Do you listen to podcasts or anything to sleep faster?

I agree with reading - that always helps me calm a busy mind. Other stuff that helps me is a white noise machine or using rain, wind, waves, pink noise - find one you like and stick with it. For me it was a little bit of a process to get the right noise, right volume, and find one that was long enough. This is one that I use on my phone when I'm away from home. It's 10 hours of rain noise and is pleasant and non-repetitive.


If you're OK with spending money on a white noise machine, we use the Hatch Restore which has a wide variety of sleep sounds, guided mindfulness/meditations, sleep stories, as well as a dimmable nightlight that can be any color you want and the ability to set a night time and wake up routine (like dim your light and start a sound until it's time to wake or slowly brighten your light and play a different sound/alarm when it's time to wake up). Some of the mindfulness and stories require a subscription but I haven't paid for any of it and still find it useful.

Another option is an audiobook. They're free from you local library and I really enjoy them. I'm currently listening to Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan series. Each one is probably 12-20 hours and now it's my preferred way to "read" fiction. It's also great, IMO, for long drives.

Other things that help are deep breathing for 5-10 minutes (yes, that long). If you have an Apple Watch, use the Breathe app. Or, use the following cycle: 4 seconds inhale, 4 seconds hold, 8 seconds exhale. If you're really stressed out or your thoughts keep racing this is a good technique to get off that train since you will be focused on your breathing and counting. 5-10 minutes will seem like FOREVER but it always helps me.

General sleeping guidelines are an extremely dark room (use blackout curtains/blinds - blinds.com have some cheaper blackout cellular shades), use white or other noise (fairly loud), keep the room 68*F or lower (which can be unreasonable given the season), use a ceiling fan to circulate air (if you have one), and make sure your mattress, sheets, and pillow are comfortable. I switched to a shredded foam pillow (Coop Home Goods on Amazon) where you can adjust the fill yourself, bamboo (rayon) sheets, and bought a new pillowtop mattress to replace my 10-year old one we were using.

I know it's a lot but pick and choose what sounds good for you. Another sleep aid is melatonin but don't start taking a supplement because someone on the internet mentioned it and talk to your doctor first. You could also be struggling with a mental health problem such as depression or anxiety which can be addressed again by your physician. Anxiety made my sleep a real struggle so I hope you are able to find something that works for you!

buco said:

The best thing I did when I was a teenager was to learn how to breathe in a way that it reduces your heart rate. It took me a few weeks of having to consciously do it, but eventually it became second nature. It was extremely awkward considering how long I'd be exhaling for, but hey.

It was something like 4-7-8 technique, where you breathe in (nose) for 4 seconds, hold for 7 seconds, exhale for 8 seconds (mouth).

Ever since then, I have no issues falling asleep anymore unless I'm extremely anxious.

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What's your lowest resting heartbeat?
Mine is 34 bpm.

Funryder said:

I thought mine was very low at ~43 bpm....... you must be in really good shape, lot of cardio I guess

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By the way, 43 bpm is very good my friend.👍👍
I do Cardio every single day, if I miss it, I feel kinda off.
Great for both your physical and mental health.
Just now.😉