Anyone know a good way to fall asleep?

[zazaza]

When in bed,

I often find myself being mindfull as I am during the day.

 

The problem is being mindfull keeps me awake,

but doesn't make me sleepy.

 

Allowing myself to become mindless and sleepy is not always easy.

Who can share with me a good technique to fall asleep, without resorting to sleeping aids.

 

I know melatonin is "quite natural" and works good,

but i'd like to know a technique that does not involve adding external chemicals to my brain.

[immortal_sister]

When in bed,

I often find myself being mindfull as I am during the day.

 

The problem is being mindfull keeps me awake,

but doesn't make me sleepy.

 

Allowing myself to become mindless and sleepy is not always easy.

Who can share with me a good technique to fall asleep, without resorting to sleeping aids.

 

I know melatonin is "quite natural" and works good,

but i'd like to know a technique that does not involve adding external chemicals to my brain.

 

although melatonin is natural, it is only a short term remedy, as you ultimately want to encourage your body to produce enough melatonin by itself. and the best way to do that is to sleep in complete darkness. no tvs, digital clocks, no light coming in from your window. complete darkness where you can't even see your hand if you hold it in front of your face. this might sound like a lot of work, but it is really worth it. complete darkness is needed by the pituitary gland (which has light receptors, like your eyes) to produce melatonin. sleeping with a face mask is helpful, but ideally the entire body should be in complete darkness. i would try this first. going to sleep at a reasonable time (before 11pm ideally) also helps the body return to a more balanced hormonal state, especially with melatonin.

 

certain essential oils can be very helpful too. i often spray lavender essential oil on my pillow for example.

[Aetherous]

See an acupuncturist to harmonize your energies.

 

I don't think the mindfulness meditation you were doing is good...just hang around the forum and you'll probably find something you like. This is a great resource.

 

A device that I think is a good idea (for you especially), is the Stress Eraser. To put it really simply: it tells you when it's healthiest for you to breathe. It works with your HRV, which is related to the parasympathetic (relaxation) nervous system.

[Stigweard]

although melatonin is natural, it is only a short term remedy, as you ultimately want to encourage your body to produce enough melatonin by itself. and the best way to do that is to sleep in complete darkness. no tvs, digital clocks, no light coming in from your window. complete darkness where you can't even see your hand if you hold it in front of your face. this might sound like a lot of work, but it is really worth it. complete darkness is needed by the pituitary gland (which has light receptors, like your eyes) to produce melatonin. sleeping with a face mask is helpful, but ideally the entire body should be in complete darkness. i would try this first. going to sleep at a reasonable time (before 11pm ideally) also helps the body return to a more balanced hormonal state, especially with melatonin.

 

certain essential oils can be very helpful too. i often spray lavender essential oil on my pillow for example.

This is true. Also be mindful of the 2 hours before going to sleep.

 

Have a close look at this excellent representation of the Circadian Cycle:

 

 

You can see that Melatonin production starts at around 9:00pm. If there is anything in one's environment at that time that interferes with the natural production of Melatonin then sleep problems can occur. The most common interferences are:

 

- Light: As immortal_sister has correctly indicated, an absence of light when we are sleeping is conducive to healthy Melatonin production. However, we also have to be mindful of how much light we are being exposed to before going to sleep, and especially after approx 9:00pm. Limit artificial light sources such as TV's, computer screens, fluorescent lights etc. Also note that Melatonin production ceases around 7:30am. Because Melatonin production is linked with light exposure, then getting out into the early morning light can help establish healthy cycles of Melatonin production.

 

- Digestion: A simplistic model is to consider Melatonin and digestive enzyme production to be "night and day" to each other. What this means is that if you are digesting food then your Melatonin production is inhibited. Thus the suggestion is to not eat anything within 2hrs of going to bed and particularly not after 9pm.

 

Another tip is that, because the body lowers its temperature as it falls asleep, you can help this process by having a warm bath just before sleeping (the process of evaporation and the body's thermoregulation will result in the lowering of the body's core temperature).

 

These are just a few issues in the very large spectrum of sleeping issues. A great book to read is, "The Promise of Sleep", Dr. William C. Dement.

[NeiChuan]

One downer about waking at 3 am.. If I just forget to on the light I'll be in dark and be tired by about 6-7 am.

[Non]

heheh, has happened to me too. The same reason also, ie mindfulness but also... perhaps moreso self consciousness of trying to consciously fall asleep (is it possible?)

 

I guess one thing that's helped me is to just.. imagine myself relaxing.. feeling how i would feel as if I was falling asleep, or has just woken up where I'm still tired enough to fall back asleep fast. Relaxing my chest, and stomach, etc. focusing on the dan tian.

 

That circadiam rhythm poster is interesting. I wish I could have that schedule. But here in the US or even around the world.. such a schedule is for "spoiled" people who have such time.

[sheng zhen]

See an acupuncturist to harmonize your energies.

 

I don't think the mindfulness meditation you were doing is good...just hang around the forum and you'll probably find something you like. This is a great resource.

 

A device that I think is a good idea (for you especially), is the Stress Eraser. To put it really simply: it tells you when it's healthiest for you to breathe. It works with your HRV, which is related to the parasympathetic (relaxation) nervous system.

Yes, StressEraser has really given me better sleep! It works!

 

Also Fang Song Gong/Yoga Nidra/deep relaxation, is good for sleep.

[markern]

yoga nidra acts as a great sleep replacement to compensate for little sleep if you use it in the morning. It somehow simulates the rem faze of sleep. It also "teaches you" how to sleep well and how to fall asleep in addition to giving profound relaxation and concentration making you feel your entire body as one unit, training your visualisation abilities and possibly doing some energywork if you get one of the versions that include spinal breathing or similar stuff. It can also be used to fall asleep but you are woken up at the end by a bell and after that some people get too awake to sleep again although some find it very easy if they choose to. OVer time using it as a morning practice will harmonise your sleep.

[Fire Dragon]

I've have made my own program for falling to sleep. Am a universal tao practioner.

 

Here it is:

I have something I call the four sleeping methods=fsm:

 

I do four exercises to help me fall into sleep and alternate them with some qigong exercises. I stay at every step as long as I like, and it varies from nigth to night. I do them every night. And they have created a positive aspect to my falling asleep problem.

 

Here is the four methods

fsm:

 

1 I do nothing, just lay down into the bed and let the thoughts go, if I want to I can do any practise I like here, like following the breath or feeling into the body or whathever. This time is seen as completely free, like a holliday from the rest of the methods. I not try to fall asleep I just stay in this time of freedom a relaxationi as long as I like. When I start to feel that is become boring beacase I not fall into sleep I progress to the next method. I have noticed that one reason I not fall into sleep is beacas of two main reasons. The first reason is that my thought are going around and around, I mean that the same thougths arises time after eachother. The second reason might be that I am worried or are thinking negative thoughts.

 

2 Next step is some amateur alchemy in that aspect that I change every thought every image to a positive or nice one. If I've got a problem in my life I just think about how I want the positive outcome to be and dream into it. When I am tired of this exercise that somethimes if I am not enougth tired creates alot of energy, though positive one I pass softly into the next pace

 

3 I feel heavyness in different body parts and realy go into the feeling of heavyness in my body. I can feel heavyness spreading in one part of the body to the next and stay with whatever heavy feeling untill it spreads to a heavy feeling i another body part, then I follow and let the heavyness be more heavy and spread like a relaxation to bigger areas in the body. When I not want to continue I go to the next step

 

4 If all this not work I let every thougth in my mind move into the depts of the earth and disapear. All thougths or emotions or anything that arises, I just move it into the earth.

 

 

This was the four methods, fsm. that I alternate with yoga. This alternation I do according to the following program.

 

 

First I go to bed and do the

fsm

If they not work I go up to a sitting position in another room and do the six healing sounds. I continue with eaach sound untill I feel that the organ used in one of the sounds is relaxed and happy. I do all the sounds in this way and go back to.fsm If I feel tired I stop earlier. The last sound the triple warmer sound I do in bed a few times, or if I have much energy in my head I do it many times.

fsm (all the four steps as above again)

Here I almost everytime fall asleep

 

next yoga session continues if I not felt asleep already:

This time I do:

about 100 abdominal breath into the stomack

The three rounds of the inner smile

The microcosmic orbit as long as I like

Circulating at the navel

 

And then back to

fsm

I have actually never past this step but the plan to continue is

 

1 hour hatha yoga program for the adrenals, stop it if you feel real tired

 

fsm

 

The eight peaces of a brocade 1 hour from a cd, stop it if you feel realy tired

 

fsm

 

 

All to all the program make the sleeping process a nice and positive one. And actually it works so good beacase no more bad feeling about going to sleep. No demand on when to sleep, just following the program and the rest will take care of itself.

 

 

Fire Dragon

[Mark Foote]

When in bed,

I often find myself being mindfull as I am during the day.

 

The problem is being mindfull keeps me awake,

but doesn't make me sleepy.

 

Allowing myself to become mindless and sleepy is not always easy.

Who can share with me a good technique to fall asleep, without resorting to sleeping aids.

 

I know melatonin is "quite natural" and works good,

but i'd like to know a technique that does not involve adding external chemicals to my brain.

I like the suggestions that everyone has given; I haven't tried the machine.

 

If I really can't sleep, I sit the lotus for awhile. Stretch my legs & sit. The space of falling asleep is the same space as waking up, actually; the mind moves freely, the rhythms of the body use the mind instead of vice-versa. So try to wake up with your mind, relax, and see what happens. 'Course, this is waking up by letting the mind go, and making the inside like the outside.

 

Hope I can sleep tonight!