Falling Asleep

[markjazzbassist]

How do you fall asleep? What do you think about? Do you ever feel like your "falling" or losing your sense of balance?

I usually think about what im going to do the next day, or some gear that i want to get. Sometimes i feel like im "falling" while im falling asleep. I sometimes feel a loss of balance or gravity, and wake up to make sure im alright. eventually i just do this enough that i fall asleep. for instance, tonight, i couldn't deal with it, so im up at 3:30am (EST). i have to wake up in 4 hours. not looking foward to it.

 

[lowenduser]

Ahhh.... sleepless nights!! We've all had them!! Looking at the clock counting down the hours till you have to get up!

Personally, when I go to bed, I go - I don't read or anything before going asleep. I don't eat for an hour or two before sleeping either, and I'm usually dozing off within half an hour.

On a night I find myself tossing and turning, I physically get up, go to the kitchen and make myself a cup of tea. Listen to the raido or watch a bit of TV for about half an hour, and nine times out of ten, it works. I konk out within minutes of hitting the sack.

If it's a regular "problem", perhaps trying to blank everything out of your head completely - relax all the muscles from your toes to your eyelids, which should get you that one night's sleep to kick you back into the routine.

This is assuming there's no underlying issues causing anxiety that in itself is causing sleeplessness, which might have to be dealt with to resolve sleeping issues.

 

[Vorago]

I read before I go to sleep and most of the times I fall asleep while reading. Works for me.

When I can't sleep, I try to relax completely and get some kind of mantra thing going, that is synched with my breathing.
Tends to work.

 

[tplyons]

Meditation believe it or not works for me when I can't sleep.

Or a crazy long prayer, I can get going for hours and halfway though I'm about ready to drop

 

[jady]

Do you ever feel like your "falling" or losing your sense of balance?

This has happened to me a lot. mainly when i am falling asleep on my back. It almost seems like i can't move or am paralized and cant sense myself breathing, scary stuff. I then jolt myself awake and my heart is beating so fast, I cant go back to sleep.

My mom has sleep apnea and I think this may be the problem. If that is the case then I actually am not breathing (wow, that makes me feel better). try sleeping in a different position or see a doctor. I have noticed that if I put on some weight or am particularly inactive that it gets worse. Hope this helps, does this sound like what is happening to you? John

 

[Kosko]

I'm borderline narcoleptic, so I can't usually remember falling asleep. But, recently I've been dreaming a whole lot more than normal. Like everynight, that doesn't usually happen to me.

 

[BartmanPDX]

Link Removed

I don't sleep any more.

 

[Vandelay]

This has happened to me a lot. mainly when i am falling asleep on my back. It almost seems like i can't move or am paralized and cant sense myself breathing, scary stuff. I then jolt myself awake and my heart is beating so fast, I cant go back to sleep.

My mom has sleep apnea and I think this may be the problem. If that is the case then I actually am not breathing (wow, that makes me feel better). try sleeping in a different position or see a doctor. I have noticed that if I put on some weight or am particularly inactive that it gets worse. Hope this helps, does this sound like what is happening to you? John

I've been through the whole sleep apnea diagnosis and treatment options, so I can address this. I don't want to hijack the thread to that subject, but I'll hit a couple quick points:

* Sleep apnea can indeed be affected by your weight, because more fatty tissue in your throat will further reduce the opening of your airway.
* Learning to sleeping on your side can help.
* The only way to really diagnose sleep apnea is to go in for an overnight "sleep study". They'll attach a bunch of monitors to you so they can see how you're breathing/not breathing while you sleep.
* Lots of treatment options are available. What's worked best for me is to wear a special mouthpiece while I sleep that keeps my airway open.

If you want more info on any of these, feel free to let me know.

 

[ric1312]

When you feel sleep paralasis your body is asleep but your mind is still conscious. I have this happen to me all the time. Best thing to do is just relax, and void your thoughts so your mind can catch up and go into subconscious mode.

If you fight it and try to wake up, it will take a few minutes you will get frustrated and panicked from the paralasis. You may wake up or not. If you wake your self fully then you will be likely disturbed to the point that you will not be able to go back to sleep. So if you need sleep just relax.

I've had this happen to me several times..... You feel paralized, try to get up. Finally you wake But then you realize you are not up at all but still asleep and dreaming. then it starts over because you are still paralized. (bodies asleep mind is not) A viscious, very unpleasant circle.

If however you just go with it and let your mind fall asleep it is very likely that you will have pleasant dreams of flying or going somewhere you were thinking about.

Some people think this is Astral Projection/ out of body experience. And that when we sleep it often happens naturally and is not a harmfull thing.

I don't know about all that mumbo jumbo, but it sure is fun to to consious dreams of flying where I control what I want to do.

P.S. falling asleep on your left side is better for your health as well. It will help to stop snoring and I read someone where it's better for digestion or something as some organs are properly lower than one another.

 

[MAJOR METAL]

I usually end my day with " God Help Me "

 

[Poop-Loops]

I fall asleep when I stop thinking. When I start thinking "hey... I'm falling sleep!" I'm suddenly awake again.

 

[kserg]

Ahhh.... sleepless nights!! We've all had them!! Looking at the clock counting down the hours till you have to get up!

Some of us have them every night...

I read before I go to sleep and most of the times I fall asleep while reading. Works for me.

See that doesn't work for me, once i start reading i have tough time stopping.

 

[Dave]

I usually watch tv or read for a few minutes before bed. Im usually out within 5 minutes of cutting the light out.

 

[BartmanPDX]

I'm a stay-at-home dad.

I can go to sleep really easily. I just laugh at the insomnia medicine ads. When you're as dog-tired as I am at the end of the day, it's pretty hard NOT to sleep, actually.

 

[RWP]

This may seen stupid but when I can't sleep it's because of too many things racing around in my mine. So I picture the thoughts as writing on a chalk board. I then erase the thoughts until I see a blank chalk board. If something pops up I erase it. Works sometimes....

 

[MJ5150]

I fall asleep shortly after climbing into bed. I spend a few moments right before that thinking about what I accomplished that day, what things I did "good" during the day, and then asking forgiveness for my errors.

In relation to the falling, or losing balance thing....not familiar with that.

-Mike

 

[Indiana Mike]

Sleep paralysis sucks!!!!!!!!! happens to me and freaks me out every time.


If I sleep on my back I get dizzy or feel like i am falling. The Doctor said it is an inner ear thing. I asked " how do we fix it?"
He responds "don't sleep on your back" . Worked for me.

The new sleep meds are great , lunesta works great for me and ambien works good also. I use them sparingly, maybe 12 times a year. I take them for about a week and it "resets" my body clock.

Last year I had an episode where I didn't sleep in over 7 days. I actually broke down crying at the end of it. I had no real reason or stress in my life for this.I thought I was going to have a nervous breakdown.

sleep meds rule.

good luck

 

[markjazzbassist]

Sleep paralysis sucks!!!!!!!!! happens to me and freaks me out every time.If I sleep on my back I get dizzy or feel like i am falling.

this is it. sleep paralysis. it freaks me out too. it happens whether i sleep on my back or my front, doesn't matter. im not a big fan of dizziness either so, its not cool. well at least i know what it is now.

 

[labgnat]

i pray, listen to coast to coast am radio show or sports talk radio for a few minutes, and i can only fall asleep when lying on my right side.
yes sleep paralysis is freaky. i heard it is the precursor to out of body experiences, and you just have to stay paralyzed for a while, which is hard to do, cause it's so weird u gotta try and move. but i've lyed there paralyzed and coulndt' get out of body. but really sleep paralysis is waking up to fast and ur mind is still in another state

 

[dcartoon]

I've found that having to wake up at 5 am usually makes falling asleep pretty easy.

Besides that, I've found that focusing on my breathing is usually pretty effective. I've since discovered that this is part of the technique for Zen meditation(although I don't usually have the patience during the day to try and meditate).

The hard part is keeping your mind from wandering before or during the focusing. I've found that the more often I concentrate on my breathing, the easier it is to stay focused and fall asleep. YMMV

With regards to feeling like I'm falling, this happens to me every so often, and I think it's pretty amusing. When it does happen, it's usually right after I fall asleep. I will wake up suddenly and feel like I've actually fallen into the bed. This is probably different to what you're referring to, though.

Dan