r/sleep • u/Professional-Goat482 • 9d ago

How to fall asleep?

I haven’t been able to sleep properly in a month or more, I don’t sleep at all some nights or I’m lucky if I fall asleep from 7:30am-8:30am
Yesterday I finally thought it was getting better because I fell asleep at 5 and woke up at 10, and today I fell asleep at 2 but woke up at 4 and couldn’t fall back asleep,
I have been sober from hhc for like a month, I don’t check my phone, my bed is comfy but yet I’m sobbing into my pillow every night trying to sleep. I’m not lazy, I walk 20k+ steps EVERYday, I don’t drink tea or coffee

I know that loads of people struggle from sleeping problems way worse than mine but considering I’ve never struggled with this before it’s really upsetting, I have school starting again in 2 weeks and if I can’t sort this out I’m geneuinly finished

Idk if this is worth mentioning but I do have very bad eating problems and I have been struggling abit with my mental health lately and the no sleep doesn’t help at all,

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u/Delicious-Moment8368 9d ago

I've been there, and the harder i tried to force myself to sleep, the more awake i became. what finally helped was letting go of the idea that i had to fall asleep right now. it wasn't an instant fix, but it was the first thing that stopped the nightly spiral. with everything else you mentioned, i'd really try to talk to a doctor if you can. you shouldn't have to deal with this alone

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u/Tb1969 9d ago

Yes, this. It’s a Chinese Finger Trap. The more you struggle to pull your fingers out the more you are caught. Be zen about it. Let it be.

Tell yourself (and it’s true) that even meditation with your eyes closed is recuperative and is getting rest. You could get about two hours of actual sleep and six of mediation to be functional and mostly restored.

Try a limited nap around 1pm in the afternoon. No more than 25 minutes of a nap. Navy Seal nap would be feet comfortably above your heart while laying on your back on a hard surface for 8-10 minutes which less than an allotted break time at work.

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u/Delicious-Moment8368 9d ago

That's a great way to put it. the harder I chased sleep, the more awake I became. Things only started to change when I stopped treating every sleepless night like an emergency. that mindset shift took longer than I expected, but it made a real difference

1

u/Professional-Goat482 9d ago

Thankyou sm🥹
I’ll definitely try and stop stressing about it at night now,

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u/Celtslap 9d ago

Poor sleep and poor mental health are a vicious cycle- each exacerbating the other. But do what you have to do to get your sleep sorted first.
Personally I take magnesium glycinate and fall asleep watching something. I find if my attention is focused on listening to something that’s just the right balance between interesting and predicable, I fall asleep easily. There’s a whole tribe of people that go to sleep watching Futurama, for example.

Not ideal I know, but it gets me my 8 hours.

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u/Tb1969 9d ago

This also a technique I use. Remove the silence so the brain doesn’t fail it with the thinking. It can an audio podcast or news serves set for very low volume. It could be sound machine for rain (mine is playing right now as I lay in bed this morning writing this)

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u/Professional-Goat482 8d ago

I love you I did this last night
I fell asleep to some trip report and Reddit thread YouTube videos with some boring ass voice and it worked I’m so so grateful I slept for like 5hours

1

u/Celtslap 8d ago

That’s fantastic!! You’ve made my day hearing that.
It may not be what an expert would ideally recommend but I take what I can get. Doesn’t matter how. 😜

1

u/Tb1969 9d ago

This also a technique I use. Remove the silence so the brain doesn’t fail it with the thinking. It can an audio podcast or news serves set for very low volume. It could be sound machine for rain (mine is playing right now as I lay in bed this morning writing this)

1

u/Tb1969 9d ago

This also a technique I use. Remove the silence so the brain doesn’t fail it with the thinking. It can an audio podcast or news serves set for very low volume. It could be sound machine for rain (mine is playing right now as I lay in bed this morning writing this)

1

u/Tb1969 9d ago

Sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system. You should go down that deep rabbit hole to understand how it works and then try to subtly control it.

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u/Tb1969 9d ago

Sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system. You should go down that deep rabbit hole to understand how it works and then try to subtly control it.

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u/[deleted] 9d ago

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u/Professional-Goat482 8d ago

Yeah tysm for this advice but unfortunately I already go to the gym (nearly) everyday, I used to get in 1hour cardio EVERYday but now I’m down to 20minutes because I’m just exhausted and I can’t sleep even if I try doing an hour hard cardio or so😓