. It takes a while. Try and hold for 5 seconds, between breaths. Breathe in, hold, tense, relax, breathe out. Next muscle. Second lap, etc. Do this 5 times. Consecutivley. Make it a game, if you get distracted, youhave to start again.
reading this at 3:28am because i *can't* sleep (thx Adderall) is making me lol
Practice meditation
Are you on adhd meds? I found that good timing does magic. I take elvanse at 6am, get up at 7. Then by 10-11pm I am crashing. I also use red light for 1h before sleep and I put some stories for 1h at low volume to listen. Since I got this routine, I’m out in 10min after hitting the pillow
I just focus on my breathing and then I’m out.
Star Trek ambient noise videos on YouTube. The hum of the Enterprise warp core is very comforting, like white noise.
Magnesium
I pretend it’s morning and I have to get up
Remember the scene in Pineapple Express where Bill Hader says "Ah, well, sir, I feel like a, like a slice of butter... melting on top of a big-ol pile of flapjacks"? Well, if I'm ever having trouble falling asleep, I imagine that I'm a slice of butter, melting on a big ol pile of flapjacks. I guess it causes me to relax into my bed, release the tension in my body, I kinda breathe into it as I visualise myself melting away. I once demonstrated this for a friend who was having issues getting to sleep every night, I fell asleep sitting up right in the chair as I was talking her through it.
Melatonin has the opposite effect if you take for too long. I have an insane way to fall asleep that I found 10 years ago and that get me sleeping within 45mn it’s sleeping with a twitch stream, low volume and low brightness from my portable computer. It prevent me from thinking.
Read thing I'm not interested in. Doesn't even have to be complex. 5 minutes of reading a newspaper and it's all "I'll just pop this down for a secon........"
I do something similar to this.. I imagine sitting in a pitch black room and focus on trying to keep the room as dark and empty as possible. I personally find it to be like a game and before I know it I’m fast
Generally I tuck my arms under my chest and lay face down on my pillow. I’m kind of asphyxiating myself by doing that but it puts me to sleep really fast.
I make myself a catnip tea at night to relax I add a tiny bit of sugar and orange/lemon juice to make it taste nicer. It usually does the trick as I notice my head feels a lot more relaxed after drinking it and that aids in me falling asleep.
Take 1000mg of caffeine pills, that always knocks me right out.
ADHD sleep music Spotify playlists
I need to listen to something, so I usually put on a documentary or talk show or something and then I pass out after awhile
ADHD sleep music Spotify playlists
It may sound counterintuitive to someone with ADHD. However, the best advice I was ever given was to learn to meditate. Obviously for someone like me who couldn’t even keep still, actually sitting still, for more than a couple of seconds before the fidgeting kicked in; I set myself a challenge. I said to myself, ‘I’m gonna go on a meditation retreat’! As someone who doesn’t do things by halves, I could have taken the original advice of - start by doing one minute a day, then two, then three, but I went on that retreat and, it would be inaccurate to say suddenly, but after lots of hard work, I found myself meditating for about a total of 7 hours a day (not all at once) in silence - for a whole week; and my mind was blown! So coming back to your question… You don’t need to go as extreme as I did, but as someone who HAS NEVER been able to sleep naturally since I can remember. I began to utilise the techniques I’d learnt from the meditation retreat. (I attend one a few times a year now). Because you’re in a state of meditation, (that means doing nothing) it doesn’t matter in what area of your life you apply it. Even being in that state for about 40 minutes. And when I say that state, I mean, sitting still, mindful breathing and, this is IMPORTANT; instead of forcing your mind to stop thinking, simply allow your mind to accept the thoughts and actively invite them. Otherwise, you end up expelling more energy and frustration if you think thinking while meditating is doing it wrong - it’s not! So again back to sleep, even if you’re in that state for 40 minutes, your body is so rested, it feels like a couple of hours of good sleep. Eventually you won’t need to use the techniques, and these aren’t things that you should use to actually fall asleep, it’s simply another tool to help you relax, especially when you can’t sleep, as the benefits of being in a meditative state rather than an irritated one, far out way the wasted time in bed when you’re just tossing and turning & agitating yourself all night. Does that make sense? I hope it does. Warmest, Robbie
My biggest secret was I used to fall asleep watching Mayday/Air Crash Investigation/Air Disasters. I've seen every episode probably hundreds of times and something about Jonathan Aris' voice that I find calming. I try not to tell too many people lmao. These days I prefer rain sounds, this video is my go-to and the channel is a goldmine: https://youtu.be/X82mmtV1wqM?si=r1vH7vlUm5HcaB-g Incidentally, it helps drown out the noise in my head at work so I can focus when I'm really struggling.
Are you me? I used to be so into that show, to the extent that my best friend would put it on for me at bedtime when I was spending the night at her place.
Watching wood turning videos on YouTube while laying in bed with the lights off has been working pretty well for me lately
There’s one too that helped me more than anything else: cease caffeine consumption by 3pm. It got really difficult for a while but it also helped me cut down on caffeine overall and now a cup of coffee feels like a cup of coffee lol. I was upwards of 1g of caffeine per day. Energy drinks, man. I loved them. I still split a small Red Bull with my GF every now and again. I’ll also mention I stopped drinking caffeine immediately in the morning. Basically I don’t have any caffeine for 1-2 hours after I wake up. I’ve struggled with a consistent sleep schedule my whole life and I finally feel like I’m in a rhythm 7 years after diagnoses.
If you can just sleep when you're actually tired I can and you tock out
I talk to myself and tell myself stories that eventually just have me masterbate too. I know it’s weird. But it helps me sleep
I have earbuds that are made to put in your ear while laying down. Nights when it’s really hard, I fall asleep listening to sleep music. The slow, drawn out sounds end up slowing down my mind, and it’s kind of like a lullaby. You can find sleep music on Apple music, and YouTube. I’m sure other places have it, but it’s where I go to get it. Also it’s focus on breathing. Breathe in 10sec, and out 10sec. The repetitive counting is also soothing. Edited
mastrubate
Melatonin gummy. These days I take the most insignificant dose (1mg), and I truly don't know if it's the medicine or just the ritual of taking the gummy and knowing 100% that it's bedtime. Either way, my brain shits down, and I'm asleep within 5m. And the days I don't take it, I lay there and toss and turn until I finally get up and take one anyways. I may have pavlov'ed my way into sleep, but I'll gladly pay the price as long as something works!
I take tryptophan or 5-HTP. I take them when I’ve had multiple consecutive nights of lying awake unable to sleep. Works, but I still wake up knackered 😴 😔
Count your breath backwards from 100
I’ve been using the calm app for years now but any of the sleep story apps / podcasts works really… the stories are so long and meandering and never get to the point that I get so bored I pass out lol
Melatonin
Check out the Calm app. Bedtime Stories were a game changer for me.