Are there any methods that help one fall asleep faster?
 

Hey, as said in the topic title, are there any specific things you all do to fall asleep faster? I have always wondered this because sometimes it takes me a VERY long time to fall asleep (I don't think I have insomnia) and I would like to just be able to jump in bed and sleep quickly.

I usually calm myself down by slowing my breathing and clearing my thoughts, and telling myself to fall asleep.

I feel sorry for my friend, who takes a hour to fall asleep.

Reading works great.... especially a boring book.... I pass out immediately, even in a fully lit room.

I can only fall asleep if I'm extremely tired, and the only time I'm ever in this state is really only after coming back from my last class of the day, which is usually in the early afternoon. Actually, I recently discovered I can also fall asleep when I start doing an assignment that isn't due the next day...

At night, however, it takes me forever to fall asleep (1-4 hours). Yes, there have been times where I tried to start falling asleep at 2 AM, but I'd just be up until 6 AM. However, once I do fall asleep, my difficulty is also getting up. I would snooze my alarm clock for upwards of 4 hours as well (on average about an hour and a half). So, I just fail at sleeping and waking.

Blunt force trauma to the cranium is always a good, last-ditch solution.

Could be years before you regain consciousness.

http://www.tylenol.com/images/tylenol/prd_7_1_lg.gif

Do these even work.

Daydreaming usually does it for me. If I think about just random stuff, I usually fall to sleep easily.

But basically you have to not think about it too hard.

Oh, and what Megalith said. Any kind of night-time medicine. Also, small amounts of alcohol or cough syrup do it. But you can become dependent on that kind of stuff, if I'm not mistaken.

Warm milk helps. I also keep an old textbook on personality theory by my bed because it's utterly boring.

http://img53.imageshack.us/img53/5175/prd72lg9jv.gif
Simply Sleep... they work... not supposed to make u groggy, but sometimes they do if you oversleep with em... -.-zzz

Usually a banana before bed is meant to calm the stomach, and it helps with the process of sleeping faster. As told by jRev, warm milk is apparently meant to help as well, but I haven't tried so I wouldn't know.

I've been having trouble sleeping recently; my pattern is all messed up right now. Shift work is just asking for something like this to happen. Usually I find myself staying up all night and lasting all day just to change my sleeping pattern around, but that doesn't always work.

I also have a certain position which I need to lay in otherwise I can't sleep. This happens with my friend, so I don't think it's uncommon. If you can't find a conformtable position to sleep in you're definitely going to have problems.

I would say to eat that banana. Has the melatonin you need to fall asleep.

The problem with sleeping pills is that they generally don't give you enough time in REM sleep, so you wake up feeling like crap anyways.

anything that is warm and milky helps you to sleep, and having done some exercise earlier in the day or just being out and about most of the day.

This is going to sound strange, but I have to have a blanket or sheet over me to get to sleep. I can't get to sleep without it. I'll eventually kick it off during the night, but I HAVE to have one when going to sleep.

Reading is a good trick for getting to sleep, too.

I second that. I find that just daydreaming about any old random crap helps me get to sleep in a matter of seconds. It's all about switching your brain off as I find if I'm thinking about things like what I need to get done at work tomorrow, that sort of thing, I just lie there for ages.

Leknaat: The sheet thing isn't so strange, I have that too. I find it very strange if I don't have something over me. But yeah, come the morning, if it's hot then anything that was on me is probably going to be on the floor.

Masturbate.

Not even kidding.

I generally need music playing. I usually listen to the album Kid A by Radiohead. I listened to it for three or four years every night before bed. Now, I basically can just think about the opening song or two and fall asleep relatively quickly.

The problem for me doesn't happen in the bedroom (hur hur): it's before I get in. I have diagnosed insomnia, and I just don't get tired. I continually stay up and just don't bother going to bed. I also have Ambien, but am extremely worried of becoming addicted or dependent on them (despite claims otherwise by the manufacturer). Another problem with Ambien is that if I don't go to sleep in about an hour or two, instead of getting even sleepier, I just get really stoned, which is a fun feeling, so I end up staying up longer and doing stoned things (listening to music, staring off into the darkness, etc).

Read up on lucid dreaming - it's a pretty cool idea, and it works - one of my friends says that he's just starting his lucid dreaming journey :)

http://brain.web-us.com/lucid/luciddreamingFAQ.htm

I guess since I'm finally back, I should resume my role of sympathetic asshole who knows what he's talkin about...

I feel your pain, for I was a college student once and a wrestler and the combination of weightloss and studying 24/7 did a number on my sleep cycles... but if you really wanna get to sleep, do some hard, dirty work (get a job with UPS or FedEx or something... great pay, physical labor and awesome benefits and you can pick up part time supervisor fairly quick (6 months) and get 1600 a month) and you'll come home exhausted and ready for a good 8 hours of sleep.

Or you could be smart and get an established sleep cycle and go to sleep at the same time every night like normal people (but what fun is that?).

Or hell, you could drink some orange juice (read: orange juice actually HELPS you sleep physically... milk is basically just a placebo - true it has that vitamin or whatever that helps you sleep but unless you drink about half a gallon of milk, it won't have any real effect on you).

edit:

Yall'd be surprised to find that you can actually sleep without a blanket fairly easily if you are tired enough. Not that I expect too many people to understand, but when you work yourself to the point of sheer exhaustion (I've been up for 24 hours... I work until 930am), it doesn't matter if you are clean or dirty, hot or cold, covered or not, clothed or naked, your body's needs will overrule your brain.

And I'm not tryin to smack down anyone here, but if you work out/run/do physical labor for about an hour everyday, I'll bet $100 that you'll fall asleep mucho easier (DON'T DO IT RIGHT BEFORE YOU WANT TO SLEEP AND THEN COMPLAIN THAT IT DOESN'T WORK YOU DUMB DONUTS) and sleep more soundly.

Usually, reading my physiology text book puts me to sleep. in school. when I'm supposed to be studying the damn thing in the first place.
Other than that, I'm usually exhausted enough to just go home, fall onto my bed and release everything off my shoulders.
As was previously mentioned, if you can keep yourself busy all day (no rest) then the feeling of finally lying there in bed and letting go of the pressure in your head and the tenseness in your muscles is hella good! You'll never want to move, i promise you.

Maybe if you did something more with your life than jsut sitting around masturbating to anime all day and playing video games your body would be worn out enogh to rest. Pull your life togethor!

close your eyes, and meditate. u will fall asleep 10x easier...
or simply do this... close your eyes, imagine black, and start counting your breathes. 10 slow seconds on inhale, and 10 slow seconds on exhale. do this repeatedly. then "imagine" your muscles relaxing... starting with your toes, then work your way up all the way to your head... very slowly. once you do this 2-3 times your mind should be clear, and you should fall asleep much faster.

also, you gotta believe this method works. if you try the entire procedure as a skeptic.. well.. dont expect results cause your mind will be too focused on disproving it.

I just sit there and stare at the wall or the ceiling if i'm lying down. It gets me so bored that i just fall asleep from boredom. It takes me well in excess of an hour to fall asleep. I only fall asleep really quickly if i'm either 1) Drunk or 2) Haven't had sleep in days and feel like shit

that actually sounds kind of interesting...

I keep my room cold and bundle up with blankets...the coziness of it helps me fall asleep! :biggrin:

coolness helps you fall asleep more than being warmth. Plus when you are asleep your body temp drops so you won't even notice that it's cold. Use the goal of warmth as an incentive to make your body fall asleep...if that makes any sense...

I turn off all my lights and listen to my iPod. It usually takes 30-60 minutes to fall asleep.

Valerian baby!

Whatever your trouble is, look to the weeds for the solution.

That crap stinks like you wouldn't believe, but chug down a boiling hot mug and half an hour later you're dreaming of elves or cyborg ninja or whatever you wanna dream about.

I tend to stare at the wall with blankets covering my body. I'm always on my side with another pillow between my legs. I can usually fall asleep this way, though if I can't I tend to listen to music with my eyes closed and I usually get tired and slowly fall asleep.

I usually read. Even if it's a book you enjoy, if you're lying (laying?) in bed and it's pretty late at night, you should get a bit sleepy after a while. If it does take a little while for you to get sleepy, at least you didn't waste your time just sitting there trying to get to bed. Also, try reading textbooks and catching up on material or going over old material. That's sure to be fairly boring and you kill two birds with one stone by helping your studies and helping yourself fall asleep.

At first I thought that if I just laid down and closed my eyes for a while I'd get to dreamland faster, only problem is I have an overactive mind. So while my body maybe still my mind is just whirring with activity, leading to many sleepless nights. So now I just keep telling myself in my head "Goto sleep, goto sleep" repeatedly so that my mind focuses and stops thinking of so many things. I found that for me this technique works quite well.

Usually I stop drinking drinks with caffenine in them 2-3 hours before I go to bed or I lay watch tv, or think.

I think sleeping on my right side helps me fall asleep faster.

Otherwise I take Nyquill or stay up until I'm tired enough to pass out. I've suffered from insomnia since the 9th grade so my sleeping schedule has been wonky since then.

I usually lie down and attempt to play video games. I never fails that I end up getting sleepy at the parts that matter--boss fights. Also, attempting to read a book or watching a movie while lying down helps me fall asleep real fast. It also doesn't help to be running on about 5.5 hours of sleep each day for the past week or so.

Capo wins ;D

I have a position I always sleep in. Fetal position on my right side. Whenever I wanna sleep? Flop to that position and I'm out. Prior to discovering that, I'd wake up in that position but never notice, and it'd take me an hour to fall asleep. It is literally the only position I can sleep in.

Maybe you have that problem as well?

Being very tired during the day helps me fall asleep at night. I rarely ever read books before going to bed though, because they actually keep me awake. I don't even attempt reading textbooks.

You could choke yourself until you pass out....

Or is that how you get high these days? I can't remember.

Yes and No.

They make some people drowsy and can knock some people out (I've heard).

When I take them, I get gradually more and more drowsy and eventually feel like going to sleep....while when my friend takes them she says it knocks her right out.

So, I guess your body weight and stamina have to do with who much it affects you.

In Layman's term, if you're fatter, you'd be better off with an elephant tranquilizer but Tylenol PM is good for at least getting the bigger people drowsy.

The suggestion of listening to music works very well for some people, including myself. I'd reccomend being rather familiar with the song, so you aren't actively listening to it as much as you normally would be if you were just listening to music. There are some very great songs to fall asleep to, and here are some of the albums that I tend to use for falling asleep:

Radiohead - Kid A (first two tracks in particular)
Sigur Ros - ( ) works well, and Agaetis Byrjun and Takk... aren't bad
Brian Eno - Ambient 1: Music For Airports just like it sounds. Perfect.
Explosions in the Sky - The Earth Is Not A Cold Dead Place
Godspeed You! Black Emperor - F# A# oo

Sigur Ros tends to have me out within 10 minutes. Brian Eno often works faster.

Reading or listening to music has always helped me fall asleep faster. Or do both. Drawing is always hypnotizing too.:doh:

I find that when I can't fall asleep & I know IM so tired, I'll just move my foot & count it until I fall asleep, I find that math makes me drowsy! it works for me but its not a guarntee!:biggrin:

Just read the academic book with lot of difficult english. Usually they will give you yawn in the first 5 minutes when you read 'em. And you will feel a very powerful dworsiness after passing 5-6 pages. Then you can stop and grab your pillow.

That usually happens to me whenever I have exam for tomorrow.*_*

It usually took me a very long time as well to fall into sleep but I luckily found a solution for it. First you need the following:

- A silent room with lot's of darkness or light, whatever suits you (Darkness promotes the production of melatonin which induces sleep)
- A comfortable matress & pillow
- A comfortable temperature, not too hot and not too cold.

Then:
- Take your favorite sleeping position
- Close your eyes
- Clear your thoughts by imagining one colour or something infinite like space. You can also imagine bright things but that's up to you, both work good.
- Visualise that your disabling your body parts like your turning off the power and do it with a speed your comfortable with. Generally I start from the bottom working all the way up, so first feet, then legs, torso, hands, arms, shoulders, neck, head. After you finish disabling, repeat the process but this time imagine your dissolving yourself into nothingness. It's weird but always when I finish dissolving my head I get the feeling like i'm "getting-knocked-into-sleep-but-not-entirely" and feels like you entered a new level. It's like tricking your brain or something.
- In this "almost-in-sleep" state start focussing on what you want to dream about and try to keep focussed on it. If you had a pleasant dream in the past and would like to re-experience it or "create a sequel", focus on that. I highly recommend this since it's memorised best deep in your brain. But if you want custom dreams keep repeating what you we're going to dream about so you don't "forget".

Congratulations, you should now be asleep. You gain 5435047xp :p


Note: I recommend reading that Lucid dreaming article, it's fun when you master it. Would you still have trouble falling into sleep then I would recommend to boost your melatonin levels since it encourages sleep. It should be available anywhere as there's no prescription needed. Take it sublingual roughly 10min before your going to bed.

Goodluck!

Pretty much, yeah. You can fall asleep in the middle of the day using that technique, if you want. I use to not be able to get to sleep without it, but then I found out that if I lie in bed thinking about masturbating, I'll fall asleep from that.

I sometimes listen to some music on low volume. I try to listen to some calm music and not very powerful music that hypes you up even more.

The thing is that I'm usually pretty tired and I don't even feel like listening to music and just fall asleep normally. :cow:

Im surprised this wasnt mentioned sooner, and by sooner I mean the first response. This isnt a miracle cure though, it can be somewhat addictive.

That method is also good, especially if youre thinking of something pleasant.

So yeah, I use those two methods, if not Im usually awake to hear my digital wristwatch beep off at 5am cause I forgot to set the time an hour ahead some time ago. When I hear the beeping, well, its a pretty defeating sound, but Im just rambling now.

I'm so lucky. All I need to do is shut my eyes, and (no matter where or when it is) I am out within 5 minutes. I am also able to get up at anytime, and go for long periods of time without sleep.

drinking a glass of red wine normally helps me when I'm not sleepy...

I usually leave the TV on, and set the timer on it. I set the timer for 60 minutes, but I usually fall asleap in about 5 to 10. If I am on a business trip, I put on some heavy metal, blast it real loud, and it puts me to sleep like a light. If I don't have something to distract me, my senses become hightened and more focused, so the lightest of taps in the hallway, or the slightest of light changes catches my attention, and I can't sleep until I investigate what happened. This was once really bad when I had some serious insomnia, and I heard a gunshot upstairs in my apartment building. My senses were so heightend that I nearly pissed myself.

BTW, the gunshot was my neighbor shooting a rat that crawled up his toilet. Any city with a sewer system runs the risk of critters coming up the hard way.

I need a fan running in order to go to sleep. That is, a relatively large box fan turned on "high."
I can't sleep without it, but it usually puts me to sleep quite quickly.
(This is a thing my mother started, I believe.)

When I'm having trouble falling to sleep, though, reading helps to put me back to sleep, but only if I'm actually tired.

I usually play games on my gameboy, particularly RPG's or turn based games like Fire Emblem. A lot of them are also cool in a way that if you just turn off the game, it will save your last position/move/turn, or at least you can generally save at almost any point if you suddenly have to stop playing.

Kind of embarassing, but I've fallen asleep playing a game, only to wake up about an hour later, and find that the game's still on lol. Usually though, I turn it off when I start realizing that I"m falling asleep, and then generally have no trouble dozing off for the night.

How long this takes me depends on how much is on my mind. Sometimes it takes minutes, one time it took 2 hours (got a lot of stuff done on Final Fantasy though lol), avg I'd say takes about 10-30 minutes.

I second that. In fact, I just recently taught myself to sleep with a shirt on as well. THat is somewhat helpful if you need to get out of the house.

I can always clear my mind and start wondering before going to sleep. Most times I don't even realize when I hit unconciousness.

This doesn't work for me, but it's a good thing to do since you're already lying awake anyways. Think about all the things that happened in the day. Try to relate those things to events in the past. Think about stuff that you'd really like to happen or not happen in the future. Make up all sorts of desirable scenarios. Make up undesirable scenarios and ways to avoid them. Think about your videogame progress. Imagine what you haven't attained in the game yet could possibly look like. Think of a catchy part of a song and repeat it over and over again, and then try to get that song out of your mind, or switch to another favourite song. Reflect on your life.

Basically just clutter your mind with thoughts. Eventually you'll get tired of thinking and your desire to think may cease as you fall asleep. If not, then you've thought about stuff and you don't have to worry about it throughout the next day, or you've thought of ways to prevent it, etc.

Before you couldn't sleep with a shirt on? I find that a bit odd since I think most of us grew up going to sleep with quite a bit of clothes on.

On an almostly completely off-topic topic. Recently since it was winter I tried what my brother's room mate does, which is sleeping with a sweatshirt on, and I actually found it quite comfortable and warm(I always had trouble with loosing my blankets at night and so I would be freezing untill I convinced myself to get up and pick up my blankets).

Try and do a certain routine every night. Walk around and think about something you did for about five minutes, write something in a journal for five minutes, brush your teeth, then lie in bed and think about something else until you fall asleep.

I tried drinking tea last night and the warm feeling from it helped me to get drowsy and eventually fall asleep.

a bottle of liquor will put you to sleep easily.

Turn on the TV and face the other way, that's my ultimate method :)
(it pisses my mom off though, since she always has to turn it while I'm asleep)

Reading.

Seriously. Whenever I read a book no matter how entertaining it is before I hit the sack, it will put me to sleep in a matter of minutes. Having a fan blow on you works well too. Not because of the air, but I think because of the gentle noise it makes.

listening to relaxing music has worked for me for quite a while (notwithstading extremelly stressful situations). I usually fall asleep in 10 minutes or less.

But the trick really is to create a habit. Read, listen to music, drink warm milk, whatever...

really? I thought tea was meant to wake people up... must be a weak one :p

Read something incredibly boring, like an accounting or psychology book. Or consistently keep yourself up late at night studying for a week straight, say 4-5 hours of sleep a day. You'll have no problem going to sleep the following week.

I get to sleep quicker by not sleeping in a bed that sucks. On a regular boxspring matress it would take me 1-2 hours to fall asleep.

Then I got one of those new matresses that fit around your body so no part of you is uncomfotable and nothing has any strain put on it. I fell asleep like a baby real quick.

I also slept longer.. because I wasn't waking up every few hours to turn around and get comfortable again.

TURKEY.

I'm not kidding, turkey has the enzymes that make you drowsy, so eat up! ;)

Although few people would think of it, a corn muffin washed down with a nice cold glass of chocolate milk before bed really does the trick for me. The problem with turkey is the tendency to eat too much turkey and have a stomachache that keeps one up. Plus, turkey lacks the convienence factor and portability of a muffin.

Actually, no, it doesn't. (Considering that people consume Turkey on big holidays, the drowsiness is most likely due to having a full stomach, I would imagine.)

I particularly don't enjoy reading so I read something that I have no interests in to cause me to go to sleep fast. Calculus also does the trick for me.

I used to not sleep well. I didn't fall asleep easy, either. I finally tried making myself get in bed and try falling asleep. It was really hard and annoying to begin but after a while I was able to go to sleep without much effort.

This is truth. If you need proof go eat too much for dinner and you will quickly find out you're tired as fuck. You're sleepy because your body is taxed trying to process all that food. ._.

To make myself go to sleep I usually grab a book(preferrably a boring book)and read for a while, then I'm off to sleep. You should try that.