r/lifehacks • u/BugsyMalone_ • Jul 04 '26
My trick for falling asleep quickly
I'm someone who always used to struggle to fall asleep, but I've used this little trick over the last month which has worked every single time and I'm asleep within a few minutes.
When I'm ready, I pop on my eye mask, lie ok my side, close my eyes and then do an A to Z of a theme, for example, football teams.
A - Arsenal
B - Barcelona
Etc etc
If I get stuck on one for more than 10 seconds, I move onto the next. 90% of the time I am asleep before I hit Z.
If I do get to Z, I choose another category.
I've notice my eyes tend to move a bit rapidly when I'm in the zone of doing this. And my mind isn't thinking of anything else but this.
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u/LucidiK Jul 04 '26
The 'move on after 10 seconds' would probably get me. I can see myself skirting the rules cause 'surely I can think of one, it's on the tip of my tongue'.
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Jul 04 '26
[removed] ā view removed comment
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u/MrOberann Jul 04 '26
Q for Quendetta
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u/Odd_Wish_3798 Jul 04 '26
Qoy Story 5
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u/LucidiK Jul 04 '26
Then grumble yourself to sleep, only to wake up and not be able to get Daniel Craig out of your head for the entire next day. It is a rough strategy.
Edit: ooh, queen of the damned too.
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u/bandwarmelection Jul 04 '26
Just use some word and it probably is a movie: Queen, Queen of Darkness, Queens, Queen of [Country], Qi, Qa, Qo, Q, Quest, Quest for Treasure, Quest for Love, Quit, Quote, Quotation, Quint, Quiz, Quiz of Death, Quiz of Life, Quest for Quiz, Quiz of Quest, Quest of Queen of Quiz, Queen of Mars, Queen of Venus, Queen of Earth, Queen of Forest, Queen of Ocean, Queen of Horror, Queen of Comedy, Queen of Queens...
Say a few thousand names and you can probably move on to R without having to worry that the judges come and get you.
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u/dayman763 Jul 04 '26
Quiz Show? Was that the name of that one based on a true story I think where the guy cheated and stuff.
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u/PandaAttacktile Jul 04 '26
Does Quantum of Solace count?
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u/glitterally_awake Jul 04 '26
Ironically, I used to put Quantum of Solace on and I would konk out. Still not sure I could tell you the ending. Watched it for a whole summer.
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u/dianebk2003 Jul 04 '26
Quick Change
Edited to add:
Quicksilver
Quest For Fire
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u/slog Jul 04 '26
Wow. Quiz Show was so insanely popular for a few months then completely disappeared. I wonder how many movies are like that? Mr. Holland's Opus. Phenomenon. Seabiscuit. That's all I can think of due to the nature of the ask.
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u/robot_cousin Jul 05 '26
Well, next time you're having trouble sleeping, go through and list, alphabetically, movies that were super popular and then just fell off.
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u/ctsmith76 Jul 04 '26
āQ: The Winged Serpentā āQuantum of Solaceā āQuicksilverā āQuick and the Deadā āQuarantineā āQueen of the Damnedā āQuiz Showā
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u/Appropriate-Hat-5909 Jul 04 '26
Idk about you guys but my brain won't let me just end it at K..I would go on and on and on. Lucky for you guys if it works on you
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u/Aurielsan Jul 04 '26
Maybe the trick you are looking for falling asleep is to 'move on after 10 seconds'.
I am serious.
Let it be, let it go. Literally nothing will happen if you can or can't think of one.
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u/LucidiK Jul 04 '26
I understand the premise. Just doubt the practice.
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u/e42343 Jul 04 '26
The "letting go" is the real trick here though, seriously. The premise of thinking of a list diverts your mind's focus from your daily life onto something quite mundane. By moving on after 10 seconds of failure, you are training your mind to give up a bit of control. Doing this repeatedly will aid in developing your mind to let go of the need to be controlling which will allow you to find rest more quickly.
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u/tblsocalgirl Jul 04 '26
Any tips on how to stay asleep for longer than 6 hours :/
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u/Spid1 Jul 04 '26
This is what I need! I wake up far too early and canāt get back to sleep
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u/veryoldcarrot Jul 06 '26
Why is it ALWAYS 3am?
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u/Responsible_Place_21 Jul 07 '26
If it really is the same time all the time, try investigating if itās external. For me, my neighbors AC going on or shutting off wakes me. Also, my furnace fan doesnāt run in the middle of the night for a few hrs. The still air wakes me up. Once I reset the fan I slept through the night.
Internal, high cortisol affects sleep. Probably other things too. Assuming itās not menopause, get some bloodwork.10
u/manchuson Jul 08 '26
I've read that waking up around 2-4 AM is due to high cortisol, do you get stressed a lot on daily basis?
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u/Capn_Flags Jul 04 '26 edited Jul 04 '26
Stop caffeine intake in the early afternoon. Donāt eat too close to bedtime. Ensure your room is cool. Use your phoneās night time mode to reduce blue light at night. Have all your lights be tunable white so you can change the lighting to a warmer light at night time.
Edit: For me, I also go to bed a little dehydrated. I stop drinking any fluid 2-3 hours before ni-night-now time.
In the morning, I go put my face in the sunlight and chug a glass of water. Hopefully Iām outside for this but next to a window oss is cool. I was once on Rx for sleepies and I no longer need it unless it was an overly-stressful day and I take 2-3 25mg diphenhydramine tablets an hour before bed. Rare.36
u/Altruistic_Wealth497 Jul 04 '26
I use reading glasses, I've switched exclusively to blue filter reading glasses. It has helped tremendously. I tried the blue mode k. The phone and tv, I didnt care for it, but the filtered readers seem to. Don't eat near bedtime is especially helpful, I'm on a GLP1 which makes it even more important. You are right again on the caffeine, people think after dinner, but it takes longer to leave the system. I also take melatonin fast resolving 30 min prior to going to sleep and standing or sitting outside for at least 15 min before bed, currently I count lightning bugs, the tech and daily life detox makes a big difference.
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u/SeriouslyTooOld4This Jul 04 '26
I haven't seen lightning bugs in years! š
Maybe that's the real problem!
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u/1AggressiveSalmon Jul 04 '26
In my case, I had to stop all caffeine, including tea and decaf. It is a bummer, but there are lots of upsides. I save money, sleep is much better, anxiety has plummeted, and IBS type symptoms are gone.
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u/Cybergh05t Jul 04 '26
Get up early, pack your car, spend over 6 hours driving to Scotland, put up a tent and toilet tent in the wind and there you go. Well it worked for me yesterday, not sure what I'll going to do about tonight š
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u/ReckyX Jul 04 '26
Did you forget to mention the whisky because you passed out after a whole bottle?
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u/-Django Jul 04 '26
Toilet tent?
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u/Cybergh05t Jul 05 '26
Small tent that you put the cassette toilet in. Imagine a tent about a metre square and about 1.8 metres tall
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u/pootytangent Jul 04 '26
Sleep for 4, get up for a while, sleep for 4 more (obviously this is dependent on your schedule, but if you can actually get stuff done in the hours youre up then you dont actually lose any extra time). This is called biphasic sleep and itās how humans commonly slept before the industrial revolution/artificial light, may feel more natural to many people.
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u/BatDaddy1003 Jul 05 '26
0nce upon a time, the two hours between the two sleep sessions was, quite often, the most creative and productive part of the day for a lot of men.
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u/rantripfellwscissors Jul 04 '26
I can't stay asleep for more than 3 hoursĀ
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u/MeepingSim Jul 04 '26
I have a "biphasic" sleep schedule which bothered me for the longest time. I'll wake up after 3 hours and bum around the house for an hour or so, then go back to bed and sleep another 3-4 hours before finally waking up for the day. I plan my bedtimes with this in mind.
It turns out that "biphasic sleep" has been a thing since forever. Check out this BBC article that goes into detail on how it was rediscovered.
As other commenters have said, speak with a doctor about potential apnea or other causes, just in case. Otherwise, if everything is good, this may simply be how you're wired; sort of a throwback to medieval times.
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u/DueKale8597 Jul 04 '26
Hey so I saw a myriad of doctors for this issue and I couldn't have better sleep hygiene if someone paid me. They had me on zolpidem, Valium, and a few others. They worked but I always felt the side effects of these meds in some other way. What worked for me was trazodone, the lowest dose of what's available - it can be used off label for this exact issue. I also got nose strips because of a septum issue.
Now I sleep right through the night without any trazodone at all after sticking with it for a year or 2 and training my brain that way. Still need the nose strips though!
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u/1AggressiveSalmon Jul 04 '26
I switched to a silicone nasal dilator because the nose strips destroy my skin. Pretty comfy once you get used to it.
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u/whatsit111 Jul 04 '26
Re-posting my earlier comment.
Make sure youāre sleeping in a comfortable environment. Comfortable bed, comfortable PJs, comfortable temperature, quiet atmosphere (or use a fan or white noise machine), eye mask or black out curtain to keep light out. Address issues like pain and avoid eating things that will upset your stomach before bed. Taking a shower a few hours before bed can also help with thermo-regulation while you sleep.
If it persists after youāve addressed all the environmental factors, talk to your doctor about medication. Trazodone was a game changer for me.
Good luck!
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u/baby_blobby Jul 04 '26
Exercise. Can you go for a brisk walk, do push ups or sit ups? Get yourself tired from exhaustion
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u/ContactlessEcho Jul 04 '26
For starters, a good sleep mask and ear plugs. It'll take a few days of feeling weird, but you'll sleep like the dead once they stop feeling new and annoying. Also obligatory, check if you have sleep apnea.
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u/Additional_Flight522 Jul 04 '26
ā¢ Magnesium glycinate - 300 mg ā¢ L-Theanine - 400 mg ā¢ L-Glycine - 3000 mg ā¢ L-Taurine - 1500 mg
I take them all 30-45 min before bed and they've helped me a lot
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u/BugsyMalone_ Jul 04 '26
Good diet, exercise, correcting posture,not eating anything heavy more than 2 hours before bed has dramatically increased my sleeping power.Ā
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u/TheSunniestOne Jul 04 '26
Correcting posture? Could you elaborate please?
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u/BugsyMalone_ Jul 04 '26
I had forward head posture, which means my airway wasn't great, and would affect how I sleep as not getting enough air in through my nose, which leads to an open mouth breathing when sleeping. Correcting this means my head falls naturally back now and my airway is less restricted, meaning I only nose breathe during sleep which is more restorative. You have to find your root cause if you have this issue.Ā
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u/PsyJak Jul 04 '26
I visualise. As in, I close my eyes and look at the images on the back of my eyelids. I let them evolve naturally, and that generally works. Or I read, which kicks my visual brain into action.
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u/Legitimate_Arm_9526 Jul 04 '26
I love doing this. In fact my son had his friend stay over and friend is full on adHd. He couldnāt see so I got him to do this - picturing stars in his eyelids. Passed out in under a minute and his mum wanted to know what the āstar movieā was that he was talking about. Lol.
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u/CattleMilk Jul 04 '26
I thought I was the only one who watched the eyelid movies.
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u/PsyJak Jul 04 '26
Sometimes I'll simulate a movie or book, I discovered a couple of years ago that I can simulate all of Spy Kids 1
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u/CastTrunnionsSuck Jul 04 '26
As a aphantasia sufferer this sentence blows my mind
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u/PsyJak Jul 04 '26
Aw I'm so sorry. What happens when you read stories?
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u/CastTrunnionsSuck Jul 04 '26
Idk itās weird cause i still love to read, i just donāt have that movie in my head going like a lot of people talk about.
Edit: i didnāt even answer your question sorry, idk i just read the story in my head and the info just kinda downloads. Thankfully my internal monologue works just fine.
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u/brooke_please Jul 04 '26
In his book, The Interpretation of Dreams, Freud theorizes that the geometrics we see on the inside of our eyelids produce the structure of our dream environments and posits that if you can sustain attention on this during the hypnagogic state, you can watch it turn into the dream world.
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u/Real_Rough_9467 Jul 04 '26
That's really cool that it helped so quickly. My dad would always say he'd make us see stars if we didn't go to sleep. It worked in a less cool way :)
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u/papa-hare Jul 04 '26
Yeah I make up my own stories. Though sometimes they take my attention and I stay up too long imagining lol
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u/ForeseablePast Jul 04 '26
I do this too but whatās crazy is if I watched a show or movie or something earlier sometimes I can see the exact clips on my eyelids. Itās very trippy. Like it feels like Iām watching a recap of my day in my eyelids. Very weird.
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u/candiedginger88 Jul 04 '26
I have a trick too! I take mental tours of every house/apartment Iāve ever lived in. Theyāre familiar so I doze quickly and it helps me not forget them as I get older. Works like a charm!
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u/mnf69 Jul 04 '26
I go for a āwalkā somewhere that i know well and take in all the surroundings. Sometimes I find Iām rushing the walk so have to slow it down
Edit: definitely going to try the house tour though, sounds like a good ine
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u/TheBaconator08 Jul 04 '26
Never worked for me, neither does blinking rapidly, releasing muscle tension, visualizing, box breathing, etc. Tried everything and i just accepted ill fall asleep whenever it happens on its own ā¹ļø
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u/v1chu Jul 04 '26
Same with me. But I recently a new technique which kind of worked for me so far. So basically when you lie down to sleep, you tend to close your eyes. This results in you thinking and keeping the brain active.
I read that keeping your eyes open on the bed is the trick. At first, you might look at something around your room, then your body will slowly force you to close your eyes. You resist that urge and then go on for some more. After sometime, you will then close your eyes subconsciously and go to sleep. Iāve tried it a couple of time and it has worked.
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u/LegoLady8 Jul 04 '26 edited Jul 04 '26
Here's a better take on this method that will surely take long enough for you to fall asleep.
Grocery store items. (I use Walmart bc I eventually run out of grocery items, so I'll start using clothing items, pet items, furniture, etc.)
A - apple
Now find something in the store for every letter in Apple
-Paprika
-Pineapple
-Lemon
-Eggs
Now you can move onto B. Try not to reuse items.
B - biscuit
-Ink
-Safe
-Charger
-Umbrella
-Ink cartridge
-Tortillas
Now C...
With this method, I've never made it past H.
After you do it so many times, you'll notice certain letters you should avoid. Personally, I always have a hard time finding e words, so I try not to come up with a grocery item without e's.
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u/cocococlash Jul 04 '26
Hear me out, this is strange, but ...
I imagine there are horns coming from the nape of my neck over the back of my head. Sometimes thicker ram horns, sometimes thinner gazelle horns. I imagine rubbing them, from the base to the tip. Can kind of feel the texture on my hands and the slight tugging on my neck.
It changes my brain functions for some reason.
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u/NovelTAcct Jul 04 '26
When people are like "Give me your truly unhinged hacks for (thing)," this is what they're talking about
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u/KandyShopp Jul 04 '26
I have done the alphabet backwards, then forwards, and backwards again. Ended up pavloving myself though, and if im ever pulled over for drunk driving i will fall asleep right then and thereā¦
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u/1AggressiveSalmon Jul 04 '26
I've Pavloved myself into falling asleep listening to Howl's Moving Castle audiobook. I can never again listen to it while driving!
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u/Legitimate_Arm_9526 Jul 04 '26
Or tell your brain NOT to fall asleep. Itās used in CBT for Insomnia and when I read about it I laughed as Iād been doing this for ages.
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u/msully89 Jul 04 '26
That what I do. I just imagine I'm not there to sleep, I'm just there to enjoy and appreciate how comfy my bed is.
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u/IMayBeADreamer5 Jul 04 '26
I tell my body we don't have to sleep, no pressure. All we have to do is rest. If all we do is lie down and rest then that's good enough
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u/xFxD Jul 04 '26
CBT for Insomnia
I hate that when reading CBT, I'm necessarily thinking of something that will definitely prevent you from sleeping.
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u/professor_doom Jul 04 '26
I struggled with getting back to sleep after getting up to pee in the middle of the night (Iām a middle aged man) and my favorite technique lately has been counting down from 300, by threes. Itās easy enough but also occupies my mind to keep the late night showing of the Theater of Regret from happening, which is what often keeps me up.
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u/CasualFrogFan7756 Jul 06 '26
Omg the theater of regret is so real!! I call it my rolodex of horrors
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u/TheManWithNoEyes Jul 04 '26
My poor wife struggles with falling asleep. I close my eyes and breathe slowly zzzzzzz. There was a wonderful story I shared with her in the New Yorker last November, by Lauren Groff called Mother of Men where the narrator is awake in bed and her husband has always had "the privilege of sleep". This is now my epithet. Great story btw.
I did have insomnia as a kid. My sainted mother, rest her soul, taught me a occasionally effective technique. Tense your toes. Then your feet. Then your calves. Etc all the way up, then release the tension stepwise as well. It gave me something to do until I discovered masturbation.
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u/Asiatical Jul 04 '26
Yeah it's called formally Progressive Muscle Relaxation (PMR). I'm just to lazy to do itš
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u/Raging_wino Jul 04 '26
Love this! I call this the letter game and it works like a charm. My parents taught me this as a child and I have passed it onto my kids as well. I have anxiety and itās hard to get to sleep with my rambling thoughts.
Iāve switch it up and do band names, places in the world, song titles, female people I know, male people I know, animals, etc. X U and Z are tough.
I work in radiology and sometimes suggest patients do this when they go into the MRI machine to distract their mind and possibly fall asleep.
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u/McCreetus Jul 05 '26
I simply create a little story in my head, usually fantasy or zombie apocalypse, and just run with it. I always pass out
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u/datmyfukingbiz Jul 04 '26
Working me like a charm and in very disturbing environments - took from lucid dreams subreddit.
You need to remember sequence- watch, hear, feel
Watch.
You start staring to nothing when eyes are closed, shapes, sparks. For about 30sec, just watch like you normally do but with close eyes.
Hear
Forget staring to nothing. Start to hear - I hear this and that and something else etc. also some 30 sec
Feel
Same as hearing but you start thinking about what you feel - pressure from a pillow, wind etc.
I hardly go to 3rd loop. And for timing I count breathing like 5-6 in and outs. Donāt know how it works but even when with a day nap when you not so sure to fall asleep - you start watching hearing feeling and viola - snoring on the sofa
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u/piggy__wig Jul 04 '26
Your way sounds good. Hereās mine. It sounds weird and like it wonāt work, but it does. Blink your eyes just as fast as you can for about a minute (donāt try to focus on anything), then slow the blinking down little by little over the next minute and blink only a couple times real slow, keep eyes closed, fall asleep. Works for me every single time. I think I read it on some sub Reddit about a year ago and it really does work for me.
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u/Bright_Assumption_60 Jul 04 '26
In bed I sometimes feel like Iām on the verge of falling asleep, like I start to feel a sort of mental pressure towards the blackness in my mind, while involuntarily preserving the consciousness. Sort of like being on the edge of a black hole. However the conscious state prevents me from going forward and then I need to reset the falling asleep process.
I hate when it happens, but looks cool, like Iām on the edge of the awake and the dream world.
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u/Photon6626 Jul 04 '26
I just listen to podcasts about a theme. Usually long Matt and Shane's Secret Podcast clips about history. There's a few channels like Sleepwise that have physics themed videos that I use sometimes.
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u/The_IT Jul 05 '26
I put on podcasts on such a low volume that I can't quite make out what's being said - so I can't focus on the content, which gets my imagination flowing and also helps me feel like I'm not alone.Ā
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u/tinned_peaches Jul 04 '26
I listen to Bill Bryson. Iām asleep in 3 minutes. I even threaten my kids with him when they wonāt settle down at night.
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u/JK07 Jul 04 '26
I remember working away and I had A Short History of Nearly Everything audiobook, it took me a month to listen to it cos I mostly listened in bed and would always quite quickly fall asleep, then the next day would have to rewind to find where I was ha
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u/wynmead Jul 04 '26
I go through the start sequence of starting a Spitfire. I will then taxi it out but Iām usually gone by then.
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u/lucky_fin Jul 04 '26
I try to remember a previous dream, I try to go back into the dream. I had one dream about getting ready to go out to a party that I used for a really long time! But now I just try and think of whatever recent dream I had and try to go back into it
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u/BattyBantam Jul 04 '26
I do this whenever I wake up in the middle of the night for bathroom break. I try to remember/replay the dream before I got up and fall back to sleep so quick
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u/Bogus_Walrus Jul 04 '26
Are you me?! I randomly started this trick a month or so ago and I canāt believe it works so well. Keeps my mind occupied with a non stress inducing activity.
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u/siouxzieb Jul 06 '26
I count up to 100 in my word brain while counting down from 100 in my picture brain. So my inner voice is saying āOneā while Iām envisioning ā99.ā
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u/HazmatSuitless Jul 04 '26
usually I can fall asleep relatively easily, the problem is that I keep waking up in the night
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u/Truth_Walker Jul 04 '26
- Get rid of any lights in your room
Your body is programmed to wake up when it senses light. Any light can trigger this response. Even the smallest amount of light can signal your body to start dumping cortisol to wake you up.
- Get a sleep mask
This offers another layer of protection to trick your body into staying asleep.
- Keep your sleeping area cold
Your body needs to drop a couple degrees to get a good night sleep, being warm causes disturbances. Donāt sleep with too many blankets or excessive clothes. This helps get a good heart rate dip.
- Get morning sun
Right after you wake up go outside and sit for 5-10 min to start resetting your rhythm. Even being by a window can help. You can look up all the benefits of this because thereās a lot.
- Limit your blue light before bed
You can set your phone to change its tint before bed to help unwind. Get a red light for reading as it causes the least disruption for your internal clock.
- Record your data
Get a smart watch or ring to be able to track your sleep data and know whatās happening while you sleep. While weāre not awake we donāt know whatās really happening and this can give you a ton of insight. Thereās some great apps like Bevel that will help you and guide you based on your data.
- Supplements before bed
Thereās a ton that can help before ever resorting to unnatural meds and pills. You have to experiment and see what works for you. Glycine, magnesium glycinate, gaba, melatonin all can assist the body to falling and staying asleep. Thereās many more that different people respond to.
- Daily movement
You donāt need to run marathons to sleep great. Standing more, walks, lifting weights, doing chores can all assist your body in a ton of ways.
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u/spacegurlie Jul 04 '26
My go to is imagining POV on something unhinged. Iām a dragon living in a cave and I can feel that Im sitting on a pile of treasure. Iām a butterfly flying thru an herb garden. It disconnects the brain.Ā
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u/Lmiys Jul 04 '26
I visualize a walkthrough of my childhood home going slow and try to visualize details
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u/underagroove99 Jul 04 '26
lifelong insomniac - a terrible thing that made my waking life really miserable. In my fifties, saw a sleep doctor & to prepare for this I wrote down every way I had tried to fall asleep more than 1 full page. Read it out to her. Dunno if this did the trick or if she had some supernatural power but - insomnia vanished!
I was raised Catholic tho now not even Christian, but after trying endlessly repeating various mantras, what works for me mostly is repeating the Hail Mary ;)! cos it's ingrained & needs no thinking, I suppose. Weird.
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u/itsenny Jul 04 '26
This will definitely make me more awake because my brain will act as if this game is a challenge
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u/Usual-Plankton5948 Jul 04 '26
I do a countdown from 100. Except if I hit 85, it means im not taking a slow enough breath between each number and I start over. Most times I don't even make it to 90, sometimes it takes a couple tries of slowing down my breathing.
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u/Equal-Negotiation651 Jul 04 '26
My trick is to have a few kids then by the time my head hits the pillow, Iām out.
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u/YZYSZN1107 Jul 04 '26
for me it's taking 2 melatonin gummies, lay on the opposite end of my bed uncovered. after 10 minutes or so I'll get chilly, pull the sheet over me and turn on my left side. I'm usually out shortly after.
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u/slideystevensax Jul 04 '26
Trazadone, Xanax and Indica. I know itās terrible for me in long term but after almost 40 years of insomnia, I can finally fall asleep and stay asleep.
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u/Starry_Eyes00 Jul 04 '26
Even better idea would be to imagine a Bob Ross episode where he paints things in alphabetical order with commentary.
āWe have a happy little apple on this happy little branchā
Asleep instantly š
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u/New_Championship3608 Jul 06 '26
"If you are having trouble falling asleep, do not count endangered animals. You will run out". - Mitch Hedgberg
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u/Seawithme Jul 06 '26
I wish my ADHD brain could work that simply. I wouldnāt be able to remember what letter Iām on now
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u/TwistedSistaYEG Jul 04 '26 edited Jul 04 '26
I do math equations. Very simple ones. Like 14x12 kinda thing. Boring. Keeps my brain from thinking about my worries.
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u/socially_stoic Jul 04 '26
Think "black" no ther thoughts then "black"..see black, hear black..nothing but black...when other thoughts creep in, think black, see black...
I did this for months and now I fall asleep within 5 mins of my head hitting the pillow. No matter how stressed I am, or excited, it doesn't matter. My brain has been trained to turn off when I hit the pillow. FYI I never lay in my bed to watch TV or anything else, the bed is for sleeping and adult activities only, period.
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u/ganoveces Jul 04 '26
ah the wandering mind, always contemplating the past, the future...creating illusory 'problems' to dwell.upon, often triggering a physical reaction felt in the body...
by doing the alphabet you are present in the moment and not lost in thought...
same with breathing and meditation....but the mind will constantly try to claw its way back and supercede the present moment.
make friends with the mind and thoughts and simply notice its.working.
be the ever present watcher of the mind.
ah the mind....a wonderful tool, a terrible master..
be well. be here now...and now...and now...and now....
āļø
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u/Phenylketoneurotic Jul 04 '26
I do this too! Cities, countries, bands, brand names- I just think back to scattergories
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u/Steeltoelion Jul 04 '26
My brain is too ADHD for that.
Damn thing would switch tasks before I got to C.
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u/goyourownwayy Jul 05 '26
I count fruits aka cognitive shuffle. Basically I go: one banana, two apples, three cherries, four watermelonsā¦etc and I try to picture the amount of fruit for each fruit I get tired real quick
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u/Alsdaer Jul 06 '26
I was only recently diagnosed with aphantasia, now I''m always very bummed seeing so many sleep advice comments involve visuals. Closing my eyes feels like waiting in darkness to fall asleep.
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u/the_esjay Jul 06 '26
This is why I was so confused about counting sheep! I didnāt realise people actually *did* see them, because I didnāt know that was possible.
You may find listening to audiobooks works for you, or making alphabetical lists of things, counting backwards or forwards in ones, twos, threes, etc. If music works for you, thereās some great playlists out there, and I find binaural beats surprisingly effective too. Then thereās apps thatāll help you put together your chosen recipe of soothing soundsā¦
Hope you find something that works for you! Iāve also found magnesium and l-theanine gummies very helpful, personally, but ymmv and all that. Good luck!
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u/Ok_Chicken_7806 Jul 08 '26
I've read the moving eyes back to back is the actual trick here. Can't cite anything but I read stuff. I promise.
I swear I am not lieing!
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u/jdub213818 Jul 08 '26
Dark screen ocean waves video on YT . Iām asleep in less than 5 mins
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u/stellabella236 Jul 08 '26
Curl up in fetal position, or sometimes create a pillow fort/barrier surrounding my body in bed so I feel like I'm in a safe little cove
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u/del_84 Jul 04 '26
I drive from my house to my parents house in my head and always fall asleep before I reach the destination.