[andreas_g4]

I have a hard time falling asleep even when I'm tired ever since. Friends advised me to see a doctor, which is what I'll do early next year. My average time to fall asleep is roughly 1,5 to 2 hrs. Lying in your bed thinking and thinking over the most trivial as well as the most important stuff does not make you a very happy sleeper. I sleep better (read: faster) when I have a girlfriend, which I don't have currently.

It vexes me and I really really want this to change.

[Peter]

under an hour
I've started going to bed only when I'm so tired I can't read a page of a book without my eyes feeling uber tired. Then its almost instant. But I'm awful at waking up ...

[turtle777]

I'm very glad that I have no problems falling asleep. No matter if tired or not. (I guess I'm always somewhat tired.)

-t

[Atheist]

More than an hour for me. My mind is alway spinning... thinking waaaaay too much. But once I fall asleep, I'm fine. I have no trouble at all getting up in the morning. Never need an alarm, my internal clock is very accurate.

[Jawbone54]

I once had a doctor prescribe reading the Bible as a near-instant sedative. Try that.

Delve deeply into Leviticus. I give you 5 minutes, tops.

[ort888]

A long ass time. I'm a lifelong insomniac. It comes and goes. Sometimes I don't have many problems... sometimes I stay awake all night in a half-sleep lucid state and then sleepwalk through the day. It's very random.

My wife falls asleep 2 minutes after hr head hits the pillow. It makes me very jealous.

[Oisín]

Anything from 30 minutes to two or three hours, it varies a lot.

And it takes me about that long to get out of bed in the morning (read: noon/early afternoon), too. I don’t have any problems getting out of bed if I’m sleeping with someone else there (even if they’re not in the same bed, just in the same room), but when I’m on my own, which I usually am, it’s just hopeless.

[sek929]

I sleep like a rock once I'm there, but that usually takes over an hour. I don't have a stressful life or anything, I am just completely inept at falling asleep.

The g/f can hit the pillow and be dead asleep within seconds, it angers me.

[osiris]

It makes me maybe a half hour. If I'm really tired, I can go out in a few minutes though.

[mattyb]

Depends, sometimes I can drink 10 coffees in a day and fall asleep in one of our dining chairs (uncomfortable)with no problem. Other times it takes hours. I go through a lot of work related stuff in my head as well, I get pretty stressed about it sometimes - been known to get up at 2am for a cigarette.

If I sleep for more than 10 hours in a row, I get a massive all-day-long headache. No idea why.

[BlueSky]

I was fascinated by the presidential election stand-off in 2000 and was watching CNN until late night, when I would finally doze off on the couch. To this day I always fall asleep watching TV, wake up about and hour later and go to bed. Bad habit I suppose, but I have no problems getting to sleep. Twice per night.

btw, who won?

[Oisín]

Originally Posted by sek929 

I sleep like a rock once I'm there, but that usually takes over an hour. I don't have a stressful life or anything, I am just completely inept at falling asleep.

The g/f can hit the pillow and be dead asleep within seconds, it angers me.

My ex was the same, and the thing that always angered me the most was that, although he fell asleep in about three seconds, he would wake up and grumble and groan about it every. single. time. that I as much as shifted my arm.

Which of course only made it harder for me to sleep, ’cause I couldn’t move, either. Meh.

[mattyb]

Originally Posted by Oisín 

he would wake up and grumble and groan about it every. single. time. that I as much as shifted my arm.

This is the perfect setup line for an EXTREMELY sick gay joke.

Fortunately, I'm far too nice a person to come up with something. And Oisín would probably correct my grammar.

[Oisín]

And I tried so hard to word it in a way that didn’t contain any perfect setup lines. Aw, crap! (Pun at least intended, this time)

[Dakar V]

[mattyb]

lmfao. Not too much work atm Dakar?

[Atheist]

Originally Posted by BlueSky 

I was fascinated by the presidential election stand-off in 2000 and was watching CNN until late night, when I would finally doze off on the couch. To this day I always fall asleep watching TV, wake up about and hour later and go to bed. Bad habit I suppose, but I have no problems getting to sleep. Twice per night.

btw, who won?

Ugh! TV's keep me awake and my partner likes to fall asleep with the TV on. If there is any noise with voices (TV, radio, etc) my mind fixates on it and I can't sleep. It doesn't have to be silent however. Things like dishwashers or washing machines don't bother me at all.

[Dakar V]

I'm completely averse to light (and lights such as my alarm clock). I had to buy a thick black curtain for my room, because as soon as daylight hits, the sunlight would wake me up. I also have to put a tissue box in front of my alarm clock's LED.

[Atheist]

Originally Posted by Dakar V 

I also have to put a tissue box in front of my alarm clock's LED.

Yeah... tissue box... alarm clock's LED. That's what I used to tell my mother!

[sek929]

Originally Posted by Atheist 

Ugh! TV's keep me awake and my partner likes to fall asleep with the TV on. If there is any noise with voices (TV, radio, etc) my mind fixates on it and I can't sleep.

Originally Posted by Dakar V 

I'm completely averse to light (and lights such as my alarm clock). I had to buy a thick black curtain for my room, because as soon as daylight hits, the sunlight would wake me up. I also have to put a tissue box in front of my alarm clock's LED.

I like white noise, but anything else will keep me awake. Previously mentioned g/f loves to fall asleep with the TV on but I put a stop to that when she stays over. She'll fall asleep in 5 minutes and then I'll have to get up to turn the damn thing off.

On the light front. I actually superglued a quarter over the power LED on my old PowerMac because the LED got outrageously bright when I put the machine to sleep. I have a piece of paper over my stereo's display which, even set to the dimmest setting, can illuminate my entire room.

So I need it quiet and pitch black to fall asleep, and even then it'll take an hour.

[Oisín]

Originally Posted by Dakar V 

I'm completely averse to light (and lights such as my alarm clock). I had to buy a thick black curtain for my room, because as soon as daylight hits, the sunlight would wake me up. I also have to put a tissue box in front of my alarm clock's LED.

I wish I had it (sort of) like that. Once I’m asleep, though, it’ll take more than some silly little yellow ball of fire shining in through my window to wake me up (my bed is right by the window).

Sometimes in summer, I’ll wake up from being just below the boiling point when the Sun blazes directly on my blanket. I like it to be cold in the room I sleep in (I currently sleep with both windows open, about one and a half foot from my body), so a Sun-heated blanket in a boiling-hot room will wake me right up—and give me a massive headache.

[Dakar V]

Originally Posted by sek929 

I like white noise, but anything else will keep me awake. Previously mentioned g/f loves to fall asleep with the TV on but I put a stop to that when she stays over. She'll fall asleep in 5 minutes and then I'll have to get up to turn the damn thing off.

On the light front. I actually superglued a quarter over the power LED on my old PowerMac because the LED got outrageously bright when I put the machine to sleep. I have a piece of paper over my stereo's display which, even set to the dimmest setting, can illuminate my entire room.

So I need it quiet and pitch black to fall asleep, and even then it'll take an hour.

Now that I have a laptop again, I have two new stupid lights to contend with sometimes. I usually hide the sleep indicator against the mattress, but I still have to contend with the MagSafe beacon.

Originally Posted by Oisín 

I wish I had it (sort of) like that. Once I’m asleep, though, it’ll take more than some silly little yellow ball of fire shining in through my window to wake me up (my bed is right by the window).

Sometimes in summer, I’ll wake up from being just below the boiling point when the Sun blazes directly on my blanket. I like it to be cold in the room I sleep in (I currently sleep with both windows open, about one and a half foot from my body), so a Sun-heated blanket in a boiling-hot room will wake me right up—and give me a massive headache.

Interestingly, I can take naps during the daytime without too mcuh trouble.

---

As for falling asleep to the TV, I like doing it (more on the weekends), but it requires to me to be a certain amount of tired, or it'll just keep me awake (and interested as well). Actually, I often lament that if it had an audio only mode, I'd love it for falling asleep, as its the changes in light from different scenes, commercial, etc. that are the real hurdle.

[turtle777]

The secret to a good night's sleep is to NOT sleep at work.

There.

-t

[Jawbone54]

I fall asleep every single night to either Seinfeld, The Office, or Arrested Development DVDs. The familiar voices kind of lull me into sleep.

I usually enable Sleep Mode on the TV, but some nights I forget and wake up at about 4 AM with a radiant blue light (the DVD had gone to sleep) illuminating the whole room.

[kmkkid]

5-10 minutes. Even faster If I *cough* relieve *cough* myself beforehand.

[ghporter]

Originally Posted by andreas_g4 

I have a hard time falling asleep even when I'm tired ever since. Friends advised me to see a doctor, which is what I'll do early next year. My average time to fall asleep is roughly 1,5 to 2 hrs. Lying in your bed thinking and thinking over the most trivial as well as the most important stuff does not make you a very happy sleeper. I sleep better (read: faster) when I have a girlfriend, which I don't have currently.

It vexes me and I really really want this to change.

It sounds like you're having issues with getting your mind to relax, and maybe stress. This "thinking and thinking over the most trivial" stuff bit is pretty familiar to me. I used to take a long, long time to fall asleep, mostly due to not being able to shut down all those thoughts. Relaxation exercises helped a whole lot, but stress management was the overall fix.

Your doctor may also want to look at whether you have ADD. The symptoms you describe are pretty common among people with ADD, and as an adult, treatment can be something relatively simple, depending on how much it affects your life.

[64stang06]

Originally Posted by ort888 

A long ass time. I'm a lifelong insomniac. It comes and goes. Sometimes I don't have many problems... sometimes I stay awake all night in a half-sleep lucid state and then sleepwalk through the day. It's very random.

My wife falls asleep 2 minutes after hr head hits the pillow. It makes me very jealous.

Yup. Takes me about an hour or so to fall asleep, and if I'm woken up in the middle of the night, it's almost as if I never fell asleep in the first place. My fiance on the other hand, can sleep through a tornado alarm.

[SSharon]

I fall asleep in under 10 minutes 90% of the time. I always have a packed day of work and school and so by the time I get home and relax a bit before bed I'm out. I don't wake up easily in the morning unless there is a special reason I have to be up early.

[analogue SPRINKLES]

usually 15 min max.

[andreas_g4]

Originally Posted by ghporter 

It sounds like you're having issues with getting your mind to relax, and maybe stress. This "thinking and thinking over the most trivial" stuff bit is pretty familiar to me. I used to take a long, long time to fall asleep, mostly due to not being able to shut down all those thoughts. Relaxation exercises helped a whole lot, but stress management was the overall fix.

Your doctor may also want to look at whether you have ADD. The symptoms you describe are pretty common among people with ADD, and as an adult, treatment can be something relatively simple, depending on how much it affects your life.

Yep, and add restless legs syndrome. I have to move one limb or the other constantly. But really my main problem is my revolving mind. Things I've said, things I haven't said, done, haven't done and so on. Then I sometimes get angry over my stupid self and give up. I get up and clean my flat, try to do some work or lately diving into the App Store… Don't ask how the following day is for me.

[Chuckit]

I have the same thinking-instead-of-sleeping thing. I finally get to sleep around 3-4 a.m. most nights. I prefer to use the time to actually do things instead of just lying there wishing. So I'll work on projects or watch TV shows I've downloaded or that sort of thing. I've found that reading novels helps calm my mind down, but it still takes at least an hour of that to do any good.

[Laminar]

My attention span is so short that if I don't fall asleep quickly, I get bored of trying to fall asleep and go do something. I have a couple tried and true methods for falling asleep... Over this last Thanksgiving break when I had nothing to wake up for in the morning, I laid in bed and watched episodes of House until I was too tired to stay awake, at which point I'd pause them and pick it up in the morning.