Kina Diaries: Falling Asleep

Blogilates just put up an awesome pre-bed stretch that is super relaxing and might help you sleep better! <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wUXpigOkBfY" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wUXpigOkBfY</a>

I've found that something as simple as switching position in my bed with my head at the foot of the bed for a change can help. Or go sleep on the couch if that doesn't work. It's just enough of a switch that it alters your thinking pattern. Doesn't always work but it sometimes does.

Al Pieroway

When your mind is racing on something - good or bad - and you want to sleep, the secret is to turn it off. Easier said than done, right? I find the most successful approach is to focus on something else. Sounds are probably the most obvious for me - the sound of a fan, or my breathing, or my heartbeat (if I can hear it). I also imagine a black dot in my mind, purposely slow my breathing, and slowly let it get bigger. I guess it's like meditation, with the intent to calm the brain so that my tired self can take over. One trick that also works is to put on some acoustic music with string instruments - I like jazz piano trios or maybe something with a violin solo - and really focus on the sound. What kind of piano is it? Are the strings resonating? Can you hear the pedals or the bow? I immerse myself in the sound and drift away. If none of that works, I usually just get up and watch whatever is on tv, usually some old movie. It either makes me fall asleep or I try again in about an hour.

That happens to me every now and then. I usually try to be semi-productive with that extra awake time, and read a book. Sometimes it backfires, and I end up more awake because I get really into the story, and the sun starts coming up. Maybe I should switch to an old textbook, or something...

I agree with Eric. In college, I learned in a human ethology class that your body will do what your body will do - fighting it makes it so much worse. If you're more awake at night, maybe your body just needs that time to process the day more than another night. Depending on what's going on, this can be SO hard, but if you just let your expectation go for what the night should be and embrace what it is, things subtly change. Some nights I'm so wound up that I can still feel the adrenaline going. Worrying about waking up in the morning continues to fuel the adrenaline. I'll be honest; some nights I can't turn it off and I'm just tired in the morning. But other nights, when I recognize what's going on, I make small changes (like adding a blanket if I'm cold, using ear plugs if outdoor noises are distracting, turning on a fan), take some deep breaths, show myself self-compassion, and allow my body to tell me what it needs without judgment. Lately, that has done the trick!

Read! Doesn't really matter what. I find reading something helps.

I am routinely awake, mind racing for an hour in bed before falling asleep, so uh maybe you should ignore everything I have to say. 😅 But the first thing is to not be hard on yourself. You can't angry yourself to sleep anyway, so you may as well try to accept that lying down, eyes closed, resting is good for you even if it's not as good as sleep. Getting up to do something is sometimes necessary to get whatever it is unstuck, but be careful that you don't make it a habit. I used to get up and walk after half an hour, and all that did was train my brain to wait half an hour before even trying to sleep. This probably doesn't apply as much in California, but don't trust your body to report its temperature precisely. Try adding or removing a bit of cover, you might just be cold/hot and the distracting thoughts are a symptom rather than the cause. Same for light/noise distraction, try an eye mask or white noise machine. I keep a notebook to get the particularly toothy thoughts out where they can't nibble at me anymore. Twitter might serve this purpose for you, I don't know. All in all what works for me actually comes from you so this is getting weird BUT try to just let the thoughts come and go without judgment. Let yourself bounce around, if you aren't adding any energy to it it'll run down on its own. You wouldn't blame yourself for a neighbor's car alarm, give yourself a break on your brain's autopilot too. 👍

Eric Hofmann

Hi there! That's happened to me, but not too often. I think it's just whenever I'm really excited/anxious about something coming up and my nerves get the best of me. Doing some exercise before bed may help tire your body a little, then I'd suggest drinking a glass of water and perhaps trying some meditation to calm yourself down. Good luck!

Gianni Babino

Hey Kina ! Poor you, I guess ypu have too much in your head ! As a nurse I got also some tricks to help my patients with sophrology, massage, and sometime just chatting seems helping.. For now i might be too far to help but i'd love to, maybe ask Jesse in these case ? Take care of you. Tom

I guess I'll itemize this reply: 1) I've been there more times than any human could possibly count. 2) I usually have no problems falling to sleep within 10 or 15 minutes of my head hitting my pillow, but I have no special tricks for falling asleep other than allowing myself to become extremely exhausted. 3) Good luck on getting a healthy amount of sleep tonight and in the future. ❤️ Jim

Warm milk and reading works for me when I really need it. :)

Hello, Kina's ceiling! This is Nick. Pleased to make your acquaintance 😉 You probably haven't a clue how privileged you are to be you, but I suspect the rest of us envy you - to hear the musings and ramblings and stylings of one so remarkably talented and yet so humble and kind would constitute, for many, a gift of worth beyond estimation. ...aaaaaand, we're back! Phew! For a minute there, I lost myself (if you get this reference, you're even more awesome than I thought). So, as you can probably tell, yes, I do experience the brain that refuses to shut off occasionally. For me, when I do, it's usually because I have something creative rattling around in there, clanging it's tin cup insistently against the bars and demanding to be let out. When it happens, I just have to do it, whatever "it" happens to be. Sometimes it's lyrics I need to resolve and write down, sometimes it's music I have to strum out or plunk out on the keyboard. Sometimes it's a full production idea...in these cases, it's quite thrilling but also dangerous because it usually means I'll be at my computer until 5 or 6 am until the idea has been given form. In the case of this particular evening, it was just the need to wax poetic and feel somewhat interesting for a few moments, so thank you for providing me the stage on which to display my proverbial theatrics 😉 Ok, so I imagine that's no help at all 😂 When I really can't sleep, I've always found the sound of the ehru very calming and effective in lulling myself to dreamland. It's a traditional Chinese stringed instrument that sounds sort of like a cross between a violin and the human voice. Fair warning though - it is also painfully beautiful to listen to, particularly when two play in harmony, so you may shed a tear or two for no apparent reason before you are welcomed by the warm embrace of sleep 🌄😭😴 Speaking of which, I finished that hip hop track I was producing with the ehru in it. You had said you'd like to hear it before so here you go: <a href="https://soundcloud.com/nickryan-6/intro-mix-2-1" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://soundcloud.com/nickryan-6/intro-mix-2-1</a> I'm sure you get tons of people asking you to listen to things, so please don't feel obligated. If you do feel so inclined though, I'd love to hear your thoughts ☺️👍🏼 Well, off to dreamland for me! Hopefully you don't have a reprise of last night's insomnia tonight...and hopefully you don't fall asleep only to be plagued by unresolvable algebraic woes 😂 Goodnight, miss Kina 🌹💤

Nick Ryan