Over time I’ve developed a fear of that self reflective laying in bed trying to sleep time especially as when I get into negative thinking it keeps me awake far longer, sometimes hours of ever increasing torment so I find myself unable to go to bed before I’m tired enough to fall asleep quickly - generally that involves distracting myself with social media, YouTube, video games, porn, or even work but then I’m tired the next day and spend most the day sitting around distracting myself on my phone trying to avoid that limbo of guilt and negative thinking when I’m not awake enough to be productive.
Probably about 5-10 minutes most of the time.
Your brain chatters to itself all the time, so if you stfu with the inner monologue and instead just try to eavesdrop on what’s going on in the background, that leads pretty much directly into a dream state.
Same, I have sleep tracks I listen to as well that usually start with a relax/disrupt your self-think exercise and then start describing a scene, like a train ride through pastures, this is not the same as leaving the TV or YouTube running, or an audiobook; it’s intentionally boring and low engagement but it gives you something to focus on listening to so that you don’t get caught up in your own thoughts, similar to the eavesdropping.
My local library gives me a free subscription to Headspace, so I use their Sleepcasts a lot, if it turns out that yours does too; Cat Marina 1&2 are good times, as is the Slow Train, Rainy Day Antiques, and Temple Rain.
Otherwise, I haven’t tried them myself, but my sister is a big fan of https://www.sleepwithmepodcast.com
Interesting. I basically do this to myself by counting two breaths and repeating that count while focusing on the darkness behind my eyelids. If I catch my mind wandering I go back to the simple count and staring at my eyelids again. Works pretty well most of the time as I’m not picturing anything nor am I allowing my inner monologue to run away on me.
Usually between 6 and 8 hours
I turn on a YouTube video in the background and pass out before it’s even through the intro. That’s about 2 minutes generally.
It takes me an hour or so !! Once i am in bed , i play some video and fall asleep to it !
