what do you think about when you're trying to sleep?

[BabyLlamaZen]

I only spoke to dh about this recently as feels so personal. Is there something you always get drawn back to?

Dh is him playing his favourite sport in really slow motion, mine is reimagining scenes from my favorite film, TV show or book. So detailed sometimes but really relaxes me!

@insancerre

Nothing I turn the light out and I’m asleep You weirdos who are all thinking are wasting sleeping time

See, we all wish we could be you, and the fact that we know we’re wasting sleeping time is absolutely no help in trying to fall asleep. Kind of the opposite.

I have the worst thoughts if I can’t sleep, usually something awful happening to dh or the kids

I must read or I can't sleep. I put book down and keep my mind in the plot.

If I’m “serious” about getting to sleep I re-run familiar tv program episodes like friends or Gavin and Stacey. I also sometimes think of big familiar buildings such as work or school and imagine trying to walk around and go through every door and room. This is so repetitive that I’ve never made it around the whole building.

If I’m in bed earlier and so have some “day dreaming” time I pretend I’m the main character in my secret fantasy life which is a heady mixture of footballers wives and real housewives of Beverly Hills. Totally superficial but entertaining.

@UsernameN0Tavailable same here. I plot a story, the same one, over and over. I never get very far and it wouldn’t be very interesting.

I usually listen to BBC Sounds, eg some Jane Austen ones recently.

What I would do if I won six million pounds on the lottery. Very specific, I know.

I prefer to listen to something so I don't get distracted by my thoughts.

If I'm not listening to something I like to imagine I'm a fictional person in a mildly disappointing situation.

A completely imaginary scenario, often the same scenes or similar with the same cast, completely fabricated with no one real in it, like a film with nothing and no one from real life. I love thinking of it, have for years, and am annoyed if I fall asleep too quickly. Also if I wake up in the middle of the night, I don’t mind because I can think of my imaginary world !

If I'm having trouble getting to sleep, I make myself imagine that I'm lying on a flat bed in First Class luxury on an overnight flight, and I feel so relieved that I'm not in economy with no room to stretch out that I fall asleep feeling quite smug. Listening to cabin noise tracks on spotify helps the fantasy!

Sex is probably the top thought .

I'm amazed at what people think about! I make up whole stories with whoever my crush is at the time. I'm happily married but night time is for fantasy land where I marry a pop star or something. Obviously in my mind I am a stunning blonde

Alphabetic lists.
Of categories such as girls' names or surnames or vegetables or films or people on TV or people I know or books or...
Something to stop me either going over events of the day or the agenda for the next day or worrying about the things I worry about in my waking hours.
Most nights it works and I am usually asleep before the end of one or two alphabets. It can also work to get me back to sleep in the middle of the night. You just have to block out everything else and trust the system.

@Kljnmw3459

I prefer to listen to something so I don't get distracted by my thoughts.

This. I have to have something on to listen to otherwise I just think about things that I'm worried or stressed about and they always seen so much worse at night. Recently I tend to watch/listen to quiz shows and they seem to help me sleep pretty quickly.

I try to think of 5 things to eat for each letter of the alphabet, I never really get past d.

What I would do if my premium bonds came up ( I don't do the lottery!)

Usually mentally listing everything I need to do the next day, or generally worrying about anything and everything.

Keanu Reeves giving me a cuddle

@Drbrowns Snap!

I remember holidays I have been on, especially one to the Rockies.

I think about a TV programme I have just watched, or a book I am reading.

I do remember friends who have died. Try to think about the happy times we had.

A sleep expert came into work to speak to us (can't remember her name but she has written books and been on Radio 2).

Her advice is to think...'I love my left foot...I love my left ankle...etc ..etc'. Work your way around your body.
I never get all the way around.

I do alphabetic lists too - 3 things for each letter, any category, been doing this for 20 years. Currently on US place names. Also do stuff like food, clothing, makeup, toiletries, names, animals, places I want to go, nothing too taxing.

Finding out I'm pregnant and the pregnancy. Never made it up to the birth yet.

Not TTC and not overly broody, it's just something I'm looking forward to I guess

Sex

I practice some mindful thinking (sounds pretentious but really works) - so a small brook flowing between some trees in a small wooded area. The idea is to imagine each leaf falling from a tree and following it as it floats down a river. What I'm supposed to do, based on my CBT is imagine each of my stresses on those leaves and watching them float off, but I tend not to bother with that part.
The most amazing thing is - if I'm stressed the rice flows super fast, if I'm relaxed and calm the river flows very slowly.
Im usually asleep very quickly once I start.