To ask for your strategies for getting to sleep?

[porridgeisbae]

I don't usually have major trouble dropping off but I do at the moment, even if I do 'sleep hygeine,' gadgets kept in another room etc.

Nothing is on my mind, I just can't drop off. I even tried counting sheep.

What do you tend to do to help you get to sleep once you're in bed?

Podcast/audiobook with calm voices at 0.9 speed, in headphones on a fifteen minute timer, and a body scan (yoga nidra podacasts are a good introduction to these).

Also podcasts or audiobooks for me, using soft sleep headphones that cover my eyes.

Try this as a starter - his voice! 🫠

itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAudiobook?id=1533248835

Brown noise playlist on YouTube

Could it be your age OP? I started struggling with dropping off late 40's due to menopause symptoms.
This works deep sleep pillow spray helps.

Thanks for the tips, all.

I don't think it's my age (although I suppose it could be) I have bipolar disorder so it sometimes happens slightly, but as it's well controlled I don't even usually get this or anything else. This is a quite disturbing lack of sleep TBH. I've called them and asked for a couple of weeks of sleeping pills.

I've also been on a diet for a couple of weeks which I heard can effect people's sleep. Stuff like that. Life events but fairly positive ones.

HRT had huge impact on my sleep.

Can’t take HRT at the moment - so currently what’s helping most is playing a podcast that I’m not really interested in. Trying to ignore the podcast seems to send me to sleep 🤷‍♀️

Ive also started doing some yoga stretches before bed which helps a bit.

I use either the Calm App, an Audiobook, or Podcast every single night.

I’ve struggled with sleep when dieting or when exercising in evening. Can you have a high protein snack before bed without messing up your diet? Some herbal sleep aids are also quite effective, one a night kalms are pretty good?

Also can’t dieting trigger mania/hypomania? Maybe you’re over restricting?

I use the Balance app; I got a free trial and after it ended the bit I wanted was still on the free bit. There's a 'sleep' section and I use the same 1 hour meditation every time I'm struggling, with the same voice. After just a few goes it was like my brain went 'oh we have this now. ok then goodnight'; I rarely hear all of it, I usually drop off after a few minutes; I use it at any time of the night. The guy's voice is dreamy too!

I've also tried to just 'play' it in my head, but that doesn't work :)

Blue light filter on tablet at night, read something undemanding before lights out. Sleep spray on pillow, Badger sleep balm under nose and on wrists and temples, sleep sounds app left playing on tablet overnight. Ocean waves, deep underwater and rain (separately, not all three at once) are ones that work for me).

Bedtime yoga before getting into bed (if nothing else, tree pose on one foot means your mind HAS to focus on holding your balance and everything else shuts up a little), then an ASMR video to help me drop off - I am watching a lot of Sarah Lavender's videos on YouTube right now.

@BatildaB All good points. Sometimes I have cocoa with a protein scoop in it before bed, I think that must be good anyway for repair etc.

But I have a history of eating disorder and while calorie restricting this time, the nutritional value has become very low. Like, I don't restrict to really low calories but yesterday my food for the day was takeaway cookie dough, so it was probably about 1500 calories when I'm quite a small inactive person, but 18g of protein for the whole day! I've lost muscle/strength so it's a pretty pointless way to lose weight.

I know how I should eat/diet and stuff, have qualifications in it, it's just issues or being bad at actually implementing it.

Some people made derogatory comments about my shape and it triggered it off. I'm kind of glad as I did want to lose half a stone or something. Just 2 or 3lbs to go now.

@porridgeisbae ah that sounds hard to manage and probably related to the sleep then? Maybe you could at least try and add in something a bit healthy with some fibre and protein at least before bed like microwave popcorn with yeast flakes, or an apple and some full fat cheese, so you don’t end up in a vicious cycle of sleep deprivation and unhealthy eating? Cocoa does have some caffeine if you’re sensitive to it, although I do love an unsweetened cocoa before bed.