What helps you fall asleep?

[Clefairy]

This + focus on breathing. I also bought an aromatherapy roll-on which is made to help you fall asleep quicker and it does wonders to me.

If you wish I can translate the stuff it has to English so you can find a similar one if you'd like to consider the option c:

[Cinnamoroll]

I’m lucky in the sense that caffeine doesn’t affect me. I can drink a coffee and go to sleep later no problem.

To fall asleep, I have to have the fan on and AC on if it’s summer. I need my pillows arranged in a specific way and then I put on either ocean waves or a 10 hour brown noise loop. It helps me sleep so well.
Usually if I can’t fall asleep it’s because I can’t get comfortable or something is setting off my sensory issues!

[Kibba]

Definitely playing a show I'm not really interested in, or a movie I have watched in the past.

Every single time I do this I fall asleep, also, my bf takes OLLY Sleeping Gummies. He says
they work really well

[Jackalope]

I actually really love guided mediatation apps for sleep. They always have sleep specific ones and I've found on top of sleeping faster, I also sleep better and with fewer nightmares. Even if I've been using screens all night and acting like a grimlin I can pretty much count on the breathing and calming music to knock me right out. I've used melotonin as well but I feel like I'm a generally more sleepy person all day when I use it because it's a hormone you make naturally and your body doesn't expell it so it just builds up.
I've also found that some sort of excercise during the day is enough to tire me out so I sleep like the dead but I hate excercise so it'a hard to motivate that one lol.

[Charmander]

When I had my Peloton App subscription I would always use their sleep meditation classes. I responded well to their guided meditation and relaxation. I would do just quick 5-10 minute ones and would be out like a like. I would even do them on nights where I wasn't having problems falling asleep. There are still some random nights that the sleep meditation doesn't work and I have to try Melatonin. I am also temped to try Z-Quil its like Nyquil but just for sleep and not colds. Has anyone tried that?
o

[Hall]

I don't need much to fall asleep but I do need a cooler temperature as well as some light music. I have Pandora play a half-hour of 'Beethoven's 5 Secrets Radio' on two volume clicks above no volume and am out usually before the time is up. Might also play into it that I stay up late and go to bed at a consistent midnight/1AM time.

[EnderTheory]

I definitely struggle to fall asleep if my room is too warm/I become overheated, so I keep a fan running or my ac unit on (I also sleep better if I have white noise in the background, which the fan/machine helps with). On the other hand, I struggle to sleep if my feet are too cold for some reason and sometimes I'll go to bed with socks on. In winter, I'll use a heated blanket on a very low setting so that I don't wake up overheated (sometimes I start it on max and then after I put it on, scale down the heat to low).

Weighted blankets are an absolute godsend to me, especially when I was rooming alone back in college and my depression/anxiety tended to act up. In terms of music, I've found that slower/less upbeat vaporwave and lofi at a low volume also helps me to fall asleep a lot.

[Nattiee]

Having a routine has helped me a lot. I know if I begin to wash my face/do my night face routine at a certain time, it's like my body knows it's almost time for bed.
Another thing that has helped recently is meditation. I toss on one of those guided meditations on Youtube. Either I can relax my body successfully via meditation, or I fall asleep from how boring it is.

[goodnightmoon]

So honestly, i love this thread because i'm always in need of sleep advice.
but the most reliable thing for me is to make it as dark as possible and literally clear my brain (straight up, if a thought comes into my head i push it out) and try to listen to myself breathing/count my breaths. it's fairly reliable unless my anxiety is too terrible that night.

[dustyc]

Mostly just repeating things already mentioned here, I take melatonin, read before bed, or watch a show that doesn't require too much attention. A year ago I was having trouble sleeping just because I had too many thoughts in my brain that I needed a distraction from, and I found that falling asleep to a simple show like Bob's Burgers really helped, lol.

One thing I haven't seen mentioned is a sleep mask, you know that mask you just put over your eyes! It sounds silly, but I have somehow conditioned my brain into knowing that when I put the sleep mask on for complete darkness, it's time to sleep. I think it also helps me stay asleep as well.

- - - Updated - - -

When I had my Peloton App subscription I would always use their sleep meditation classes. I responded well to their guided meditation and relaxation. I would do just quick 5-10 minute ones and would be out like a like. I would even do them on nights where I wasn't having problems falling asleep. There are still some random nights that the sleep meditation doesn't work and I have to try Melatonin. I am also temped to try Z-Quil its like Nyquil but just for sleep and not colds. Has anyone tried that?
o

Z-Quil melatonin gummies were the first melatonin I tried, and the "triple strength" ones at that, and they were fine, but I ended up finding others I liked better. You're supposed to take two gummies for a total of 12mg a night, but some nights they just wouldn't work and I'd end up having to take three, lol. I ended up just going with another brand that makes 10mg pills, and it's not too much of a difference to me but I just prefer the pills. The gummies did taste good, though!