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

These imaginings probably don't help me sleep though, far too exciting.

I like to think about all the women throughout history, right back to cavewomen, whose lives were very different from mine but who will at some point have experienced exactly what I’m experiencing- the feeling of being unable to sleep and wanting to. Thinking about a Tudor noblewoman or Tang dynasty era peasant woman or Mesolithic hunter-gatherer woman lying there trying not to think about everything she has to do tomorrow and instead just get some sleep is strangely comforting.

I go through all my colleagues and imagine daft things such as , what they might wear to bed, what the eat for breakfast, what their homes might look like. I am a poor sleeper but this is so dull it helps me nod off.

I listen to audio books on borrowbox so it's free . Set it to sleep in 20 or 30 mins and never hear the end

Count back from 100 or play Apps with rain and thunderstorms.

I have a scenario I go through - I live in a little whitewashed house in Greece, I imagine my day from the moment I wake, making coffee in the kitchen, watering the plants, walking down the steps to the beach, making my lunch etc, all the detail like the sounds of the cicadas, the smell of thyme and warm air, the feel of the sea and the sun. In the evening I'm walking over the hill to the village to meet friends and dance in the square but I never get that far.

Christ how delightful!!

I think about the clothes in my wardrobe and plan outfits. I'm very much not a clothes/fashion type - I tend to wear joggers and a jumper most days - but I somehow find it soothing to think about that skirt and whether it would go with that shirt, or what could I put together to achieve a certain look (atm it's the high school girls from Twin Peaks with their plaid skirts and cardigans).

I do the alphabet thing too: famous people, animals, countries etc.
I also play out romance fantasies in my head - maybe not the best idea to get to sleep!

I heard somewhere that walking through places you used to live in is a good way to drop off.

I like to think about our electrician and the life we could have if we were single and I was in his league.

Sends me off to sleep nicely every night 🤣

I do yoga. Work my way through sun salutations with slight variations - and what I do on one side, I have to remember and repeat on the other side.

Keanu reeves

I do the alphabet thing too, don’t think I’ve ever got to Z.
At the moment, I’m doing British Comedies so I start with Allo Allo, Blackadder…

I count backwards from 200. Any time I make a mistake or my thoughts drift i start again. Doesn't usually take long.

Mostly I’m really tired by bedtime, so I read for a bit then I just think about my book. But if I’m having trouble sleeping because I’m worrying about something and my mind is racing, I visualise a Möbius strip going round and round. Works like charm.

I have this entire make believe life and I think about new scenarios that happen in it.

I do this too - usually I don’t get too far through the alphabet 😃

Care to share?

I think up up ideas for aibu threads and imagine what the replies might be - vipers and all (never post them though)

I plan houses too weirdly

Or I get in a boat, like one on a lazy river ride, get to the top of the ride and then throw out all my stresses one by one as I come down the ride so the boat gets lighter and I go faster

I choreograph and plan out really detailed music videos for songs, sometimes they have storylines, I do the camera angles and scenery sometimes I just do the costumes and the makeup.
If a particular song has been in my head for a while it ends up relly fleshed out and the whole thing sort of plays in my head the next time I hear the song properly.

I think about going back to my childhood home. I walk through the front door (I can still remember the sound of it closing) then I walk through all the rooms and try to remember certain ornaments and furniture etc. I'm always asleep within a few minutes and rarely make it upstairs!

I've lived in some interesting towns in my life in a varietyof countries, although now I don't. I imagine going for a walk in one of them. I try to recreate the sounds, smells and tiny details. E.g I used to live in the bush outside Gaborone, and in Bath, and in a town outside Dar es Salaam.

I'm either in a bedroom on a train carriage at night or in a treehouse (with the ladder pulled up of course) in the middle of the woods. I'm always asleep within 5 minutes so I don't have to think for long!

I have a whole different life. It started when I 'won the lottery' and we live in an amazing house with lots of animals etc. I have a different partner and different friends etc. I also daydream whenever I can, I'm the car etc

I imagine being on a deserted beach and just picture the sea going in and out. If my mind drifts I bring it back to the water. And I purposely slow my breathing down. Always works