How do you make yourself sleep when you can’t to get to sleep?

Copied from the other identical thread:

I make mental A-Z lists of boring things. One thing for each letter. Such as: Bodies of water, Mountains, State capitals, Nations, Sports, Names of sports teams, Occupations, Weather-related terms, etc. I usually only make it to about E-F and I am asleep
 

I love ASMR videos. I didn't know why I liked massage and spa videos until I found out about ASMR. I don't like lip smacking or whispering. I like soft voices and slow movements. A couple favorites:




Athena Jezik and Nana Fox are also good channels.
 
I try to avoid doing anything to get to sleep in the moment on a night when sleep doesn't come readily. I don't think problem solving will help. Instead I just try to be cognizant that I am nonetheless getting useful rest and remind myself I can always take a nap now in retirement.

The next night, no matter how thin the previous night may have been, I just expect sleepiness to kick in. If it doesn't, then the next night I may reach for heavy handed help from the pharmacy: either Zolpidem (generic for Ambient) or Cyclobenzaprine, a muscle relaxant that makes me very drowsy and helps sleep much longer than usual, but never both. But both are not good for cognitive health so I try to avoid taking either. Primarily I take Zolpidem the night before any long car trip where I'll be driving and Cyclobenzaprine only when I over do things physically and it is difficult to lay in any position to sleep.

I also take two things to encourage good sleep on a regular basis which help a lot. Trazodone (formerly prescribed as an antidepressant but now only for sleep) and Magnesium Citrate supplement. I can take (3) 50mg tablets per night but usually take 2. Most nights I take one 250 mg capsule of the Magnesium but can take more of those too. I've never found those Melatonin gummies people take at all helpful so I never take those at all. Occasionally I'll up the dose on these benign drugs the next night if my sleep is thin but usually I prefer to depend on tiredness that night..
 
I have to get up three or four times a night to go to the bathroom. The only time I have any problem falling back to sleep is about 3am. My brain is rested enough that it wants to start thinking again. I've found that mentally asking myself what do you see over and over usually does the trick. Of course, I can't see anything because my eyes are shut. But, this prevents me from thinking about other things and eventually my brain will come up with an image. It could be anything. It doesn't matter. Soon, I'm out like a light.

I guess this is like counting sheep. The logic area of your brain gets bored and gives up and shuts down.
 
I thought that was one of the great perks of retirement - you can take daytime naps if you want to. One time when I couldn't sleep I finally got up and worked on the computer for four hours. When I finally wound down, I went to bed around 4:30 a.m.

Of course, one of my friends did say to me afterewards, "What in the world were you doing up at 2 a.m. sending emails?!?!"
 
Lethe200 said:
I thought that was one of the great perks of retirement - you can take daytime naps if you want to. One time when I couldn't sleep I finally got up and worked on the computer for four hours. When I finally wound down, I went to bed around 4:30 a.m.

Of course, one of my friends did say to me afterewards, "What in the world were you doing up at 2 a.m. sending emails?!?!"
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I just noticed you are in the SF Bay area. I grew up in Sunnyvale. Have you been there a long time? I left in 1972 and never lived there again. But that is 20 years of experience there. It is a much "higher" paced culture than most places. Maybe it is hard to wind down from how intense it is there.?
 
StarSong said:
You must be kidding. Infants and young children don't fall asleep in 7 minutes, no matter how DESPERATELY their parents wish they would!
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My non-parenthood must be showing. Just judging from my niece and nephew. When they still had carseats or booster seats, I remember backing out of a parking spot and asking a question. Neither of them spoke so when it was safe I looked behind me and both were out like lights.
 
MarkD said:
My non-parenthood must be showing. Just judging from my niece and nephew. When they still had carseats or booster seats, I remember backing out of a parking spot and asking a question. Neither of them spoke so when it was safe I looked behind me and both were out like lights.
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Yeah, they do conk out in cars, but the cost is steep. When you get them home the 15 minute snooze has either made them miserably cranky or energized them. Either way it completely disrupts their nap and bedtime schedule.

Case in point - a couple of days ago I was driving home from a train park visit, DH riding shotgun and 2-1/2 year old grandson in his car seat in the back. He started to nod off so I cranked up the radio, DH reached back and grabbed his hand and "car-danced" with him to keep him awake. I kept pointing out trucks - anything to keep him conscious. Got him home and was able to put him down for a 2+ hour nap. Whew!
 
I don't try to make myself go to sleep. I do stuff, usually on my tablet. One thing that relaxes me is tweaking my budget and doing other financial stuff (yeah, I know I'm weird :LOL:). But usually I get sleepy anyway after I've eaten something. My sleep scheduled is so messed up that I sleep when I can. I'm usually up for several hours in the middle of the night then sleep for several hours during daylight hours.
 
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If I've done all my standard things that normally work fine and I still can't sleep, then I do a shortened version of the 4-7-8 technique by just breathing in for 4 seconds, I skip the holding the breath for 7 piece, and then I slowly breath out for just 7 (instead of 8) seconds. Works really well unless I'm hungry or hot. If I'm hot I need a fan or an ice pack, if I'm hungry I just gotta get up and have a teensy bowl of cereal with milk.

I see on YouTube that there is a proven military technique that is supposed to work in 2 minutes, but I watched one of the videos and it said to practice it for 6 weeks, so that's a deal breaker for me, ha.
 
I take Melatonin and also a product called Simply Sleep that contains Melatonin. It is herbal, I believe. For me, I need a fan or something going for the white noise. I have one of those tower fans. it has a remote I can keep on my nightstand, as well as a shut off timer. Mine is by Lasko. I have one on living room and one in bedroom

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