Going to bed and getting up at the same time daily. My pDoc would call it, "regimented sleep pattern." The surest way for me to get there is to exercise every day so I'm actually tired. That, and benzos when I need help.
this post was submitted on 25 Jun 2026
41 points (100.0% liked)
Mental Health
7152 readers
174 users here now
Welcome
This is a safe place to discuss, vent, support, and share information about mental health, illness, and wellness.
Thank you for being here. We appreciate who you are today. Please show respect and empathy when making or replying to posts.
If you need someone to talk to, @therapygary@lemmy.blahaj.zcan be reached on Signal at TherapyGary13.12.
Rules
The rules for posting and commenting, besides the rules defined here for lemmy.world, are as follows:
- No promoting paid services/products.
- Be kind and civil. No bigotry/prejudice either.
- No victim blaming. Nor giving incredibly simplistic solutions (i.e. You have ADHD? Just focus easier.)
- No encouraging suicide, no matter what. This includes telling someone to commit homicide as "dragging them down with you".
- Suicide note posts will be removed, and you will be reached out to in private.
- If you would like advice, mention the country you are in. (We will not assume the US as the default.)
If BRIEF mention of these topics is an important part of your post, please flag your post as NSFW and include a (trigger warning: suicide, self-harm, death, etc.)in the title so that other readers who may feel triggered can avoid it. Please also include a trigger warning on all comments mentioning these topics in a post that was not already tagged as such.
Partner Communities
To partner with our community and be included here, you are free to message the current moderators or comment on our pinned post.
founded 3 years ago
MODERATORS
Getting a CPAP. It's made such a huge difference. If you snore loudly, get a sleep study done!
seconding this. i felt so goofy the first night i wore the mask and used the machine but when i woke up the next morning and felt the difference in how rested i was, i was like ‘… i am never not using this thing again.’
i’ve been a pretty consistent user for the last six or seven years now. no regrets.
What do you do when traveling? Do you ever feel dependent on it?
What about the noise and bulk of the mask?
I'm a border case if I need or not. And I'm reluctant to make the jump.
-
re: travel; unironically bring the whole damn thing. They make travel bags you can put it into. I believe you can get discounts/waived fees for medical equipment on planes with you though I have never tried that personally. ‘travel’ cpaps exist, but I have never used them and since I bought my machine outright and don’t travel much I am not going to spend the money to buy a secondary unit, haha.
-
re: noise; the masks are actually totally silent if they fit properly. there is a moment or two of noise before you put it on and after you take it off, but when it is on you don’t hear anything. I was surprised by that too.
-
re: bulk of mask; the masks are super lightweight. they have this little… cushion thing where the face meets the mask itself, and it is very comfortable. i am honestly not bothered by it at all. there’s this swivel arm thing at the base of the mask where the hose attaches, and so you essentially have free range of motion without having to worry about snagging the hose. it’s great.
the main issue i have had with the mask is when the cushion starts wearing out and i have to adjust the tensions on the mask harness. i tend to crank it down too tightly and then i make my face uncomfortable. this is all easily remedied by just replacing the cushion thing like you’re supposed to, of course. 😂
if you are reluctant and are going through insurance, why not see what they are willing to cover and just giving it a try if they do cover everything? worst case scenario you send it back.
Oh, I didn’t answer the ‘do you ever feel dependent on it’.
I fall asleep without it every now and again and I can FEEL the difference when I wake up afterward. I feel physically more sluggish and unrested.
Am I capable of not using it and surviving? Yep. I do it all the time (usually not intentionally), but the after effects of not using it (of getting a reminder of what I feel like when I am not using it) get me right back on the wagon.
Cannibis Indica.
It hurts your REM sleep so I'm hoping you take longer breaks or this will probably affect your mental health eventually.
Random thought that occurred after this comment, which I 100 percent agree with take breaks when you can.
Which medicine doesn’t have side effects? We balance the benefits with the risk in all things we consume.
I tell my father every time he brings up my consumption. You stop taking your blood pressure medication I’ll stop taking mine. It would be an interesting race to the bottom for both of us.
Well it is obvious your comment hits something deeper in me. So sorry to unload all my stuff here.
I didn’t take yours as judgement just “hey be aware of this effect where the solution could make your specific problem worse”.
Hope you don’t take this combative. Just sharing my experience.
Side effects of Xanax, valium and every other antidepressants and serotonin regulator were absolutely horrible for my wife.
Indica, in the other hand, amazing with almost zero side effects for her. It also works literally within 20 seconds when smoked
I appreciate your situation. Been there. The weed seems to help sleep. But not dreaming is really bad for emotional processing and your cognitive health.
Weed for sleep is like deciding to walk in a marathon from the start hoping you can pick up the pace later in the race.
The point of not even being able to finish the race at all in time comes and goes without you even noticing.
If you can, try cutting back and finding additional support somewhere else. It sounds like your dad really cares about you. Maybe he will pay for a therapist if you don't want to talk to him? :)
Take care!
As regular as possible bedtime routine.
No caffeinated drinks in the second half of the day.
Regular exercise.
Actually not sleeping too long in the morning either.
Melatonin.
Boxed breathing in some rare cases.
Being tired as hell. Improves my mood too by reducing overthinking.
only if you sleep 8-10hrs, anything less than that makes you even more tired.
Cranking the AC low.
Gummies with CBN
Yikes
Tried those once and I felt like I got weaker and weaker until I couldn't stand, I felt like I was dying and we ran to the hospital. Wasn't until entering the ER that it passed and I started feeling better
Probably won't try those again
But yeah, in general, those can be a huge help for sleeping and general anxiety
My wife has wrestled with anxiety for decades now and every now and then she'd tried the valium and what not, and every single time it was a horrible experience for her in a wide variety of cruel ways. Since the past two years I started having anxiety symptoms as well.
Weed, THC and moreso CBD has been a godsend for us both. Anxiety shows up, and it's an anxiety-be-gone for us.
It's important not to over do it, especially when using it regularly, use low doses, just to cut that edge off, but after 2 years, it saved my wife's life, our marriage, our sex life, and our sanity. We actually ended up firing my wife's family doctor because she had great results with weed, super happy and she registeredy wife as an addict and simply wouldn't take no for an answer on the valium and Xanax and other crap
I myself now do have issues with PVC, my heart every now and then had a cylinder misfire which feels shit, and I've cut weed off completely for a while to let that pass and then we'll see. Still though, zero regrets
PS: this is not an "ignore your doctor and do my thing" thing, this is our own personal experience, GREAT experience, but ours nonetheless. Whatever you do is your decision, be careful, listen to your doctor.
There is a perfect combination of booze and depression that can get me to sleep for 10-12 hours in a single sleep cycle. Could probably sleep longer if I didnt wake up because I was about to piss myself from the copious amoont of alcohol consumed prior to sleeping.
When you kiss me goodnight
💋
Not sure if I'm just weird or if this is a general rule for insomnia, but for me, what works will vary and there's no foolproof recipe to make me sleep, but below are some things that do help me.
- Exercise
- Consistent wake up time
- No screens 2 hours before bed
- Blocking sunlight early (sun currently sets after 10 pm)
- No food for at least 6 hours before bed
- Stop liquids 3 hours before bedtime
- White noise during sleep (I prefer the sound of rain)
- Don't leave things unfinished before bed, especially tasks that will make you worry or have anxiety
- Decluttered bedroom
- Clean bedsheets
- Air purifier
- Aromatherapy diffuser with lemongrass
Earplugs, but it's terrible for earwax build-up
White noise. I have "sleep headphones" which are a fabric headband with very flat bluetooth speakers in them.
Various white noise types (rain on a tent, being on a train, spaceship engine noise - though sometimes also stuff like "sleep meditation for anxiety") seem to get me asleep in 15 minutes (it helps turn off my wild thought spirals), and generally staying asleep until morning.
There's probably a ton of other factors about room temperature, eating times, reading e-book instead of phone before bed etc, but I think the white noise was the most noticeable and immediate change.
I use a site called MyNoise which has a ton of white noise soundtracks. My favourite soundtrack for sleeping is called "rice fields" and consists of frogs, cicadas and water sounds. If I'm struggling to sleep I go "ok, froggy time" and put this on. Works 99% of the time.
Mitigating things that prevent sleep mostly. If there are things that are keeping me awake I just get up and deal with them, it's faster than trying to ignore them or push through. Light bothering me? Block it or turn it off. Stuffy nose? Netti pot or go outside for a bit. Noise I can't stop? Create white noise. I get shin splints at night so I either compress them with bandages or sleep on my stomach with my feet hanging off the end of the bed and squish my shins. If I can't get my mind to stfu sometimes I'll get up and doze off on the couch or read a book, NO SCREENS! If the dog is laying next to me having a hand on her gives me the relaxing time brain chemicals, sometimes even if she is already leaning on me she'll do the crab scoot closer thing and that feeling helps too. Once in a while there is nothing I can do and I know I won't be sleeping, fortunately I have a job where I can take time off with little notice.
I've had waking up at three or for am for am hour at least every night for the last two years. Tried all the chemical help, nothing that worked worked longer than a few nights.
I live in a complicated situation with an emotionally unavailable woman that I have three small children with and that situation won't resolve itself for a long long time.
Due to the nature of avoidant bonding, this situation and the emotional toll it takes waxes and wanes. During the better hopeful phases my sleep improves, during the bad phases I can't fucking sleep.
So I guess being hopeful helps?
I'm so sorry, my wife is pregnant and i hope things will not get worse. I hope you can find a solution with your family!
my wife is pregnant and i hope things will not get worse
I have bad news regarding sleep. "Things will not, calm down, Daniel Jackson. They will, in fact, calm up." ;) Chin up, it's not forever.
Thank you :)
(watch everybody just upvote and bookmark to come back later)
Not a helpful answer, but I started taking a psych medication and I guess some people use it off label as a sleep aid. Soooo suffice to say I definitely sleep like a rock nowadays lol. Trouble is that I have to actually be disciplined enough to get into bed first!
BUT what has always helped me actually fall asleep is to actually use my phone in bed. I know people say not to, but it helps me fall asleep every night. What I do is put on a lengthy YouTube video that is not too interesting and not too boring. I fall asleep to them.
Off-label use of psych medication is apparently not uncommon, I've had prescriptions for a bunch of antipsychotics, specifically to help me sleep. Had hangover effects from all of them, unfortunately, so we stopped that experiment, but they did help with the falling asleep part.
Falling asleep with my phone in my hand, looking at some nonsense, is the most reliable way I've found (which doesn't mean much).
Haha yes, mine is an antipsychotic! I'm on Seroquel, altho a pretty low dose. I'm not given it for sleep, but I see why it's used as such! Sorry you had a rough go with antipsychotics! How has your sleep been nowadays?
I sleep either a total of 20 hours a day or 2, and I have very little control over when it happens. Sucks ass. 乁( •_• )ㄏ
Goddamn man. I hope you find out something that helps you eventually. Some of my friends swear by magnesium supplements. Although I think it's only a particular kind of magnesium supplement maybe?
I've tried all the common things but I appreciate the thought :)
Vitamin d helped my family quite a bit. Apparently we were all deficient when we talked to our doctor about it.
Prolanolol, side effect from the aim at reducing migraines. You can try Physiological sigh, they're great at completing the stress cycle. Detoxing from light sources for a couple of hours before sleep. No screens, dim all lights. Theres one where you tense every muscle, hold and then relax and imagine its super super relaxed, one at a time, all the way from feet to head.
Personally I have to listen to a show that's just interesting enough to keep my attention and not too interesting that it'll keep me awake to see what happens. (And without a super boppy intro outro, or it'll wake me back up.) I can sit there for hours and not sleep, trying without a show, turn a show on and I'm out in less than 5 minutes. It's insane.
Sleep earbuds and a science-y audio book at 90% speed
I turn on a tv show i have seen many times. Enough to distract my brain from working on something, but not enticing enough to keep me awake.
My favorites are star trek and stargate tv shows.
This might sound completely random, but completely cutting sugar from my life. For my entire life my sleep has been bad. Couldn't sleep at night properly at all. Then one day I tried Keto and within 1 week my sleep became normal and healthy. I didn't keep doing keto for long because it wasn't sustainable for me personally, but I kept the 0 sugar rule and it's been great. Sleeping like a ~~baby~~ adult.
Why is it always smashing hamburger? Yeah. Weed and orgasm. Zzzzz
Alcohol. Not a lot mind you, just a nightcap