What do you think about when you are trying to get diff to sleep to help you sleep

[Pringlepopping]

Sometimes I think back on past holidays

I plan tiny houses. I've got two on the go at the minute. They're always derelict public toilets or similar sized derelict buildings in the town I live in and I plan how I'd do them up and where everything would go.
In real life I'm a cleaner and this will never happen but it's very therapeutic

That's brilliant!!

I now listen to an audiobook, but before I discovered how great they were for this, I used to pick events from my life and turn them into a story. It was usually boring enough to get me off to sleep😅

Well that’s certainly different
do you find it helps you get to sleep

I chose a letter of the alphabet and have to think of as many girls names, and then boys names starting with that letter.

This is usually done alongside radio4 playing in the background (on a timer to switch off!).

My brain seems to shut down as I'm doing two things at once, listening and listing! And I go to sleep!!!

I have an ongoing trashy romantic novel in my head I am going to write one day 🤣

I read that when you're drifting off your brain naturally jumps from one thing to another and so if you recreate this by deliberately thinking of a string of unrelated things or memories then it can help 🤷🏼‍♀️

@Pringlepopping yes it does, I'm usually asleep in less than ten minutes

I don't! If I start allowing my brain to think, I'd never get to sleep! I play fast-paced all-absorbing games on my phone or read until my eyes are dropping, then quickly turn out the lights and hope sleep comes before the internal chatter starts...

I think through my day backwards in minute detail.

or, and this is a curve ball- I think about tomorrow and how much time I will have, how it doesn’t matter if I stay up all night etc. relieves the anxiety that I will be exhausted if I don’t sleep.

a hypnosis I listened to once said imagine you’re in a room and everyone is yawning and nodding off in their chairs. This comes to me sometimes as well.

Count down backwards from 300.

Same…. Except I listen to podcasts/audible and set a sleep timer.

My friend just thinks about “nothing really” and falls asleep and I am so envious 😞

I plan a week's meals, as if I lived alone and had no budget (neither true!) For some reason, I usually fall asleep after I've gone through two days!

I think about all the good things that have happened that day. It gives me a warm fuzzy glow and ensures I get a good sleep.

I plan my garden. Mentally organize garage. Listen to audiobooks on sleep timer.

Like a pp i also compose a long-running fictional saga; have several "storylines "
on the go to suit different emotional states, etc. Sort of a daydream / alternate world but at night. Always wondered if anyone else does this.

I put a hot water bottle on my stomach and pretend I'm lying on a beautiful beach. The hot water bottle is the sun on my stomach. Bliss.

I think about preparing for a zombie apocalypse and how we would survive. I go into great detail in my mind and then I suppose I gradually drift off to sleep! I'm aware that may sound a bit strange to others though! I blame my watching the walking dead series.

I try not to think of anything. Lying there thinking and planning used to keep me awake before.

I do all my thinking and planning during the day, and relish going to bed, closing the door and not having respond to anyone's questions or to think about or do anything except relax and sleep.

If thoughts enter my mind I say to myself "You don't need to think about that now."

If anything I particularly need to remember to do pops into my head, I make a note of it and set a reminder on Google Keep.

I usually go to sleep listening to radio dramas or podcasts on BBC Sounds.

Just to add this is obviously a fictional storyline! I don't actually lay in bed worrying about a REAL zombie apocalypse 😅🤣

I do exactly this with the listing of names! Works a treat.

I walk around my grandparents' houses from when I was a child. I've found rooms this way that I'd completely forgotten about, I just seemed to access the memory this way.

Also, a particular task I perform every day at work that needs to be done precisely and in the same way each time. It's so boring to think about it usually sends me straight off!

Think about story of the film/book etc.

I also think about house interiors, walking through them and how I'd do them up. Some are real houses I've seen others are a sort of 'ideal' set up. Sometimes imagine being in a beautiful landscape. Or planning an outfit to wear or thinking of what clothes I'd like to buy for a special event or holiday. Basically, positive relaxing stuff.

I choose a subject for example food or animals, and I have to name one thing for each letter of the alphabet. If I get to the end I choose another subject, I’ve never got past 2 before though!

I go through the alphabet and have to think of things starting with each letter for two unrelated categories of things - for example a film beginning with A and something you'd buy in a supermarket beginning with A, then B and so on.

I do two different categories as I had read something similar to what piscosours said above.

I have found success from reliving my day from the moment I woke up. I never make it to lunchtime. If my brain is very busy I can't do it though, and I have to get up and read, but that's rare.