How do you sleep at night??

[bluebeardswife7]

I often listen to birdsong on Amazon on my way to sleep but I would like to mix it up. I can't do anything with water because it makes me want to pee. Waves make me chilly and want to pee. Any recommendations?

I go for a couple of fans (all year round). I even take one in the car if I’m staying in a hotel!

I fall asleep reading - or after sex ...

A question for people who listen to audio books, etc - what earphone do you use? I’ve got AirPods but find them uncomfortable left in too long and I can’t imagine dropping off to sleep in them. Is there a pair you can recommend?

I listen to audiobooks. Occasionally this fails because they are too interesting! I usually can't fall asleep to music but I discovered music for delta waves (on youTube... plays continuously without ads after the first one) and this sometimes works when audiobooks don't work.

I used to have to have silence, but after I developed tinnitus the silence was too noisy

@pippinsleftleg i have JBL headphones - their cheapest plug in ones from Amazon. I have small ear canals and it's hard to find ones that fit. I get through a pair every 6 months on average but they are only €9.99. I have nicer wireless ones for listening to music during the day!

I don't use earphones, I use a Bluetooth speaker at a perfect volume. Luckily DH and I both like background voices overnight. When we first met we both used to leave the World Service on all night

I have had insomnia for a very long time, possibly due to overnight shifts in a previous work role. I have a fan on in my room all year round due to menopausal flushes. I also use a Dream Egg, usually also on a fan sound which is a slightly different tone to the actual fan. I think it helps to actually understand that I will always have some form of insomnia and that no matter what I do or listen to my sleep patterns will be random and that I will either sleep well or terribly on any given night.

Alexa plays me the sound of rain. I also recently invested in the heated eye mask that was recommended on the Christmas bargain thread and I really want to love it but I just find it so uncomfortable on my face.

I play the apple calm playlist and set a timer for it to go off after 30 mins. I really struggle to sleep in silence.

I think pink!
I imagine a pink polar bear on a piece of ice just floating.

I used to listen to rainforest sounds (although on some recordings, there were monkeys, which weren't very relaxing!).
I also had a thunderstorms recording, evening birdsong, and waves on a shingle beach.

I usually count. Pick a high number and count to it. Then count to the next number down. If you can, do it in multiples (e.g, if I'm counting from 611, I'll count up in 13s. Then 612, which I can do in 6s, and so on. Mess up and lose count and I have to start again.

It has to be silent and dark. Can't have any noise and my sheets have to be wrinkle free. Struggle to sleep if sharing a room too. My poor children were never welcomed into my bed except as breast feeding newborns.

We're listening to the Harry Potter audio books atm

Podcast, but I wouldn't choose one that's very rowdy! I like Rob Brydon and Louis Theroux.

I use a soft Bluetooth headband, and alternate between Pray as you Go podcast, a mindfulness podcast, Get Sleepy podcast or also a classic detective novel.

Hope you sleep well @watchfulwishes!

On a pile on gold and jewels with many beautiful laydees

Michelle's Sleep Stories on YouTube are good - some are "guided sleep meditations" whatever that means, others are just stories

The Nothing Much Happens podcast. Honestly can’t recommend it enough it has changed my life. I can finally sleep rather than just lie there thinking about stuff.

A Terry Pratchett audio book read by Stephen Briggs (better than the Nigel Planer ones imo). I have listened to them all so often that I dont need to concentrate and his voice has just the right level to be soothing. I listen to them during the day too and do concentrate then but at night I can just have them as background noise, although I have had some funny dreams on the back of them!

I use an app called My Sleep Button. It reads out a list of mundane things for you to imagine, like a couple jogging together in the morning or a toy dolphin in a bath. I set it to run for 20 minutes and I'm always asleep before the end.

I also have a favourite rainfall track on Spotify

I normally just turn over and go to sleep. When I'm struggling I do the 4-7-8 breathing pattern. In for 4, hold for 7, out for 8. It pretty much never fails.
I also like to tell myself stories as I fall asleep, ones that I make up, then sometimes finish them off in a dream which makes me happy.

@pippinsleftleg I can’t believe there are people in the world who still don’t know about Bluetooth sleep headbands! Get one from Amazon for <£20 and it’ll be the best thing you have bought for a long time.

I find it very hard to fall asleep at night. Sometimes listening to a distant thunder storm on my phone helps (I have an app that is just different types of storms). Sometimes taking a paracetamol helps as I often get very itchy and the paracetamol will dull the urge to scratch. I design houses for different climates and environments and furnish them, usually over the course of months. I've written an entire post-apocalyptic, sci-fi, romance novel including the technology, social structures and politics, even the type of dog the protagonist owns. Sometimes I count backwards from 1,000 but it's really, really boring and I find it hard to stop my brain from wandering. World building or house building works better because while I'm thinking about tiny details that's usually when I drop off.

Reminds me of the childrens book Peace at last

Sounds uncomfortable, but I will give it a go.