I typically have to sleep with the TV on. I put on some boring documentary with a droning narrator. Otherwise my thoughts just keep me awake until I finally fall asleep from exhaustion.
What? Preferring white noise like background TV has nothing to do with "underlying deep depression". I think anyone who suggests such a thing might be projecting their own issues of that nature.
The more likely possibility is that the background TV acts as "noise canceller", allowing your focus to hover between non-specific environmental sound, and your internal thoughts. Neither wins your attention, so your mind is at rest and you sleep.
The echo of our internal thoughts darting around as we approach sleep is quite normal. In the absence of TV background noise, the trick would be to not focus or chase or indulge the thoughts but "allow" them to simmer without your involvement, or allow them to pass by without looking at each one in depth; be indifferent from a distance. That's a technique not difficult to master, but is basically how to still your mind and go to sleep.
You can achieve the same effect as the documentary by focusing on your breathing. Starting at 100, you count down with each breath. I've never gotten to zero after years of trying. Amusingly the stereotypical sheep counting method works wonders as well when your thoughts won't give you a break.
This may work for you but it doesn't work for me and a lot of others. Particularly after a stressful day the basic "10 tips" etc don't work. I've "counted" 300 sheep and gave up. I've counted down from 100. I've tried multiple youtube sleep hypnosis videos. Nothing seems to work after stressful days.
You can try the Fibonacci sequence instead, it's what I use during stressful moments in the daytime. I also focus on how the bed feels, since this draws attention away from the mentality of getting to sleep as a goal (which is counterproductive for the same reason that forcing yourself not to think about something doesn't work).
I hope this post doesn't sound patronizing as that is not my intention at all. I can definitely relate to the frustration you've described, but for other issues. Based on my own anecdotal experience, it's quite unlikely that you've exhausted all the possible solutions. At the very least, you don't have much to lose in trying one new thing.
I found a surprising source of motivation in books about the Eastern Front of WWII. I figure that if Soviet soldiers managed to survive in those circumstances, I can stay calm and collected in much more favorable conditions.
Don't worry the post didn't sound patronizing at all. I don't always have problems sleeping but I definitely believe I have a harder time than most people even on regular, mostly care-free nights. I definitely don't think I've exhausted all the solutions. I've tried many and they seem to work on "regular" days but they seem to become less effective the more I use them (or just not work on bad days). I sleep eventually either way though so I'm better off than others I think.
Never heard of it until now. It's an interesting concept and sounded a little far-fetched but considering there's a reddit subreddit with 128k users I will definitely try it out.
I can count a long way down by ones. The pattern is too obvious -- as it also is with even numbers, three, five, nine, ten. I find that counting down by 7s from 1000 does the trick. I can never get to 600 like that before I am asleep.
Yeah, or as someone else suggested too, reasonably easy math formulas like Fibonacci. I also used to advice this to my mates if they had too much to drink and became nauseous when trying to fall asleep.
This is simple advice, but was effective for me after some practice. For months, I had to fall asleep listening to podcasts because my brain would be thinking about work. I just couldn't shut it off.
I decided I couldn't live that way, so I worked on breathing techniques like this. After a couple of weeks, I could finally focus on breathing long enough to fall asleep.
I still have nights where it just doesn't work, but it's made a big difference in my life.
