Does anyone else find absolute silence difficult to deal with? In particular difficult to sleep in complete silence?

I think it started from a young age, being obsessed with music. Falling asleep with music.

As an adult, I still struggle with this and need some form of audio to drift off, be it music or something else.

More recently, I find stand-up comedy works best - it’s light-hearted and doesn’t require too much thought.

45 points

I have tinnitus, so absolute silence is never enjoyable for me. Music works extremely well; I fall asleep with the tv on.

permalink
report
reply
20 points

When I read the title of the post, I immediately wondered if anybody else with tinnitus had commented yet.

“Silence” sounds amazing, would love to try it some time 😅

permalink
report
parent
reply
7 points

Me too. I don’t even remember what silence doesn’t sound like. XD

permalink
report
parent
reply
3 points

Put your hands over your ears and drum your fingers on the back of your head for 20-30 seconds.

It doesn’t last for long but (if it works for you), blissful silence.

permalink
report
parent
reply
6 points
*

I Think I might too. Need to get checked. Always a low humming. Sometimes high pitch ringing. But I meant more of not being able to settle my mind.

permalink
report
parent
reply
6 points

Well, I have ADHD so I can identify with that also. lol

permalink
report
parent
reply
2 points

I’ve been using a fan. It almost entirely hides the ringing

permalink
report
parent
reply
20 points

Try a fan. And this one’s weird, but I have an analog clock in my room and the rhythmic ticking helps me sleep.

permalink
report
reply
10 points

I know were you are coming from and I know a few people who have a clock in the room and sleep… but I just can’t… the rhythmic ticking drives me crazy haha

podcast or audio books are my go to - sometimes I’m stuck on the same chapter for weeks

permalink
report
parent
reply
-9 points
*

I can’t handle the constant having to rewind and going wait did I already listen to this last night? that happens if I listen to podcasts or audiobooks to sleep.

Maybe I should just find a podcast I don’t care about actually hearing everything in that I could use for sleep.

permalink
report
parent
reply
4 points

I know what you mean, so here are my solutions. My podcast are either about F1 or gaming - so very generic and I have different ones. The topics are very similar, but with different persons and opinions, it’s never the same - so ideal for drifting off.

For audiobooks, I mostly listen to books, I’ve already read or listend to previously. So you know the rough story, but some small details are always missed. My prime example are the harry potter books by stephen fry… I fall asleep within minutes haha

permalink
report
parent
reply
2 points

I usually put on some PBS Space Time, not quite podcast, but I often don’t look at the visuals when trying to sleep. The videos are short (about 15min) , but provided it’s between 23:30 and 00:30, it usually takes only about 5 minutes before I fall asleep.

Used to do audiobooks, but that would fail if I was too invested in the book…

permalink
report
parent
reply

I feel like the thoughts in my head would drown it out.

permalink
report
parent
reply
3 points

I have an air purifier in my room that is always running so filling the room with humming and providing clean air.

permalink
report
parent
reply
16 points

A plus one for the white noise machine. Game changer.

permalink
report
reply
15 points

I have tinnitus. Had it my whole life. I live with a fan running in every room except the kitchen and bathroom. They are on 24/7 365. The silence literally makes my head feel like it’s about to pop

permalink
report
reply

Luckily, I have children to do this for me haha

permalink
report
parent
reply
12 points

Tinnitus fucking sucks. I hate silence

permalink
report
reply
7 points

Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

permalink
report
parent
reply

I think I have a strange version of tinnitus where instead of ringing I’ll feel pulses as vibrations in my ear, it syncs with my heartbeat.

permalink
report
parent
reply
4 points

I think that’s a known glitch where the heart beat doesn’t go away after you get critically injured, it should be patched in the next update.

permalink
report
parent
reply
1 point

It’s called pulsatile tinnitus.

permalink
report
parent
reply

Asklemmy

!asklemmy@lemmy.ml

Create post

A loosely moderated place to ask open-ended questions

Search asklemmy 🔍

If your post meets the following criteria, it’s welcome here!

  1. Open-ended question
  2. Not offensive: at this point, we do not have the bandwidth to moderate overtly political discussions. Assume best intent and be excellent to each other.
  3. Not regarding using or support for Lemmy: context, see the list of support communities and tools for finding communities below
  4. Not ad nauseam inducing: please make sure it is a question that would be new to most members
  5. An actual topic of discussion

Looking for support?

Looking for a community?

Icon by @Double_A@discuss.tchncs.de

Community stats

  • 8.3K

    Monthly active users

  • 5.7K

    Posts

  • 311K

    Comments