AIBU to not understand falling asleep by accident?

[Aulwan]

I know IABU but I can't seem to start a thread in chat. Anyway I have never in my life just "fallen asleep" e.g. on the couch, reading in bed etc. I have to decide to go to sleep and it takes a while. It's always a decision, it never just happens. I seem to be alone though based on all the people falling asleep all over the place! Anyone else like this or am I just wierd?

It only happens to me if I am completely exhausted. Sadly, exhaustion is my companion these days.

I sleep anywhere any time. Just drift off with my head in the kitchen table is not so great, but drifting off in a comfy armchair in front of a film is lovely.

Can't fall asleep in bed without reading though.

Id have to be seriously tired to fall asleep watching tv. I cant ever think of a time when it has happened except when I'm ill. Im not tired in general though. I sleep about 7 hours a night and feel good on that. I never feel tired in the day unless I've had a very late night but its rare for me to nap. If i sleep more than 8 hours at night i find it very hard to wake up - its like I've slept too much. I dont get tired until im in bed and have read for about 30 mins then i get sleepy and fall asleep fast. Id hate to be dropping off in front of the tv every evening - I'd wonder what was wrong with me!

I've fallen asleep a couple of times with hot tea in my hands - burnt legs in tight, now hot wet jeans - ouch!

At work on my lunch break on an old sofa - 10 seconds. At home, feeling poorly, lovely snuggly bed - feckin ages

Chronic insomniac so no don’t fall asleep by accident wish I could though.

I don’t understand it either OP! I’ve been exhausted to the point where I’m almost falling asleep but I just take myself off to bed. OH falls asleep on the couch all the time! It used to wind me up but when he does it I get a king size bed to myself so I can’t really complain 😂

In my entire adult life,(I'm 56) I don't think I have ever fallen asleep accidentally. I can't sleep in a vehicle,as I can't sleep sleep sitting upright. The only time I have ever slept sitting up was when I had bad bronchitis in my mid 20s and was so exhausted by the constant coughing that I did eventually sleep for a few hours.

I can remember getting annoyed with my ex-husband and my Dd when she was a teenager,for falling asleep in the middle of conversations.

I find it very hard to fall asleep and stay asleep these days,even when I'm in bed. I do feel rather envious of people who can sleep anywhere.

I’m so envious of people who can just sleep, I’ve been in bed since 10pm tossing and turning. I’ve been this way since a baby, I just can’t sleep no matter how tired.

Last 3 nights I've been asleep in front of the tv. Tonight I can't sleep. I do see a pattern at various times in my menstrual cycle so my insomnia is affected by that.

In the last couple of years I have been overtaken by the "instant sleep", especially while sitting on the sofa typing on the laptop, or watching tv. I have "come to" with my fingers still in situ on the laptop, sometimes with a line of mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm or another letter (whichever letter my finger was resting on) typed on the screen, sometimes not.
It's very disconcerting!
But what is worse, is that when I feel that tiredness coming on sometimes, I will take myself off to bed for either a nap or for the night and then have a terrible job actually going to sleep.

Takes me minutes, less than that, to actually to fall asleep. I can sleep anywhere. And drop off really easily.

I think how anxious you are plays a part.

I’m a shift worker, at least 50% nights, plenty of experience being awake for 36 hrs on a trot....still struggle to sleep due to anxiety.

I am certainly ‘tired enough’ and would be very willing indeed to swap my tiredness for that of the idiot who posted that.

I was exactly the same as you, op. It always took me a long time to get to sleep, even as a child, and I never just fell asleep on the sofa or whatever, had to be in bed.

Now I do fall asleep stretched out on the sofa in front of the telly but am retired and 70. I absolutely relish it! However if I was out or doing something, I wouldn't feel sleepy.

In the last three nights I have had hours sleep, I’m pregnant and exhausted, yet I still couldn’t just fall asleep.

*nine

Love all the people like "wow you must never have experienced sleep deprivation if you can't fall asleep anywhere!" like...sure, insomnia isn't a thing at all. I can be awake for 48 hours and still not fall asleep without consciously deciding I will now lay down and sleep.

Sometimes I nod off on the sofa in the evenings. But it's rare. I never sleep in the day. Never sleep on planes. I wish I could fall asleep anywhere, any time. It's almost 5am and I've been awake since 3. Sleep doesn't come very easily to me and if I'm woken in the night I rarely go back to sleep. Hence the nodding off on the sofa. Dh can close his eyes, no matter where he is, and be asleep within seconds. How??!!

It rarely happens to me these days, I can’t remember the last time I fell asleep on the sofa watching TV. But my kids are adults who have left home, I’m less exhausted generally these days and get to sit down in the evening much earlier than I used to. I also go to bed fairly early anyway, because I don’t have a zillion things to do before morning.

When my children were young I’d fall asleep in front of the TV all the flipping time because by the time I sat down I was already exhausted. I don’t think I saw the end of a film for about ten years.

I can fall asleep on the sofa but I never fall asleep in a public place such as on a plane, for example, like some can.

Films have to be awesome to keep me awake
Contrariwise, the more engaged I am in a film or TV programme, the more likely I am to fall asleep. I've even fallen asleep briefly in a cinema and the theatre. It's not often, but it happens.

I'm the same as you OP. I have also never gone to bed and woken up 18 hours later or something like that.

Sleep is my special skill. I reckon I could be anywhere, lie down and be asleep in under a minute.

I can sleep anywhere. It is very handy.