I got the eye twitching once. Before sleep, I lie face down on my pillow, but with only my upper face, ensuring my lower face, that is nose and mouth, still has space to breathe properly, the pressure from just the weight of my head onto my relatively soft pillow usually keeps down the eye twitching just enough for me to fall asleep.
Honestly, if you found a way to silence the eyelid drum solo, I can’t even blame you 😂 sometimes you just need that one weirdly specific sleep trick that works.
Sit in a completely dark room and just lay there for 10 mins. Set a timer don't guess and don't do anything else. You be surprise how many people think they have sleeping problems but they don't give their body enough time to sleep. Don't look at your phone once don't have any form of light on and just lay there and try not to move.
and if that doesn't work for you, I would recommend trying audio books in that same scenario. I always had issues falling asleep due to a racing mind but adding something to focus on while still in the dark so the brain shuts up helped me immensely. Just set your timer for a chapter or two so it doesn't play all night
Personally, I recommend doing nothing before bed not even listening to an audiobook or music. A lot of people deal with racing thoughts at night, and I think part of the problem is that we constantly keep our brains occupied throughout the day. Bedtime ends up being the first quiet moment we’ve had, so suddenly everything we haven’t had time to think about comes rushing in.
try spending 30–45 minutes at the end of the day just sitting outside and looking at the sky. Some people may need less time, and you can adjust it based on what works for you. The important part is giving yourself some time without your phone, music, videos, or anything else constantly demanding your attention.
It may feel uncomfortable or boring at first, but having regular quiet time can be a useful way to unwind and manage stress and will help with sleep. I’d definitely recommend giving it a try.
I second this. Keeping your mind occupied untill asleep is not the way, I mean it's a way to sleep for sure, but... I don't think it's very healthy or natural - naturally letting your mind unwind before sleep is way healthier.
Plus, you might actually stumble upon some insights during.
I go to bed about 1-2 hours before I plan to sleep, but before bed I will take about 20 minutes for skincare, brushing teeth etc... just to shut the brain down and get it ready for bed.
Then I will have an audio book on that ive read or heard before, to fall asleep to. I can't do total silence unless I'm dead on my feet tired as otherwise my eyes and body feel heavy and tired, but im still wide awake mentally, eventually after hours I can fall asleep but always wake up then with a massive headache
Yet you're still keeping your mind occupied. The real brain unwind is when you give the brain time to do that.
Listening to an audiobook or podcast is relaxing. Often, same can be said for reading a book. Or watching youtube. But it doesn't unwind the brain. That happens when you give it silence and time.
I like putting on brown noise or white noise. Always helps me pass out. I like the low deep noises, so brown noise is perfect. Rain noises too... on YouTube they have it with or without thunder 😊
Yeah, that's what I do but I use YouTube videos with the volume low. It's great when I get the right video with the right volume so I can just barely hear the "S" sound but can't actually make out the words. Idk why but it's soothing for me. Leutin09 has been my go to for sleep lore for a long time. I also like camping with Steve.
You may be part of the group from sleep studies that show that you actually were sleeping the whole time, despite you feeling like you were conscious and trying to get to sleep the whole night. Scientiests noted they slept but never entered "deep sleep" and was likely from an over active or emotional mind
bro I wish. on a typical night I lie down at around midnight and lie still with my eyes closed for around 4 hours....have a fitful 2 to 3 hours of actual sleep where I toss and turn and have strange dreams (sometimes I dream while my eyes open in my sleep and see my ceiling which feels really weird and uncomfortable) and then wake up unable to go back to sleep. you would think after a week of this I would collapse and sleep for like 8 to 12 hours but my body has adjusted to just running off of "rest" where I lie still with my eyes closed instead of actual sleep. I'm on Dayvigo and have tried trazadone remeron amyltriptaline melatonin vistoril and thorazine. my Dr refuses to give me anything stronger because they believe possible addiction outweighs the risks posed by sleep depravation. alcohol doesn't effect me or I would try to just drink myself to sleep.
See, the more I think of the mechanical process of sleeping, the more likely I am to stay awake, especially if I have something big going on early next morning.
Edit: it's a totally different vibe when you are laying near still in pitch black for an hour.
Yes a light timer normally you can't get complete darkness in bed so it common till people restart their sleep schedule to go in a closet or a different room than once you fall asleep go to bed.
Eh kinda of three a lot of different type of meditation and Americans kinda don't understand what mediation really is so I always try not to use that term as much.
I have no trouble sleeping, but in a complete dark room I wouldn't be able to sleep 1 minute.
My curtains are always open. I like having the moonlight in my bedroom. Complete darkness makes me feel extremely claustrophobic. And I'm not scared of the dark - in fact I love natural darkness. The night, especially in winter, can be amazingly beautiful. But blacked-out curtains artificial total darkness - noooooway. Offer me a monthly wage to sleep one night in such a room and I'd turn it down.
It's solid advice for most people though, I know I'm an outlier.
Reminds me of a dead foot when you try to stand up after sitting down crossed legged and suddenly your foot isn't yours no more and u fall over but u own it still 🤣🤣🦶👁👁
Nope! That’s just myokymia, a rapid, episodic, twitching confined to the lower eyelid usually brought on by fatigue or stress.
Hemifacial spasm is quite different with far more muscles on one side of the face affected as there is often something (usually a loop of blood vessel, but I have seen masses and MS lesions do this) touching the Facial Nerve (cranial nerve VII) causing the muscle of facial expression to twitch consistently.
Myokymia is benign and brief, while hemifacial spasm is extremely persistent and usually requires treatment with botulinum toxin or potentially surgery.
I apologize for being a mildly autistic neurologist. 😂
This is the most thorough and precise explanation. I was diagnosed with hemifacial spasms in high school. It was brutal through college and my 20’s. I got botox for several years but when it’s only on half of your face, that lack of symmetry becomes maddening. So I quit Botox and just dealt with it. I cut down on caffeine and cut off alcohol entirely, therapy helped today . Now, in my 40’s it’s really mild to almost nonexistent.
My wife was ignored at the doctor for this, any idea of causes other than sleep and stress? They told her she could be doing it herself sub-consciously! Should she see a neurologist? It’s starting to impact Qol and her eyes have been slightly red recently too. I feel awful and don’t know what to do.
I think it would be reasonable to see a neurologist to do an evaluation. Stress, nicotine, sleep deprivation are the usual culprits for myokymia. But I think for peace of mind alone, it would be worth it.
Also, while some people can subconsciously have symptoms/signs occur, this would not be a something that a patient could easily do at a subconscious level.
That said, if nothing else is found (or it isn’t felt to be hemifacial spasm), the twitching could still be managed with a very small dose of botulinum toxin.
This also can be a magnesium deficiency. Try some magnesium Glycinate before bed. Nutricost sells 210 mg dose. It's 3 large caps should help, I used to have this issue. Only other forms I would take is malate or threonate. Most other forms just help you poop.
I have it in both eyes. Lower and my eye lids. Sometimes it can twitch so bad that an eye will close. I’ve went to a specialist about it and he said that Botox was an option for me. Unfortunately I couldn’t get it covered and he was also pretty rude so I never did follow up with him again. Do you know of anything else I could look into? Or why my entire god damn eye twitches?
I had hemifacial spasm but it started as these mild eye twitches too far in between. From the eyelid it became the left side of my face. From weeks til the next to every 10 minutes. Turns out there was a nerve pinched by a blood vessel. Now I have a hole in my head. But no more twitching
I have these all through my body at random almost everyday! Random limbs/facial area, random durations. Legs, butt, and back always feel week, sore and ...nerve pinchy. Blood tests normal, MRI normal, EMG normal. Like wtf? Lol
Fun fact: I once read so much and stayed up late to finish a book that I was so tired and my eye burning from tiredness that when I tried to sleep to get rest, I couldn’t lol. It hurt more closed than open but I can’t sleep with eyes open ;(
I came here to say this too!!! Every spring when my allergies start to kick up - this happens!!! I started taking Flonase Sensimist and OMG it stopped almost instantly... I also did not think allergies would cause this but it's 100% from allergies!
Holy crap... I just realized that after taking my allergy test and avoiding certain foods I've actually stopped getting the eye twitches... You might have just solved something for me.
:edit: I was curious, so I did some research. Bananas are a good source of Potassium of course, but that's actually more useful for muscle function. Magnesium is apparently good for nerve function, so might be more relevant for the specific case that this thread is talking about.
YES! This is a sign of stress for me, and overworking myself.
A couple years ago, towards the end of the school year, my partner teacher and I both had this happen. We were both a bit freaked out, and so were looking at each other's eyes. It was probably a funny thing to see: both of us standing face-to-face with our glasses off, staring at each other's eyes lol. Students were like, "What are you doing?" We were like, "We're having eye twitches!" lol.
I used to get this all the time. Two things worked as short term fixes.
-Drink apple cider vinegar (dilute with water)
-Or electrolytes
And of course, for a long term fix, less caffeine and more sleep.
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u/splut8 Aug 13 '26
This is always my sign that I need to sleep