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Original poster

Do you have to fall asleep to noise / tv etc?

59 replies

TheOwlChronicles · 19/06/2023 09:24

My almost 17 year old falls asleep every night to background noise on his iPad. He props it up on his bedside table and it plays a documentary / film/ running commentary all night as he sleeps

I need total peace to sleep and I can't understand how he can have something playing all night but at his age, I let him get on with it now

How about you? Do you have to have complete silence or noise to sleep?

OP posts:
Piffpaffpoff · 19/06/2023 09:26

I like having some noise as I fall asleep - I set my ipad to stop playing after 20 mins and I'm usually asleep by then.

Danikm151 · 19/06/2023 09:29

I need background noise. I really struggle to sleep in silence

johnworf · 19/06/2023 09:35

My autistic teen does this too. He says it focusses his mind and stops it wandering with different thoughts (which stop him from sleeping). Also he finds it comforting.

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MaryJean87 · 19/06/2023 09:37

No I like quiet. Sometimes I listen to rain noise or wave sounds if I'm struggling to sleep but not music or sleep stories. That kind of stuff always keeps me awake.

HuxleyPigOinkOink · 19/06/2023 09:38

Yes I have a sleep app and put the same noise on every night for about 4 years.

I'm terrified they'll delete it and I won't be able to sleep! 😂

Original poster
TheOwlChronicles · 19/06/2023 09:38

Yes I wouldn't be able to sleep at all if I had something chuntering away in the background!

OP posts:
ThreeRingCircus · 19/06/2023 09:38

I used to be like that (before the days of tablets) I always used to have to fall asleep with the TV on for background noise....to stop my mind wandering as PPs said.

I trained myself out of it only when DD1 was born and was sharing our bedroom so I didn't want the TV on distracting her.

Now I can fall asleep in silence but I need to wear an eye mask to block out all light. It's all just habit I think.

YourMusic · 19/06/2023 09:45

If I’m struggling to fall asleep, I put an audiobook on and I’ll be asleep in no time. I can easily fall asleep with the tv on, music playing, people talking, lights on etc. I’m a great sleeper. 🤣

Hayfeverseasonalready · 19/06/2023 09:48

Yup every night our tv in the bedroom has to be on. It's on low and dim brightness but can't go to sleep without it. Usually watch Friends, Family Guy or Miranda to fall asleep to!

Catsmere · 19/06/2023 09:59

I need it to be quiet, at least. It’s never silent - traffic, cat fountain, wind or rain, snoring cat - but I can’t sleep with loud noise. I spent years sleeping with earplugs in because of the stress of noisy neighbours.

Blueink · 14/08/2023 10:46

I try not to routinely use something but if I’m having trouble switching off due to overthinking will put on a guided sleep thing to distract me, but have to have something that goes off.

I wouldn’t continue to sleep through something playing, I would wake up and have to turn it off.

ohsuzannah · 14/08/2023 17:43

I sleep with an overhead fan on, because I have tinnitus and they cancel each other out!

DappledThings · 14/08/2023 18:39

I used to when I was in my 20s and depressed. Radio 4 going into the World Service after Sailing By.

Now I don't and would hate it.

Davros · 14/08/2023 19:19

I have an audiobook on all night. It has to be something familiar so it's not stimulating. I think it comes from living on my own when I was younger and wanting background voices

Moredarkchocolateplease · 14/08/2023 19:40

Can't sleep unless the room is silent and as cold as possible. Endless arguments in the winter where DH turns the radiator up and I turn it down, I hate central heating. And the clicks when it starts again in the morning wake me up. 😱

HundredMilesAnHour · 14/08/2023 19:43

Yes, I need background noise to sleep and have done all my life (I'm early 50s). My mind is too active when it's quiet so I need a distraction - but nothing too distracting that perks me up. I was recently diagnosed with ADHD so it makes sense as it's my ADHD brain keeping me awake.

YukoandHiro · 14/08/2023 19:44

No but I had an ex who needed the tv on. I loathed it, it was a real problem. I need dark and peace

Nevermay · 14/08/2023 19:45

HuxleyPigOinkOink · 19/06/2023 09:38

Yes I have a sleep app and put the same noise on every night for about 4 years.

I'm terrified they'll delete it and I won't be able to sleep! 😂

record it in case?

Nevermay · 14/08/2023 19:46

I need noise and light to sleep, always have

WickWood · 14/08/2023 19:46

I hate it, I like the room to be pitched black and silent. My OH has to have some sort of documentary or science video on the TV or his phone, he falls asleep quickly, so I wait until he falls asleep and then I switch it off. I highly suspect he has ADHD too!

fyn · 14/08/2023 19:47

I have to have a rain app on otherwise I’ll lay there for hours with my mind racing. The rain app gives me something to focus listening to, I’ve used it for about 12 years now. I’m increasingly convinced I have ADHD because I wasn’t aware that it wasn’t normal to lay hours thinking until my mid twenties.

BCBird · 14/08/2023 19:48

Absolute silence needed for me

Maverickess · 14/08/2023 19:49

Yes as a pp said I have something familiar on at a low volume and sleep timer set for an hour, it stops me overthinking every mistake I've ever made since I could form memories, stressing about anything going on until it's a disaster etc, it seems to keep that part of my brain occupied and then I can fall asleep.

Chasingsquirrels · 14/08/2023 19:50

I don't have to, and don't have anything on in the bedroom when I go to bed.
But I can, and frequently fall asleep on the sofa with the TV on 🤣.

Tara336 · 14/08/2023 19:51

DH has the tv on all night and it seems 10 x louder at night, I have to go and sleep in another room for some peace. He also leaves the bloody remote in the bed rolls on it and the tv will suddenly come on if it's been off and that wakes me as well. I'd love a good night's sleep