Been through this before, so I know it gets better eventually, but what do you folks generally do to optimize beddy-bye time? To the insomniacs, what are some things you do in the wee hours/early morning for a relaxing start to your day?
This morning’s choice is checking out the music of Casiopea - saw them mentioned in a meme here recently, then later on saw one of my favourite gig spaces has a great local fusion jazz band doing a show covering them at the end of the month. Very chill, feels like menu music of a mid-90s Japanese 3D game in a very good way, lol. Funny how these things happen sometimes, kinda like seeing the car model you just bought everywhere on the road shortly after purchase.
Celestial Seasonings Tension Tamer for sleeping and relax. Rooibos for Calming and clear thought. Yerba Mate for Waking up and organized thought. I throw the Rooibos into my Yerba Mate drink to start with too. Rooibos lasts about 6 hours. Yerb Mate is everything you thought coffee was going to be that first try but it’s like that every time.
Physical activity. Do something until you sweat and then do it 5 minutes more. Do that 3 times a day und you will fall asleep from exhaustion. Works every time.
6 minutes of walking three times a day? I don’t know if that’d exhaust me. (Please help, I sweat so much)
Try it and report back. Then we all know :)
I usually put on an audio book or podcast. Lets me put away the screen and turn off the lights. Also keeps the mind sufficiently occupied to not get caught up in runaway thoughts. Inevitably fall asleep after half an hour or so.
Seconding audiobooks! If you’re in the US you can usually rent them free via Libby app by entering your library card info.
And for the Canadians in the room, same here!
Now, there’s gonna be holds on the really good stuff* from past experience, but regardless it’s an awesome service.
*Off topic story: I used to work a job that would have unexpected, lengthy periods of downtime. There was one of these periods where I’d browse the new acquisitions in my local library system. There was a book with photos of goats that had 68 holds on it. Literally, it was just a goat photography book.
To this day, I am intensely curious about who these 68 people were, and why they didn’t just get their pictures of goats from the internet like us normal people.
I wish there was some way to dig into this mysterious goat photo collection’s popularity! Do you remember the title?
I almost info dumped in my post but didn’t so now you’ve given me the opportunity to share my additional libby tips for people who aren’t familiar:
- Put holds on popular titles you want to read so that you’ll be in line for them and will have a rotating door of available titles. You can choose to ‘deliver later’ to let the next person in line read it before you without going to the back of the line.
- Some library systems have a larger selection than others and even within the same system some allow more holds than others (this is the case in NYC at least) so it’s worth picking up a card wherever you’re eligible including university libraries.
- If your library system is underfunded and you have family in an area more well funded, they likely have a broader selection. Perhaps a family member who isn’t digitally inclined might let you use their library card #. [Caveat that they will have access to your history via their library record].
Lol, found it - Beautiful Goats: Portraits of Classic Breeds by Felicity Stockwell. My prevailing theory is that there’s a group of folks in my city who just put holds on everything and pass on the titles they don’t actually want.
Good tips!
Ohh good sleuthing. My library doesn’t have it:( Are there any holds on it now?
I’m racking my brain for another theory because I don’t understand reserving a book you don’t want, but I’m coming up blank!
No holds, 2/5 star user rating on my library’s catalogue site, lol.
You can see how I came to this conclusion - haven’t the foggiest otherwise.
Really is boggling—don’t think I’ve seen that many holds on anything at all
Anything that engages the listener would keep me awake, sadly. I have to play music, and ideally music that I’m either very familiar with or that’s so bland and repetitive that I don’t engage.
Huh - interesting. May just be a function of habit, but I always found stuff like that keeps me awake. I know other people don’t, though - my wife falls asleep to podcasts, but she also puts the TV on as background noise. Never understood that myself - it’s either music, or I’m going to be glued to whatever is on even if I have no inherent interest in it.
Learned a lot about Canada-US border security, food television competitions, and drag competitions that way, lol.
Always interesting to see what strokes work for different folks, though!
I like easy tidying as a wind down activity. Mostly putting things back in their place. For bed, I have an ereader with warm lighting that’s been great. If I’m without it, something that calms my mental zoomies is practicing the alphabet backwards. I start forward with chunks, “abc - cba,” “abc, def - fed, cba,” etc. It keeps my mind active till I get bored and want to fall asleep.
In my experience, and from speaking with others, taking a break from cannabis can mean remembering dreams more vividly. It might be worth leaning into that: write dreams down when you wake and think about them when you go to bed. I find if I try to think through a dream and build on it, it puts me in that dream-state and I drift off.
Oh, and one last tip. Lights work better than alarms for some. So if you put a lamp on a timer, it may help normalize your wake-up time, if that’s an issue.
Good luck!
One trick I’ve discovered when trying to fall asleep is to try and identify objects in the visual noise you see. Actively identifying a shape makes it appear and leads to more shapes, like an association chain. This really helps me when I can’t sleep, it turns off the thinking part of my brain and allows me to shut off.
what do you folks generally do to optimize beddy-bye time?
Most of the time, I don’t look at any screen.
Instead, I read (paper book, a journal or a magazine), chat with my spouse, sketch and journal. Earlier in the evening, we may decide to watch a DVD together, but that’s not everyday. No coffee and seldom any tea late in the evening (or something herbal, then).
And almost without exception, the moment I put my head on the pillow I fall asleep. There have been many exceptions to that rule, mind you. That was back in those days where I was trying to escape my own personal daemons instead of facing them (like not getting rid of my own addictions and bad habits).
Like already suggested in the comments, if you have hard time sleeping melatonin is an option but on the short-term only. Don’t make it a long-term habit. I also consider the extra sleep it may give you not the best sleep, no surprise you may feel groggy.
To the insomniacs, what are some things you do in the wee hours/early morning for a relaxing start to your day?
Since I don’t need much sleep and I do my best work early in the morning, most of the days I wake up very early, around 3-4 AM and… I don’t look at any screen either. Imho, it’s even truer to realize that screens and online content are pure poison to the mind and to the soul early in the morning, like they’re in the evening.
I drink a large glass of water and appreciate the quietness for a few minutes. I may flip some pages of a book but most often I just sit or stand still breathing slowly. It probably is the closest thing to meditation, for me.
After I shower and dress, I’ll sit at my desk and start writing longhand—no screen remember, and no music either. Nothing but the still sleeping city around me with its otherworldly quietness, and me slowly scratching some paper with my fountain pen. (In summer, I’ll open the window next to my desk or even go sit on our balcony so I can better appreciate that magical quietness, and a little later start enjoying the company of the earlier-riser of the few remaining birds, the ones that start singing their songs well before car/bus/motorcycle engines overrun their voice for the rest of the day.)
I will write up until we’re getting close to the time my spouse usually wakes up @ 7-8AM (btw, we both work from home) at which time I’ll prepare breakfast and, while she is getting ready, I often will go grab some fresh pastry for her at the local bakery (they’re handmade and she loves them). We have a quiet but also chatty breakfast together. When she’s ready to start working I will go out for my first walk of the day, in order to get my body moving.
Now, the normal day is allowed to start, with its constant noise and its unexpected and very often less than pleasant events. I’m ready ;)
I’m not trying to be pedantic, but your use of the word daemon caught my eye, and being a curious person, I looked up daemon vs. demon. Since you mentioned writing, I figured you’d be interested in the results. In short, most of the time they’re interchangeable alternate spellings, but in mythological or religious contexts, daemons are actually helpful spirits of dead people or lesser deities. TIL! https://english.stackexchange.com/a/39269
You did very well to check and to share the info back with us. Thx.
I should have known better than to use the word ‘daemon’, knowing its etymology and knowing what I meant to say. My poor choice of spelling was mainly caused both by my lacking English (and by me taking a lazy shortcut in my head), and by me not reaching for the Webster or the Collins dictionaries that constantly sit on my desk at arm’s reach, for that very purpose, right next to my French dictionaries. I’m really too lazy.
For Linux 🐧 nerd related context, see also:
Dang, this almost sounds idyllic. What a wonderful way to bookend your day! Kinda jealous.
Taking notes :)
I’ve heard a tip, have not tried it, that if you stand next to your bed and repeat “sleepy, sleepy” to yourself that it helps. Don’t know why but a psychiatrist said it.
Interesting! Probably something to do with reinforcement. Wonder what evidence supports that (totally believe it’s a legit suggestion, just curious how people reached that tip).
I’m surprised nobody has mentioned sex/masturbation yet. I thought that’s always been the norm, no?
I think that only works for individuals with penises. When I have sex or masturbate, it immediately gives me energy and I’m inclined to jump out of bed and be productive.
That’s a good point
…this is embarrassing to say, but I never considered that this could be the case for vagina owners. Without going into too many details (not really my place to share), hasn’t come up with my partner and I re: sex, and I’ve never thought to ask her re: masturbation and sleepiness or lack thereof.
Could always just be an element of personal make up, though. I learned something today! Legit appreciate the added perspective!
Lol, it’s a good tip, but a) sex has to be scheduled in my house these days, and b) masturbation just hasn’t been cutting it as a sleep aid recently.
Under normal/other circumstances, you’re not wrong :)
I usually do fine on my own, but if I’m struggling, ASMR videos can really put me to sleep.
I don’t really like the ones with girls doing your hair or skincare that are the top search results (but lots of people like them and they might work for you!), and prefer ones that are just simple wooden blocks, glass beads, washboards, etc.
If I’m on a T break, I do a nighttime routine to prepare my body for bed. No screens/reading/herbal tea or some such. I also like to buy cranberry juice to sip on - it gives me something to do instead of smoke and cuts down on the anciness surrounding the oral fixation part of smoking. As for sleep - if you’re not quitting to pass a drug test then just take CBD. Seriously, CBD is all the relaxing parts of weed with none of the high. Maybe it won’t make you pass out like smoking a fat blunt, but it will definitely help take the edge off. Then you can kick the CBD after a week or so and it’s a much smoother transition into sobriety.
Solid advice in general, particularly for people approaching this for the first time.
The only issue I’ve had subbing out CBD is, I usually get it in flower form (legalization in Canada has it’s pros and cons - ready access to CBD flower, even if the choices are a bit limited, is a definite pro). You’re absolutely right - it does help with relaxation without getting ‘high’. But previously, I’ve found myself smoking it a bit longer than I’d like, with an inkling feeling of “You know what’d make this better? Some fucking THC”.
Danged if it didn’t help as a break-glass option for the insomnia in past breaks, though. And I do have some CBD pills I got my wife left over I could break into if all else fails.
Appreciate the comment!
If you’re a smoker I definitely recommend using ingestable CBD. Just smoking it makes me want some weed too.
Valerian root tea is the only thing that works for me. It tastes awful though, so drink it like medicine.
Oh shit, completely forgot about this. Used an extract the first time doing this and it totally did help - only issue was I stayed asleep a lot longer than intended, and was kinda groggy, but did get some full nights out of it. Thanks! May give that a shot again.
Valerian is the way if melatonin does nothing. It knocks me out.
Is it okay to use a sweetener like honey in this tea or will that negatively affect the drowsy side effect?
I established a solid bedtime routine. Take shower, brush teeth, read a little of something like a book or short story (no news) and then settle into bed. I also use a certain hand lotion right before bed, and only before bed. The smell tells me, it’s time to sleep now. Keeping it consistent even when I am smoking again really helps.
Work out in the evening
I don’t really have any tips but last night was my first nights sleep for this break and it wasn’t great, so just commenting for solidarity! XD
💪You got this! Dunno what your experience with cannabis and breaks in general is, but it does taper off, and when it does whoo boy, sleep quality sky rockets (though I can only speak for myself, YMMV).
Sometimes after only a couple days (that was awesome, but I was smoking pretty mild stuff up to it), sometimes after a couple weeks (my first serious one many years back, with this one looking similar :( Stupid hash era)
Cheers man and this is definitely not my first rodeo. I smoked everyday for around 10 years before before having a break and yeh that took a few weeks before I got back to some kind of normality.
This time I’ve just smoked everyday for about a month so this one will taper of super quickly for me. I just hate that these days my tolerance sky rockets at the same speed when I do go back to smoking xD
Either way I’m looking forward to the hectic dreams in the next week or more but quality wise I find it isn’t a lot different between being high and not, the only difference is without smoking I dont jump out of bed quite as quickly to have my first smoke.
Have a good day man!
If I’m taking a T break, I still need to manage my pain before bed. So I try to do some stretches to keep my muscles loose. It works sort of. I use a heating pad if the pain is too much.
I also try to make sure my bedding is just right. It needs to be clean and the right weight for the temperature. My pajamas need to be the right amount of comfy as well.
Lastly, I need to make sure the light level is good. Curtains drawn, charging lights covered, phone not polluting with light, HEPA filter light out.
T makes it easier to sleep even when something is off. Without it, I need to address those things.
Man … between your comment and some of the others, I really need to get my sleeping space in order. It’s, uh, not good. Bit untidy (my wife has more clothes than we have space at the moment), my usual comforter has been downstairs waiting to be washed for a while now (using another blanket which has been fine until recently), etc.
I like the idea of doing some light stretching before bed, just to kind of relax the muscles. May try that tonight. Actually been thinking about taking up/taking advantage of a newbie deal for hot yoga in general during the quit - if nothing else, a nice hot space to spend some time during the cold winters :).
Appreciate this! I know T breaks can be particularly challenging if you’re actively using cannabis for pain management, so much respect to you.
