How do I fall asleep as quickly as possible?

the Stuff Dreams are made of...
1

Ok, I know there are PLENTY of insomnia topics here. I feel for insomniacs; I used to be a bad one, and still catch it every now and then. This, however, is NOT an insomnia topic! It’s a fall asleep quicker-than-normal topic.

I really am hell-bent on falling asleep in ten minutes. When I was younger (I’m 19 now) I fell asleep when my head hit the pillow. Come to think of it, I used to remember a lot more dreams, and even had some semi-lucids! No more, however. It takes me 30min or more to fall asleep, and I don’t remember any dreams at all. I feel if I were able to fall asleep more quickly, I’d be able to use auto-suggestion techniques and time my REM periods; thus allowing me to remember at least SOME dreams and finally work on LD induction methods.

I know everybody is wired different, and one cannot MAKE themself fall asleep, but again… I’m literally HELL-BENT on sleeping in under 10 minutes or so. I need it, seriously, and I’m willing to try almost anything.

Some background info about me: I’m 19, fairly physically fit, and diabetic type I (insulin). I work at UPS graveyard shift (11:00pm to 3:30am). I go to bed at 4:00am every single day, fall asleep at a random time, and wake at 10:00am.

When I lay down in the mornings, I am physically EXHAUSTED. UPS is a physical job; think loading 75lb boxes into a semi. As I lay there, my body is relaxed, and if I try really hard I can focus on one thing, like my breathing, but thoughts still pop into my head. Happens to everybody, I know. One thing I notice though is that I can’t seem to stop thinking in words, (verbally) and make the switch to visual thinking, the kind that makes one fall asleep (and dream). Is this normal? Anyways, I’ll lay there tired as a dog, and yet not fall asleep. My brain just doesn’t seem to let me actually make the switch between awake and asleep in under 30min or more.

I’ve tried melatonin; doesn’t really work.
Tried valerian; nothing.
Tried alcohol; only works in huge doses.
Meditation; gets my body relaxed, but still can’t sleep

Like I said, I’m desperate. I know this isn’t a sleep-quick forum, but I TRULY feel that if I could just fall asleep like I used to, I would be a superb lucid dreamer! Every time I remember a dream, I am at LEAST barely lucid, and in the one true LD I’ve had, I was 100% lucid and in complete control of myself. I am highly motivated and think about LDing 24/7.

Please help me get over this roadblock; I am so anxious to start really practicing LDing, and not trying to fall asleep quick! :grrr:

2

Remember Pokemon? When pokemon ruled the world (you would have been 13 i guess) i knew someone who fell asleep in under 10 seconds by going “one snorlax… 2 snorlax… 3 snorlax…”

i dont suggest that you will find that particularly useful but it worked for him.

I will also be interested in trying things that come up in here, especially those that dont involve pokemon.

3

I like memorising lyrics, imagenating how the melody is, and then sing to myself in my imagenary.
When I’m hearing the music completly, I sometimes dream about the band/artist, that’s quite cool.
Sometimes I also listen to music when going to bed, and that makes me fall asleep fast.

4

It’s a sticky situation to be in, Richter. In the past, I found myself grappling with finding an effective way to fall asleep quickly as well. These days, I have a way that works every time, though I don’t know if it’ll do much for you personally.

Recently I’ve been into visualizing, so I attempt to do a 30-minute session in bed before going to sleep. I always drift off in less than ten minutes, though, well before I’ve made much, if any, progress with my visualizations.

I look at it this way: my mind is out to screw me over. I know every night that I want to visualize, but I fall asleep before I can make good use of my time. If there’s some sort of way to trick your body and mind into falling asleep sooner than usual, try it.

Since you have trouble making the jump from verbal thoughts to visual thoughts, I’d suggest actively trying the latter of the two. Come up with a visual goal and see what happens. It could be as simple as imagining walking down a flight of stairs, or as complicated as visualizing walking through your old childhood bedroom, intent on recalling as many details as possible.

I usually start out my sessions with positive body visualizations. Like, my shoulder is injured, so I imagine the area being coated with brown sugar, and warm water washing away the mass of crystals, along with the imperfections. For headaches, I imagine my head is filled with a cloudless blue sky, perfect and calm. These put me to sleep so fast (heh), that I thought it was worth bringing up.

I really don’t know if these ideas will work for anyone else, but they sure seem to work for me. Aside from reciting long poems, repeating song lyrics in your head, or doing other mental exercises designed to catch some Zs, I really don’t know what to suggest.

In any case, good luck! It’s a hit or miss thing, but I hope you find a reliable method that works for you. :smile:

5

One technique I have found that really enables you to fall asleep fast is a counting technique. You breath in deeply through your nose then as you exhale count 33 33 33 33 33 33 then repeat and count 32 32 32 32 32 32 32 32, continue repeating. Most people fall asleep before they have counted 10 numbers even those who fight insomnia.

As a side note it doens’t have to start with 33, basically any number will work.

6

I found that listening to any sort of music puts me to sleep really fast. However when this happens I dont remember my dreams, so I’m not sure how it would work out for you.
I think counting would be a good idea, especially the one lucidity master suggested. Its a bit different then counting sheep, which is probably a good thing.

7

I have a similar problem. Often when I go to bed, I just start thinking about different things. I can’t get the thoughts to stop. This is very bad when I am under a lot of stress, so one thing that helps me is to reduce the stress I have.
some other things that might work for you:

  1. Write a list of all the things that you think about befor falling asleep, and read over it every day befor you go to bed. Add anything that is missing each day.
  2. Make sure that your room is compleatly dark. Any light tends to keep your mind awake.
  3. Do some stretching befor you go to bed.
  4. Go to bed at the same time every day of the week. I have to go to bed a different times right now because of work, and that is making it hard for me to go to sleep fast.

You can try these, but I have found nothing that has always worked for me. I have this problem even when I am getting enough sleep and have no stress sometimes. Sometimes one of the things in the list helps, sometimes nothing helps.
Good luck.
don

8

Find an accounting textbook, or print off a piece of foreign legislation off the internet - say, an agency interpretation Act (or something equally tedious, preferably with complicated legal terminology you’ve never heard of), and read through it from the beginning, while trying hard to understand it. (Actually trying to focus on it is important, as it puts more exciting things - like everything - out of your mind.)

Works every time.