How do you fall asleep? Silence? Noise?

[Borisjohnsonshairbrush]

Just this ..

Having an anxious episode tonight and falling asleep will be very hard for me so it's headphones in and I'll put on "friends" "will and grace" or a comedy with canned laugher, shut my eyes and try and drift off.

I can hardly bare the silence. Anyone else have a certain sleep style?

I also need a pillow between my legs and a really soft well worn sheets I hate brand new sheets....

I sleep most of my week in a lorry. So sometimes it's noisy, sometimes it's quiet. I kind of put myself into a daydream/trance and then drift off.

Podcast or audible books current favourite is no such thing as a fish. On a really bad day it's endless YouTube of random rubbish, usually things like living off grid in Alaska or how to can veg to store it. I don't have time to grow that much food but I like to live vicariously.

I take my hearing aid out, pull my cochlear implant ofd and I fall fast asleep. In blissful silence. Until my toddler crashes in and smacks me to wake me up the next morning.

I’m a ‘could fall asleep anywhere’ person. I close my eyes and I’m asleep in about 20 seconds, my DH literally hates me as he’s one of those people that struggles to drift off.
The other day while WFH I put my head on my desk and had a 20 minute nap

@MiloAndEddie I'm baffled how my dp does it ..head hits pillow and he is zzzzz

@floppybit

I listen to 'cabin downpour' on the Headspace ap. Every night the same, never listen to a different one and have been doing this for about 3 years. I love the sound of pouring rain, I imagine I'm by all snuggled in bed in a caravan and it's drumming on the roof

Thanks for this. This sent me off last night. Only managed 3 hours but never mind. I usually listen to Rainday Antiques on headspace.

@Borisjohnsonshairbrush

Mines a guilty one...I fell asleep listening to the 90s Sabrina the teenage witch last night...it took me back and was so comforting. Maybe I have underlying issues lol X

I love this

I'm rewatching it all on Amazon Prime!

@MiloAndEddie I do that, much more often than I should . Except I just close my eyes and sleep sitting up

I mostly sleep fine in silence after reading but it has to be a good book. If it’s not that good my mind wanders and I don’t get sleepy. I also have certain tv shows or podcasts that work for me, I’ve been needing them more recently as not sleeping well. I have to wear earphones so as not to disturb DH but I’m a side sleeper and I do find them a bit uncomfortable, does anyone have a recommendation for comfortable earphones to wear in bed?

Absolute silence.
Pillow between my knees, lying on my right side with the duvet over my ear 😴

I have two lots of white noise; rain that goes all night (10 hours from YouTube) and I put on a film in the background to fall asleep to. Silence is too loud for me to fall asleep to.

I use the calm app, I rotate about 4 stories. I have chronic pain and it's very helpful. I also have tons of pillows and an elaborate skincare wind down routine. I have a very busy head so I need this.

There are different colours of noise, I find white noise too harsh. There's also brown, pink and grey.
This one is like rain and thunderstorms.

No I just pass out, but I do listen to white noise because my baby still sleeps with me and it helps him

I would advise anyone who can't stand the voice of their own thoughts to get some therapy. I couldn't for years then did The Hoffman Process and came out knowing the value of silence

wine, hrt, chlorophenamine or amitriptyline. Drugs basically!

I consider myself lucky that I can sleep pretty much anywhere anytime. I tend to like to sleep on my right side but that’s petty much my only requirement.

As for my method of getting to sleep, I am another one with “a busy head”. I can’t really shut my thoughts off, so I just let them go in a direction I like. I’ve been through therapy so I’m pretty good at “letting go” of thoughts I don’t want to get stuck on. I’ll just think about movies or shows I like, or something that happened during the day, or tell myself a little story. Kind of like guided meditation but with no general point, and then I’ll fall asleep.

That probably sounds utterly bonkers but maybe someone else does it too.

Can't sleep without an audio book x

@floppybit @Megan2018 @JSL52

Another rain fan here…I listen to the Rain episode on BBC sounds sleepscapes. I am off into sleep in moments. Only the rain works….the waves version make me anxious and alert !

@Hairyfriend

Me- eye mask and ear plugs to block DH's snoring. I need quiet. DH- TV and lights on and he sleeps through anything!!!

Random but do you have just any type of ear plugs..., DH is now a real big snorer- drives me insane! I simply have ear plugs costing £5...

@CalmConfident ooh I didn't know you could get rain on bbc sounds? I'm going to go and find it and have a listen....

I live on a fairly busy road plus DH snores.
I have a fan right next to my head which drowns out much of the noise it's pointed right at my face and that's what gets me to sleep

Audiobooks, preferably with a male reader. I can't fall to sleep otherwise. If I wake in the night I use the audiobook again or I'd just lie awake until morning.

The Headspace app is amazing – always listen to a sleepcast as they totally derail my racing thoughts. Like JSL52 I love Rainday Antiques but my favourite is Slow Train. Something about the sound of a train that really sends me off.

I'll have to try some of these ideas! I'm getting worse as I get older and more stressed.
I must go to bed before DH (he snores and moves too much!)
I need a fan or a fan noise on my phone, plus about 30 minutes of reading, then I recite something really boring in my head until I fall asleep! Currently it's the US states in alphabetical order, then when I really really can't drop off I do the states plus their capitals, then just the capitals in alphabetical order.
There must be a better way!