It’s actually like the title asks; What does everyone here do when you can’t sleep and are wide awake besides being on phone?
So let’s say it’s in the middle of the night and you are unable to sleep. You have to keep things soundless due to family or partner.
Trying to get the phone usage significantly lower when being in bed but it feels like nothing can replace the ‘easiness of mindlessly scrolling’.
I have those nights and I hate them.
I stay in bed and at least rest the body. I found that getting on an electronic device keeps me up.
For me there is often a problem that causes to not be able to sleep, and I’ll try to solve that. Like being hungry, thirsty, radiator too warm, radiator not warm enough, I have some energy I need to get out, need to close the window, need to open the window. If nothing helps I get out of bed for a while and this makes me more tired after some time. I try to avoid scrolling because it just makes the time fly by without changing the circumstances or making me sleepy.
Not exactly quiet but works for me because of the layout of my house.
I go to the laundry room which is on the other side of the house from the bedrooms, turn the kitchen light on, laundry room like off (so it’s light enough to see but pretty dim), sit on the washer and play sad songs on my guitar.
It’s therapuetic and after about 20 minutes I’m just exhausted.
I put on a Playlist of DCAU animated series. Batman: The Animated Series through Justice League Unlimited. I’ve seen them all a million times and it’s something that lets my ADHD brain rest. You’d be surprised st how much of those shows are orchestral soundtrack withiut dialog.
I lay completely still. Properly, completely still. I focus all my energy on not moving a single muscle besides what I need to breathe.
Then, while doing that, I try to conjure up elaborate fantasy scenes in my mind.
9 times out of 10 I’m gone within five minutes.
Read or take a dose of melatonin.
I can usually sleep at night, but if I didn’t use my phone I would probably draw or play the keyboard (with headphones connected) for a while, then I would stop and try to sleep again.
Reading books or playing video games. If I have the energy then also working on projects.
Count from 1 to 10, then 10 to 1. With each number, relax your body a little more. When the mind strays, bring it back to counting. Repeat until unconscious.
If that isn’t working at all, get up, go to another room, play soft music at low volume on headphones, and depending on the circumstances read a book, jot stuff down, or just contemplate stuff. Chill until sleepy, then either go back to bed or just curl up where you are.
I listen to audiobooks I’ve already listened to so that they don’t take much effort to keep up with while still being more interesting than laying there motionless with nothing to do.
I do this with low key youtube videos, downloaded to mp3.
Also, take another clonodine after a couple of hours.
Hell yeah sister love that long form content
Coom to weird porn for an hour and feel like shit afterwards, then take melatonin.
I take a random number around 800 and start to count backwards in increments of 7. It’s kind of tedious and drowns out my other thoughts. I don’t think I’ve ever made it to zero :)
Of course you should use bigger numbers if your math skills are better.
I read a book. Usually have an e-book or graphic novel queued up. Worse case, grab a paper book and a booklight, set to low. That always works.
I try to name unconnected things until I’m interrupted by a different thought, then when I realize I’ve gone off I play the unconnected naming game again. Doesn’t matter if there is a connection. Apparently this disorganized thinking is similar to sleep thoughts and can help get your brain in the mood for sleeping.
Example: sheep, glass, shelf, sock, alien, whisker, etc
Yes! This is almost exactly my technique. I try to do the naming in a steady rhythm, around one per second, picturing the thing in my mind while mentally saying the word.
My hypothesis is that it syncs up both sides of my brain at a timing that is in the delta wave frequency, same as a deep sleep state
I just read my science book and I fall sleep
One time I put my professor lecture videos on
