What's the best way to sleep with 1000 thoughts running through your head?

[Drvladivostok]

Since I was little I always had a hard time sleeping, as a baby I always slept late, growing up it was rare to lie down and sleep without

I attribute this to my-nearly autistic-levels of passive brain activity which makes it very difficult to shut up the static voice in my head, I've always had a very vivid imagination and cognitive perceived sense, meaning the internally artificial senses that I 'Imagine' are very vivid and real, For Example, if I, also my brain is slightly too neurotic and does easily jump from ideas to ideas, and I can't turn it off even if I tried,

Now this is good for ruminating, and writting essay, but certainly not for preparing for a good night sleep, I can lie in a bed for 4-5 hours, close my eyes, and still stay awake, this reach a frequency to the degree that I had to buy sleeping pills, which I try to decrease the use of.

As the time of writting this I've lie in bed for 9 hours with eyes closed after an hour Gym session and I can't seem to go unconscious, its like a disconnect between my brain which is on full neuron activation and my bidy which is pretty exhausted.

 

[dr froyd]

it would explain a lot if most people actually burn brain cells when they work out

the gym theory has never worked for me. Mental exhaustion though... maybe. Going to sleep has always been a terrible struggle for me too. I try to maintain a thinking discipline when going to bed - don't start coming up with ideas or interesting topics.

 

[Cognisant]

Imagine a scene or a story or whatever and just let it happen, let your imagination wander, don't try to make sense out of it, just let your mind wander in whatever way you find most relaxing. Let yourself be washed away like a sandcastle on the beach.

With practice you learn what going to sleep feels like and then you can do it at a moment's notice.

 

[Black Rose]

I did not solve this problem for myself until I took the ADD meds.

study on relaxation, calm/quiet the mind, and stuff.

 

[birdsnestfern]

Listen to Sonia while you drift off:



There are a lot more to explore here:

https://www.youtube.com/@SoniaChoquette/videos

Really, take a pen and paper and write down the top things you want to remember so you can refer back tomorrow, and then you won't feel you missed a thought.

 

[Hadoblado]

For me there is a sweet spot of engagement that keeps my brain from wandering off into something too engaging, but is itself not too engaging to keep me awake. I think up a fantasy land, or plot out music in my head, or imagine myself playing sports.

There are times when this is too engaging. At those times, I instead think of something calming, more in line with meditation. I imagine myself sitting in a stream, or think about relaxing weather.

 

[onesteptwostep]

If you have running thoughts before sleeping it's more indicitive that you aren't talking with other people and being engaged in relationships. Your mind is more like a dog that needs taking care of rather than a computer.

 

[washti]

Don't Drink. More than 8g coffee grounds per day from italian shit. It's 1 tablespoon.
Drink coffee black.
Drink coffee before noon.
Don't drink coffee and green tea same day.
Don't drink more than 1l green tea daily.

If you break rules take 100mg magnesium and herbing calming agent at 6 pm.

Don't eat bananas at nightful.
Bananas are worse than caffeine. Even double melatonin dosage won't help with insomnia caused by banana spree.

 

[ZenRaiden]

Don't Drink. More than 8g coffee grounds per day from italian shit. It's 1 tablespoon.
Drink coffee black.
Drink coffee before noon.
Don't drink coffee and green tea same day.
Don't drink more than 1l green tea daily.

If you break rules take 100mg magnesium and herbing calming agent at 6 pm.

Don't eat bananas at nightful.
Bananas are worse than caffeine. Even double melatonin dosage won't help with insomnia caused by banana spree.

I do all this lol, but you are right.
I just did not break those habits yet.
Also no to sugar before sleep.
Not sure about exercise.
Sometimes exercise can help, sometimes it makes me hype.
Definitely no milk and cookies

As for sleep I think the best I had was when I had large walks ergo like 20 km walk a day.

But that is something that my body just craves in weird way, despite living like a couch potato a lot of times.

 

[Rook]

caused by banana spree.

you just made me imagine bananas going out there and killing people. with like bandanas and AK's and whatnot.

 

[birdsnestfern]

I think its individual, because I drink an entire 10 cup potful of strong espresso every day from 7am to 5pm. I eat bananas before bed often. I can eat cheese, pizza, whatever at 11pm and no issues.
As long as the tv is on playing 60's sitcoms, I go to sleep. However, I can't have cereal and milk after 5, or dark greens after 5, due to sensitivities that cause inflammation in my sinuses and worsen sleep apnea.

 

[dr froyd]

@birdsnestfern uhh.. 10 full cups of strong espresso? sounds wild

 

[Ex-User (9086)]

If you have trouble sleeping don't drink tea/coffee after noon. Don't drink more than 4 cups of coffee in a day.
Caffeine has a metabolic half-life of 5 hours. So for a dose of 100mg (2 cups) at 12:00 there is still 25mg of it active by 22:00

Second thing is meditation. Try to clear your thoughts or only think about how many breaths you've made. Stop thinking in words and try feeling your body's sensations, discomfort or pain. Try drawing simple shapes in your mind. Try imagining the dream sequences or fractals or abstract shapes without thinking words while you're still awake, it might induce sleep.

Thirdly, physical exercise. If you can't sleep and you've been trying to sleep for more than 30 minutes then don't sleep. Try working out until you sweat, then I'd recommend watching chess or go matches on youtube with boring commentary, or reading a book. Something really boring like an asmr video or a monotone voice that naturally makes you sleepy. The point is to focus your attention on the boring problem and listen and analyze the chess match or a math lesson, that way you don't ruminate and it's similar to meditating.

Rumination or excessive thinking is common if you are not sleepy and you are stuck in bed without anything to do. It's better to find something to do than ruminating. Or trying to meditate to stop thinking.

Imagine a scene or a story or whatever and just let it happen, let your imagination wander, don't try to make sense out of it, just let your mind wander in whatever way you find most relaxing. Let yourself be washed away like a sandcastle on the beach.

With practice you learn what going to sleep feels like and then you can do it at a moment's notice.

Solid advice. Always works for me. Don't stress over the details, the story can be total nonsense, just let this dreamlike story roll. If the story is too much then imagine a tranquil landscape like Hado mentioned.
Something like this is really good but you probably have your own preference.

Spoiler

 

[sushi]

the brain and mind could be a symbiote to the human body.

its dependent on the body, but the body doesnt need it.

 

[sushi]

life is all input, the universe is the output, dont take it too seriously.

 

[birdsnestfern]

Take 750-1000 mg of Magnesium L-Threonate before bed with water. It helps you sleep soundly and other benefits for the brain, for anxiety, for staying regular, for improving brain elasticity also. (But don't combine it with antacids, and certain other meds).

 

[ZenRaiden]

Currently I sleep well even drinking coffee.
Turns out I had sever anxiety the whole time.
Like my nervous system was ON and there was no OFF switch.
On meds and relaxed, I can drink redbull and coffee and still fall asleep.
Problem is it took me like several months to even come close to achieving this.
My anxiety was literally killing me.

 

[RaBind]

if you just lie in bed and keep perfectly still I find the body just starts to numb itself which helps. keeping perfectly still until this effect kicks in is the hard part, especially if it's too hot or you've got an itch or something else. Moving around/fidgeting seems to keep my mind active which in turn makes me move/fidget more. of coarse relaxing every part of your body and your breathing helps too.