It’s currently 12:30 as I write this, I get up for work at 5:30.
Despite having numerous construction jobs over the years, I still don’t get over 5 hours of sleep, even though I’m tired all day, every day.
How on earth my parents fall asleep at 9/10pm is something I’ll never understand.
A lot of my friends (late 20’s, no kids) also fall asleep early and get enough rest.
How do you do it?
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I can’t. I take ambien.
I have insomnia, ptsd and such so I feel ya. all my “tricks” have been 15mg melatonin, alcohol, lights off 2 hours before bed, eat a big meal, listen to a podcast. If all these things aren’t occuring, I can’t sleep.
Once you develop your own little ritual, it’ll be significantly easier… or maybe talk to a doctor for sleep meds like I fail to do lol
This might be kind of unhinged but I learned this during my psych major. If you lie completely still, literally do not move a muscle for about 15 minutes, your brain will put you to sleep. Probably give or take 5-10 minutes, theres a lot of factors that could make it faster/slower but it should work eventually. God speed friend🫡
I don’t. I lie awake for at least an hour or 2 every night
I have some mild sedatives that the doc gave me, but that’s more to do with anxiety.
Another thing I’ve tried is counting sheep (not literally, just do something easy, repetitive and mundane in your head over and over. I do 1+1=2, 2+1=3, 3+1=4 and so on) but I’ve had varying success.
Melatonin pills…I can’t force sleep.
Indica gummies. Solid 6-8 hrs every night.
Try a pinch or two of baking soda in 1/2 cup of water an hour or so before bed time. You’ll thank me later.
Horrible sleeper my whole life. Actually slept kinda better when I was on nights 1800-0430. But finally got on Melatonin train. 2 dissolving 10 mg. Still not 8 or 9 hours. But I can fall asleep now.
I work at night mostly avoid caffeine eat heavy breakfast then I sleep then, I eat before I sleep everynight
Rip a decent dab and lay down.
I used to always take melatonin but it makes me wake up feeling like absolute shit, yeah i sleep well but i wake up groggy and headachey, but that could just be me. so I just force myself to go to bed at like 10-10:30pm and it’s a lot of nights just lying awake but you have to be patient, overtime my body adapted and i was able to fall asleep faster and faster, now it is easy for me, i think it is just a routine/habit, for me at least, then again i don’t have insomnia or anything.
Do you have a sleep routine so your body knows it’s time to go to bed? Put down your phone at least an hour before bed time, take melatonin and I spray lavender for relaxation. I set my phone to do not disturb and make sure my room is dark.
Ambien. That’s the only way I can. Nothing else works.
I have prescription meds plus I take melatonin.
Essentially meditating lying down is my go to since I was a kid (didnt know it was that). Focus on my heart beating (sometimes breathing) and letting thoughts go. I usually get bored and fall asleep without even realizing. Melatonin taken 1-2 hours before sleep helps me too.
Indica capsule
Idk man I can’t recommend it but I can’t sleep without taking 20mg of melatonin and 2 Benadryls. It’s probably giving me brain damage but hey sleep deprivation probably would too but atleast I can sleep. (Dont take benadryl if you would be getting less than like 6 hours of sleep. You will wake up still drowsy.)
I find a nice fat bong helps.
It’s 3:47 as I write this and I need to get up at 07:00, so I’m probably not the best person to help you with this.
I’ve been using a brown noise machine, I use the sound that sounds like an airplane on it but there’s a few different ones. It sort of gives my brain something to focus on so it’s not trying to stay active otherwise.
It may have already been said here but turn off the lights and read or listen to a podcast or audio book like an hour before you intend to go to sleep. Definitely do not watch TV and put the phone away.
If you’re trying to go to bed at 10pm, put your phone away at 8:30. You can watch tv and stuff but absolutely do not look at your phone.
It’s a small thing but it helps a lot.
Put down your phone.
Follow the “lay still” advice the person floated above.
I put on something to act as white noise, so my anxiety isn’t like an air raid siren.
Being consistent with the time you go to sleep and don’t take naps. Wake up extra early force yourself awake.
What are your evening habits like? If you are watching a lot of TV, social media, or corn hub, consider reading a book instead. Try to stop caffeine 5 hours prior to bedtime. Can’t stop thinking about stuff? Consider the possibility of anxiety or depression. If this is the case, see a therapist. No shame in doing so and you can do it all online these days if you want. Maybe hit up your general practitioner to narrow down what’s holding you back
For me, reading helps. Eventually i get bored of the book or my eyes start to hurt from staring and they naturally want to close and I turn off the light.
There are some great acupressure points on your hand & wrist that are very helpful. Once you establish a bedtime, it gets easier. Takes like 10-14 days. Same with waking up.
I spent years trying to sleep on a morning schedule. It turns out, I’m a hard-set night owl. No amount of discipline could overcome my normal body clock, and trying was killing me. In bed by 22:00, asleep by 02:00 if I was lucky, up at 6:00.
I only found relief by working other shifts, until I found a job with flex time.
CBD/THC/Melatonin combo gummies. I’ve been awake 50+ hours straight before and I’ve pulled all nighters without even realizing it. There are times where if I didn’t take a gummy, I wouldn’t sleep. It’s the only thing I’ve found that works for me.
Unisom makes me crash and feel groggy, even after 12+ hours of sleep and ZzzQuil/benadryl doesn’t really work for me.
A hit out of a 3 foot bong.
You don’t force yourself to sleep, you ease into it. Try counting your breaths and breathe slowly while lying in bed.
I sleep with a TV on for travel programs. Do not even face the TV sometimes. Just the low sound relaxes my brain and I relax. If you try to force yourself to sleep you will stress yourself out. Also make sure your room is cool – at least cool enough to sleep with a sheet on. That helps too.
I take Melatonin and listen to podcasts or audiobooks.
Try this trick. It’s sounds crazy but it works. Lie down, consciously relax your entire body. Then bat your eyelids as fast as you can. You’ll start to get tired but when you start to rouse, bat your eyelids again. Keep cycling and you’ll be sleeping like a baby.
You don’t force yourself. You create conditions that let you fall asleep.
Do a Google search for “how to get a good night’s sleep”. The basics are: no caffeine for 10 hours before bedtime, go to bed and get up at the same time every day–even weekends, no big meals before sleep, no vigorous exercise before bed, absolute darkness and quiet in the bedroom, bedroom a little cool, no computer or TV for an hour or two before bed, others.
When you get the answer, Post it here please.
Doesn’t work as fast every time but I picture a white room. Everything white, concentrating on the white. Not sure why it works, but it does for me.
I’ve tried prescription meds, and melatonin. They just leave me feeling hungover and groggy, or I have such vivid dreams that I still wake up unrested.
And then one day, Rachel Tobac tweeted about cognitive shuffling. Let me tell you, GAME CHANGER. It’s not perfect, but I’d say it works 9/10 times. There’s no hangover effect, no wicked crazy dreams… just sweet sleep.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/20/well/mind/sleep-cognitive-shuffling.html#
Exercise. Run a couple miles and sleeping 2 hours later becomes easier. Obviously a schedule is the best but Other than that alcohol or drugs
work on sleep efficiency. thats time asleep divided by time in bed.
reduce your time in bed in which you are awake. dont hang out in bed, get out of bed after you wake up as soon as you can, if you cant sleep, get out of bed.
improvement will be as inevitable as training to do more pullups by doing pullups. motivation will be the limiting factor
Lower the caffeine and sugar intake.
Two things work for me. 1. Tense all your muscles while laying in bed, arms legs, make fists. Hold for 15-30 seconds and relax. Do this a couple of times. 2. Breathe in slowly to a count of 7, then breathe out the same way. Hope it works for you.
Cognitive Shuffling
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/20/well/mind/sleep-cognitive-shuffling.html
Are you drinking a bunch of caffeine and or energy drinks? May have more to do with your intake than your output
Yoga nidra (a lying down meditation)
Ambien
Same here , every nights struggle
Answer: I think of it as letting go of my body and trusting it’ll come back in the morning.
Had a lot of anxiety based insomnia and this is the way of thinking of it that helps me. Just appreciating how heavy my body is and intentionally relaxing the tension and allowing it all to melt away.
YouTube:
8 hours of gentle night rain no commercials
It has to be at the right setting
Not too loud cuz that irritating
Not too soft because I’ll hear other sounds over it
Just soft enough that you can hear it without straining but barely
Train your mind to listen for it
And really concentrate on it as you close your eyes and pretend you’re on vacation far away
Just relaxing…
On vacation…
It also helps to have the same routine before going to bed to wind down and relax just like little kids do
It helps your mind and body recognize that it needs sleep
This comedian Taylor Tomlinson had a huge problem with insomnia and at every show on her tour, she would ask the audience members for their weirdest sleep hacks. She’s tried a lot but the one she says that works for her is WEIRD but maybe, just maybe, it could help.
When you’re lying in bed and can’t sleep, go to your kitchen. Get down on the floor. And just lay on the kitchen floor for about 10 minutes. Then go back to bed. She swears it works for her!
Blink your eyes rapidly as much as possible until you absolutely can’t go no more. Can you blink x100? x200? Tell us your high score in the morning
Weed and ASMR videos.
Sleep with Me podcast. I’m usually out before he gets through the intro.
I try to think of something that is interesting to me but also not like an action adventure. For example, I think in detail of how I would build a shelter in the woods. I go through the process of building it in my head. I also sometimes think of how I would procure food and such in a survival situation (I allow myself some tools though). Or I’ll think about how I would decorate my living space if I could do anything I wanted. It keeps me engaged and calm and helps me slip into sleep without realizing it.
Melatonin
Deep breathing
Hot showers
Exercise sometime that day
Weed 💀
Don’t force it. Get up and do something. Anything.
Do we all not just think about us in GTA until we doze off? 🤔
Is there anything in your sleep environment that might be disturbing you? Too much light or background noise? My bestie cannot drop off without her sleep mask, and I sleep so much better if I wear ear plugs.
I take my bipolar medication and sleep. You have to not care about anything so that you don’t have to think about anything so that you can fall asleep. I also had trouble sleeping when my bf broke up with me, I was thinking over and over again and couldn’t sleep for 1 day and a half. I was taking my medication then as well and I still couldn’t sleep. I’m telling you, you have to have no troubles in your life to be able to sleep.
Here are a few things to try.
When I was young, I never had to do this stuff. The older I get, the harder it is to sleep through the night.
Absolutely nothing works for me except trazodone. My body does not know how to sleep, I’m not even kidding. No matter how physically or mentally exhausted i am, as soon as I’m horizontal, it’s like a firework goes off and my brain is awake. Ive tried all the sleep hygiene tricks, weed, melatonin, OTC meds, blackout curtain, white noise, weighted blanket, special pillows, special mattress topper. Still can’t sleep, don’t sleep. I haven’t slept through the night without the help of an extremely high dose of trazodone in my memory. I’m out of health insurance right now, so I just haven’t slept in months. I can’t fucking describe how miserable it is.
Spell out every number from 1 to 100 It will take your brain enough effort that’ll make it focus not so much effort you won’t be able to fall asleep
You are thinking too much. Relax your mind. Ever float in the pool on your back with your eyes closed and for just a small moment, your mind is completely at ease, and relaxed and nothing in the world could take it away?
Try channeling that.
Edibles and exercise lol
I feel you. I had this problem for the longest time. It seemed like no matter how tired I was my brain just wouldn’t shut down at a reasonable time.
Some things that helped were avoiding caffeine in the afternoon (including soda) and getting up at the same time every day even on weekends.
But what really cured it for me was becoming a middle school teacher. Ever since I’ve woken up between 5 and 6 every morning even when I want to sleep in and many nights I’m so tired I’ll go to sleep at 8 or even earlier.
I don’t know why, but for 33 years of life I was a stubborn night owl and the moment the school year started I became a morning person.
I take fast + short breaths and over the course of a minute or so slow down to slow + deep breaths, as slow as I can while getting enough oxygen. Then just lie still.
I use a pleasant memory and replay it in my head. I ride a motorbike and there is a road that has beautiful scenery and is fun to ride. I ride that road till I fall asleep, I also like heavy blankets and a cool almost cold bedroom. I’ve used fans as white noise generators as well.
I’ve been using this trick and it seems to be helping…think of a word, for example HUMAN. Then think of an animal for each letter of the word. HIPPO, UNICORN, MOOSE etc
Usually puts me out within a couple of words
About 15 years ago my husband and I saw an episode of Nova that said some people are wired to sleep on a cave man scheduled. Two shifts, waking for a few hours in the middle of the night. Back in cave man times, this would have been to protect the family.
We both had issues with bad insomnia. We tried this and it turns out we are wired like this.
Might be worth a try!
The fact that you’re on your phone asking this is probably a big part of the problem. It’s good to avoid looking at phones or other close screens for a while before bedtime.
Sleep Phones & horror podcasts. Keeps the “talkative” part of my brain busy until I drift off.
Peanut butter has tryptophan, same as turkey. If you’re not allergic then eat a spoonful of peanut butter before bed.
When I wake up in the middle of the night I drink a full glass of water. I always sleep til morning.
I wake up less frequently when I stay hydrated all day.
Look into the military sleep technique! I think you work head to toe, by tensing each muscle and then fully relax one at a time
You should just close your eyes and you will fall asleep just don’t thinking about much or if you finals coming up that could be the culprit
I think some of us are naturally night people or morning people. Finding a job and lifestyle that works with your rhythm is ideal.
I’m 55 and haven’t been able to sleep without medication for over 25 years. There is no forcing it, it either comes to you or it doesnt.
There are videos on YouTube called guided sleep meditations that I used to use when I had this problem. In particular the channel Jason Stephenson once did a collab with a female narrator and I found the mix of masc and fem voices very balancing and soothing. In some of the recordings they will start at the feet and ask you to flex your muscles for ten seconds and then release, and move all the way up the body doing this. I tried to find the video but can’t find it, sorry.
Listening to the Harry Potter audio books puts me to sleep so fast. I set a sleep timer, then listening to the words keeps me from having racing thoughts, and I drift off easily.
Look into sleep apnea. You might need a sleep study.
Benadryl
I moved my tv so I watch it laying on my side.
I get all ready for bed, lay down, plug in my phone & put my phone in the drawer by my bed – covers on everything dark and put on tv something I dont mind missing the last half of with the volume low and backlight of the tv down low. Nothing high in adrenaline. Something like law & order or csi works well for me.
Changed any apps I use to not automatically start the next episode.
(You need to either silence notifications except the alarm or turn off your phone completely and use a real alarm clock.)
I make sure my screens, including the tv, have a yellowish tint, not a bluish tint. I keep the “eye comfort shield” on my phone 24/7.
I make sure the light bulbs in my house are warm toned (and even the color scheme of as many things as possible in my house, even the clothes I sleep in, I avoid blues wherever possible). My soft yellow painted walls even help.
I avoid energy drinks like the plague & Stick with tea & coffee instead… and limit caffeine as much as possible.
Now that I’m on days again (not my natural sleep schedule), I take a 1mg max melatonin on schedule every day 1 hour before I’d like to be asleep. Not to get me asleep but to anchor my circadian rhythm.
I fall asleep this way mid-episode of a show. Laying completely still under the covers with my mind blank staring at the tv, I drift off. Its also much easier to get myself to get in bed in general if it doesn’t mean ending my day. I get in bed to watch tv, knowing I’ll fall asleep naturally when “I’m ready”.( So I’m not fighting the toddler in my head as much – who doesn’t want to go to bed yet.)
Pot candy works really well for me.
Service taught me one thing don’t think.Blank out and you fall a sleep.Takes me about 1 minute to fall a sleep wife hates that I can do this. I lay down and not one thought is my head I think of black space and boom I am sleeping.ai only sleep 7hrs at most but generally 6 hrs
That “military” trick that gets passed around a bit sometimes actually works for me, assuming I haven’t had caffeine in the last 5 or 6 hours.
I quoted military because I don’t know if its really from the military, but the internet posts says it is.
People say you shouldn’t rely on melatonin, but I literally cannot sleep without it. I take a low dose of 5mg of the dissolvable kind one hour before I lay down.
It doesn’t make me sleepy. Hell, I’m wide awake until I finally decide to try to sleep, but once I decide I’m ready to sleep I’m out in five minutes. And then I usually sleep all night.
Without it, I’m barely getting five hours, too.
Apparently you shouldn’t take it every night. But if I don’t take it every night, I just don’t sleep. So I’ll take my chances lol
What helps me is
Exercise during the day but not within 1 hour of bed time
Cold room
No caffeine for 5 hours before bed
Eat carbs before bed
Carbs make me satisfied, calm and sleepy very quickly.
Basic question, when is your last caffeine?
I go to sleep around 8, up at 4, no caffeine after 2-3
Trazodone is the answer for me after horrendous insomnia. I get a full 7-8 hours every night now.
This is going to sound silly but I will literally go through the alphabet from A-Z making each letter with my fingers. First in lowercase and if I don’t get bored/arms aren’t tired yet, I move on to repeating it but in capital letters. I never complete 2 full rounds because by that point I’m over with my own stupid shenanigans and find myself dozing to sleep lol