How do you fall asleep?

An old mentor gave me advice that I think has done me very well: only use your bed for sleep and sex.

Don't read in bed. Don't listen to anything that requires brainpower (spoken word, for instance). Turn off the light and go to sleep. If you're not really ready to sleep, and feel the need to do a little reading, surfing, whatever, get out of bed and do it elsewhere. So I don't even bring my phone/tablet/whatever into the bedroom at all.

The idea is to program your brain to associate bed with sleep, so going to bed is a stronger cue that it's sleepytime.

I set the alarm on my phone, lay it next to wherever I am laying my head (a pillow, rock, chair, floor, - doesn't matter wherever I lay my head for longer than 10 minutes with my eyes closed I fall asleep), close my eyes and fall asleep.

In the morning I hit snooze 2,000 times and then get out of bed semi-rested and start the day.

EDIT: typo

You could try sophrology. I always struggled to fall asleep, I even went to a doctor specialist in sleep disorder without success: I did a polysomnography which revealed nothing bad physiologically, no medicines or tips helped me. My sleep was really an issue in my day-to-day life for at least 15 years.

By despair last year I did six one-to-one lessons with a specialist in sophrology. I now regularly quickly fall asleep even if I do not do the exercises as often as I should.

I consider myself cured, and I still do not understand why I am now.

I suffer from severe Thanatophobia, so quiet times with few distractions put me at risk of a panic attack.

I'm a side-sleeper and I prefer to go to sleep with the TV on, but my wife requires complete darkness for sleep, so I listen to boring/news podcasts with these: https://www.cozyphones.com

Edit: I have an older bluetooth model they seem to not sell anymore. Weird.

I have random YouTube video essays or podcasts on. Sometimes with rain sound or fake a/c sounds playing too. In the past it was shows like The Office. I keep the screen off. I fall asleep with one or two headphones in. My advice is pick something you're familiar with or, if you want something new, pick something you don't care to rewind for.

If I am really struggling, I play chess puzzles or 3+2 time control on Lichess. I haven't learned any meaningful opening theory and I don't care to right now, tactics or the Chess960 format with a computer is nice for that.

Awhile ago I read a tip that relaxing your face muscles, especially forehead can help you fall asleep faster. Occasionally I still use this technique and it works for me.

Even before having a smart phone, I always powered off my phone at least an hour before I plan to sleep. I also avoid watching any videos or news that is anxiety inducing.

Diet wise, I avoid sugar like the plague. About an hour before going to bed I take L-Theanine, B1 benfotiamine, D3, K2, chelated magnesium taurate and "Sleep Better" capsules which are just Organic Ashwagandha root (Withania somnifera), Organic Skullcap tops (Scutellaria lateriflora), Organic Valerian root (Valeriana officinalis), Organic Passionflower tops (Passiflora incarnata), Organic Hops strobiles (Humulus lupulus), pullulan. These are "adaptogens".

I keep my room dark and cool which is easy this time of year. I have a HEPA filter that adds a constant but quiet noise to reduce the chances of coyotes or deer waking me up.

For a while, I would do a crossword puzzle before bed. Specifically - tough ones that make you do letter permutations to get solutions (ax,ay,az,ba,bb,bc).

Also, make sure you get cold before you get in bed. Chill is actually a strong sleep signal. If I am laying in bed before sleeping, I make sure I am on top of the covers until I sleep.

Lately though, I have been using my phone much more before bed time. Solitaire games, engineering videos on Youtube, or Wikipedia articles. Blue light filter or no - so long as I stay away from news and opinion, I actually haven't really had a problem. (It's probably still not for the best that I am training my brain that technical content = sleep)

The only times I struggle to fall asleep are when I've consumed any amount of caffeine (or other stimulant) within ~8hrs of attempting to sleep.

Doing a couple sets of pushups every morning and evening makes eyes closed -> passed out happen more quickly, especially if I otherwise didn't do anything active throughout the day.

Sleep comes very quickly if the day was spent mountain biking, hiking, or digging with the pickaxe and shovel.

If you're caffeinated/energy drink fueled and sedentary at a desk all day, expect to stay up. Preventing that is a simple matter of cut down the stimulants and get a bit more physical activity.

I feel like this is stating the obvious though, YMMV

My rule that has significantly increased my quality of sleep is absolutely no phone in the bedroom. I leave it in another room - otherwise it's impossible not to be on the phone at night or in the morning. I use a $5 alarm clock from walmart that runs on a AA battery (I've replaced it once in the 7 or so years I've had it)

I do read in bed sometimes though (book / kindle)

I usually fall asleep within 5-10 mins of closing my eyes, if I bring my phone I always get less sleep since I spend way too much time on it

I do sometimes struggle to fall back asleep if I wake up in the middle of the night - have to do some breathing exercises to shut my brain off

I fall asleep a few minutes after I lay down on bed, does not matter if it's day or night. If I can't fall asleep at night and I know I have to be fresh next day, I focus on each muscle in my body and consciously relax it. I start from muscles above my eyes, my jaw, my neck, upper and lower arms (one after another), all fingers, then same with legs. Once I'm done with all parts of my body I start again. Sometimes I also imagine black velvet during this exercise. I usually fall asleep after second round of relaxing my muscles.

5mg melatonine, headphones with podcasts which I don't find irritating (curating such list is harder and harder) and a facemask. It works irrespectively of stress level on a given day.

Beyond typical sleep hygiene I can recommend one practice that I've found to be helpful: Reverse through your day in your head. Go backwards and imagine everything you did that day in as much detail as you care to. Don't linger on any one moment. Usually I will fall asleep before I get to the beginning of the day. An added benefit is that it will increase your awareness of how you show up and how you spend your time.

Recently I've been doing some deep, slow breathing before I go to sleep which has worked for me.

You can also try this relaxation technique that is meant to make you fall asleep: https://www.inc.com/melanie-curtin/want-to-fall-asleep-faste...

Very carefully. I was up until 4 am last night.

- A medication that induces sleep because it's technically a powerful antihistamine (Remeron)

- Dark room

- No TV or computer in room

- I've tried leaving a TV series iPad screen on low light and low volume to half watch like an "elderly person" falling asleep in front of the TV; I can't seem to get work notifications from not bugging me though.

Get yourself super tired. Exercise or kids will do that to you.

Also, chemistry matters. Be mindful of what you eat and when you wait it.

Some tips I have discovered:

1. Magnesium helps you relax.

2. Inhaling lavender is a great way to calm down the nervous system. This traditional remedy has some real science behind it: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term=+lavender+sleep

I watch YouTube. Usually woodworking, metalworking, or weird cooking stuff.

Currently really into these Azerbaijani grandparents cooking outdoors https://youtube.com/@country_life_vlog

Tizanidine.

Before I was prescribed that for unrelated reasons, quitting caffeine did a lot for my ability to sleep at night. I do want to try the whole 'use bed for only sleep' thing but my apartment is cold and I have a heated blanket on my bed which helps.

I pick a random episode of the In Our Time podcast and listen to it until I'm asleep.

When I can’t fall asleep I forcefully yawn for 5 to 10 minutes. Sleepiness soon follows.

1. I brush my teeth

2. Go to my bedroom

3. Put on my pajamas

4. Turn off the lights

5. Uncover the comforter

6. Lay on top of the fitted sheets

7. Cover back the comforter

8. Close my eyes

All kidding aside one thing that helps insomnia for me is doing long an complex math equations, functional programming problems, or reading heady philosophy. You could also try meditation.

Maybe try this simple counting technique inspired by mindfulness meditation: http://www.dirk-loss.de/calmyourmind/

I lie down and close my eyes.

I don't have my phone (or any other electronics in my bedroom). Sometimes I just get into bed and lie down and daydream a little until I fall asleep; sometimes I read a little until I feel sleepy.

I make sure to do 30-60 minutes exercise during the day.

And falling asleep is extremely easy.

When I don't exercise, I put on anything in the audio format- podcasts or audiobooks.

These method/s work every time.

If you don't fall asleep right away, get up and do something else and try again.

I believe this associates your bed with a time to sleep, rather than fitful struggles.

I like to listen to audiobooks -- old favorites where I already am familiar with the content. Set a 10 minute sleep timer and that's usually enough.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31849464

Usually, I put podcasts on a playlist. I drop off somewhere in that list.

When that doesn't work?

Benadryl. 10Mg and it's good night in roughly 40 minutes to an hour.

Put my phone on airplane mode and fire up the brown noise. Tape my mouth shut. Fire up the ol CPAP. Knocks me out like a light.

Remove yourself from sources of radiofrequency radiation. Then you will begin producing melatonin again and sleep better.

Watching btc price stalled while hoping it'll do something useful.

I listen to Stephen Wolfram vlogs.

few seconds of deep breath and I'm gone

Listen to a podcast with the volume just above where I can begin to hear it. Helps me passively zone in on the narrative and this puts me to sleep within 15 minutes.