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How to Fall Asleep in Two Minutes or Less

artofmanliness.com

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Re: How to Fall Asleep in Two Minutes or Less

#161

Post by lucidguppy »

When I fall asleep I know exactly when I'm going to go off quick - and when I'll stay awake.

Learning something new of a physical nature (new sport or physical game). That helps. I can see my mind wander and drift quickly.

You just have to let go of mind concentration and you'll drift off. Now if I can figure out how to FORCE the drift then I'll be good.

When I can't sleep - my mind is stuck on one thing or another. Like the brain isn't lubricated.

Sometimes low level pain just perceptible (normally not enough to warrant a pill) enough to keep you awake.

Delayed onset muscle soreness can keep me up as well - but not exercising can keep me up too.

Re: How to Fall Asleep in Two Minutes or Less

#162

Post by deepanchor »

bryanlarsen wrote: post #8

I'm one of those that can fall asleep anytime, anywhere. The technique I use is to work on my "novel". I guess my mind knows I've been "working" on it for over twenty years, it's not important. At this point it's just a fantasy environment in my head I can drop into where the stresses of the real world don't exist.

> The technique I use is to work on my "novel". I guess my mind knows I've been "working" on it for over twenty years, it's not important.

Not sure if you meant for this to be funny, but I laughed out loud at this because i do the exact same thing. I too can fall asleep within two minutes anytime, anywhere, while "working" on my "novel".

The trick is to never go to sleep with the actual intent of going to sleep. You go to sleep with the mentality of finally, some time for myself to just lie here and work on this project in my head. I work on fleshing out my little fantasy/sci-fi world or solving problems related to my pet programming project. I drift off seamlessly within minutes.

Attempting too hard to sleep is self-defeating; ironically, the stress of actively trying to sleep will prevent you from doing just that.

Re: How to Fall Asleep in Two Minutes or Less

#163

Post by megy »

robocat wrote: post #128
ams6110 wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What works for me is to just put on a documentary and something about the monotone narration voice just shuts my brain down. I don't even pay attention to the words. I'm generally asleep within minutes. I assume audio books might have the same effect. I guess it might be related to my young childhood as I had parents who would almost always read to my brother and me at bedtime. So possibly there's a part of my brain…

My girlfriend trained herself to sleep with movies. Now she can't watch movies without falling asleep.

I did the same thing with books. I always used to read before I went to sleep. Now, I get tired reading.

Re: How to Fall Asleep in Two Minutes or Less

#164

Post by BirdieNZ »

Tomminn wrote: post #160

Historically, I had the classic problem of instinctively holding on to some stream of thought which I subconsciously felt the need to unwind before I would let dream consciousness take over. I figured out a nice trick to fix this. I close my eyes and visualize myself in an absurd, impossible fantasy scenario. It's amazing how quickly you will let dream consciousness kick in, when you subconsciously know you're giving…

This is exactly what I do! I just start "day-dreaming" some story with myself as the main character, often with the setting being from a fantasy novel. I never manage to find out what happens in my story though, because I fall asleep before getting anywhere

Re: How to Fall Asleep in Two Minutes or Less

#166

Post by confounded »

knuththetruth wrote: post #141
ams6110 wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What works for me is to just put on a documentary and something about the monotone narration voice just shuts my brain down. I don't even pay attention to the words. I'm generally asleep within minutes. I assume audio books might have the same effect. I guess it might be related to my young childhood as I had parents who would almost always read to my brother and me at bedtime. So possibly there's a part of my brain…

BBC's In Our Time podcast is an instant sedative. Roundtable of British academics dryly discussing historical topics. 5 mins and I'm out like a light.

Are you an Englishperson in San Francisco by any chance?

Re: How to Fall Asleep in Two Minutes or Less

#167

Post by kqr »

busterarm wrote: post #152
ams6110 wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What works for me is to just put on a documentary and something about the monotone narration voice just shuts my brain down. I don't even pay attention to the words. I'm generally asleep within minutes. I assume audio books might have the same effect. I guess it might be related to my young childhood as I had parents who would almost always read to my brother and me at bedtime. So possibly there's a part of my brain…

There's a podcast that's literally just this. Some guy reads nonsensical stories in a monotone. 10 minutes or less, guaranteed, every time.

I need an URI for that.

Re: How to Fall Asleep in Two Minutes or Less

#168

Post by gilbetron »

cortesoft wrote: post #143
gilbetron wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh definitely - if I'm in a room that is still and is 68+ degrees, I know I'm not really going to actually sleep that night :/

So do you live somewhere that doesn't get very hot, or do you just have your AC cranked up all night? Many places I have lived would be very expensive to keep under 68 all night.

Michigan, so nights are < 65F for 9 months of the year. Then the other times, we have a window AC unit, close our bedroom door, and blast the AC :)

Re: How to Fall Asleep in Two Minutes or Less

#169

Post by hyperpallium »

weavie wrote: post #102
gilbetron wrote: post #71

I have had weird sleeping issues all my life, and the key for me to falling asleep was when I found out that our body gets tired not when it is warm, but when it warms up. So next time you can't fall asleep, take off the blankets, make sure your room is cold, and then get really, uncomfortably cold, and stay that way for at least 15 minutes. Then, and this is key, cover your whole body only with your sheet, and then…

A quicker way to get cold is a really cold shower just before bed. It works really well for me, and I believe there are many other benefits to cold showers beyond just getting to sleep.

If I have a cold shower just before bed, my feet get cold and don't warm up.

Re: How to Fall Asleep in Two Minutes or Less

#170

Post by ThrustVectoring »

ams6110 wrote: post #114
yacse wrote: post #87

Any steady stream of thoughts can stop me from falling asleep, even for hours. I have noticed that long hours of programming or programming late in the day causes this state of constant hard thinking that keeps me awake. It can be really exhausting and even end in nightmares. I think that the article is right that you need to stop this cycle before falling asleep. Meditation practice helps to stop your thought cycle…

What works for me is to just put on a documentary and something about the monotone narration voice just shuts my brain down. I don't even pay attention to the words. I'm generally asleep within minutes. I assume audio books might have the same effect. I guess it might be related to my young childhood as I had parents who would almost always read to my brother and me at bedtime. So possibly there's a part of my brain…

There's a couple youtube channels of Go game commentary and strategy lectures that does something similar for me.
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