What do you do when you just can't get to sleep?

[Houseplanter]

So tired but can't nod offs and if I do I'll be wide awake about 2-4.

So what do you do? Read? Mumsnet? I'm honestly so bloody bored lying awake trying to nod off!

I read very familiar novels on my Kindle, usually Jane Austen — easier to read yourself right to the edge of sleep without having to switch the light off. It can’t be anything unfamiliar or too plotty.

I usually get up and read a book or something. I find that trying to get to sleep stresses me out and means I just won’t sleep, but if I act like I don’t have to sleep I eventually start feeling tired.

Listen to asmr? Or I focus on my breathing and my stomach going up and down and it helps me fall asleep. I think another tip to fall sleep is 2 deep breaths and then a long exhale and keep doing that and it's supposed to help you fall asleep.

I recently bought one of the Fisher Price otters, I just put the white noise setting on it was only about £10 on Vinted, even if I can’t go straight to sleep it relaxes me.

Have you got a smart speaker you could play white noise on or even put music on low. There is a long playlist called Quiet Piano on Alexa.

I either watch something light or listen to something on BBC Sounds.

First thing is to accept I might be awake for a while.i am an insomniac so either I let it upset me or just accept it makes no difference to the amount I sleep but does mean it doesn't bother me so much
Then absolutely no screens totally shown to fuck up sleep.
If reading doesn't nod me off I get up to downstairs have a little drink, back up brush my teeth again and read.
Sometimes do yoga Nidra (readily available on YouTube) it's very restful.
Also will do a crossword or something relaxing.

Breathe in for two, hold for four then exhale for eight and repeat .....zzz

I drink cocoa and eat toast/crackers and cheese!
I watch trash TV, then go back to bed.
Works every time.

Don't lie awake and try to sleep for more than 20 minutes. After that, get up and go and do something else until you feel tired and then go back to bed.

I listen to a podcast with evenly toned voices on subjects I’m quite interested in but not enough to stay awake for. usually takes me 5-10 minutes to drift off.

Make a cup of tea then go back to bed and try again by listening to dateline podcast on my wireless headphones (Keith Morrison's voice usually does the trick)

Listen to slightly boring podcasts on BBC sounds.

This! Amazing way of destressing. You can do four four eight too. The trick is the long out breath.

Kindle

Melatonin

Nytol (the strong one)

I just accept that although I might not be asleep if I lie there and chill out I will still feel rested. If I listen to music or read or heaven forbid, read my phone, then I will get to sleep much later.

A peppermint tea, some gaviscon, an eye mask and I may even go back to sleep.

Counting backwards from 1,000 or saying the hail mary or the Rosary helps too.

I listen to BBC Radio 4.

If I think I'll get to sleep just not immediately, I'll listen to a podcast for a bit (I recommend the Rabbit Hold Detectives). If I'm wide awake, I'll go downstairs, make myself a nest on the sofa and watch TV. Landscape artist of the year is very good for that.

Get up, have a cup of chamomile and lavender tea, relax downstairs then back to bed and the square breathing thing others do, in for four, hold for four, out for four, hold for four and repeat. I find getting up and changing scenery helps me worry less about being awake and then it’s easier to sleep in bed. I also love Infinite Monkey Cage on radio four extra on BBC sounds, I find Brian Cox’s voice very relaxing.

I do times tables. Always have done since a child (in my 50s now). Have always struggled to sleep!

I remind myself that I will survive even if I can’t go back to sleep.

then I replay in my mind some epic shags from when I was younger. I don’t know why but something about this sends me off to sleep!!

Listen to sleep podcasts on Spotify or Youtube. Take a Nytol if I'm desperate. Since menopause I've really struggled to get to sleep, even if I'm really tired.

Podcast. Off Air is excellent for this - I'm never awake by the time they get their guest on.

Podcast or radio

I listen to Boring Books for Bedtime on Spotify. The narrator reads boring books and catalogues in a soothing monotone. 10 minute mutes of Xenophons On Horsemanship Or he 1952 sears catalogue and I am asleep

I read mumsnet then get fed up so smile at opposite end of bed (as in like top to tail) then usually always fall asleep when I'm down there 😂

Don't know why but it always works