After more than half a year of frequent insomnia that's finally starting to abate, here are my collected tips for sleeping, which (if I recall) are more comprehensive than any I've seen online:
Blue light (even as part of white light) keeps your body in daytime mode. Avoiding bright lights and screens for the last 90 minutes before bed is good, but often hard to arrange. Wearing orange goggles that block blue light is much easier, and works on all the ambient light too. Uvex Skyper Blue Light Blocking Computer Glasses with SCT-Orange Lens (S1933X) are the regular ones, but I use Uvex S0360X Ultra-spec 2000, because they fit over my glasses. (I also turn my computer screen brightness down at night, and I have an alarm to remind me to put on the goggles.)
While lying in bed waiting to fall asleep, try mindfulness meditation breathing, with counting. Pay attention to how each breath feels. Count your breaths. If you get distracted, just notice that without judgment, and start over with the counting. I find that I'm less likely to get distracted if I count on both the inhale and exhale. It's okay if you have to keep starting over! (4-7-8 breathing did nothing for me, but it has helped others, so feel free to look it up and try it.)
Your mileage for this one may vary, depending on your body's chemistry and digestion; it's what I've had to do: No caffeine from coffee or tea. (Even decaf coffee has too much. Second pot tea is okay.) No chocolate in the afternoon. (See
this follow-up post about decaffeinating second pot tea.)
Diphenhydramine (Benadryl) works as a sleeping pill for some people. It didn't work for me, but I used a different, prescription antihistamine (hydroxyzine HCl) when I needed to change my sleep cycle for work. Once my new sleep cycle was well established, I went off it. Sleeping pills can build dependencies, such that you can't sleep without them if you use them consistently, but it only took about three nights before I was okay to sleep without them. (I took advantage of a long weekend for this.)
Melatonin? I'm told by my wife and my doctor that it can badly disrupt your sleep cycle in the long term, though formal studies on this are lacking. The Mayo clinic says merely that it is safe for short term use. I tried it briefly without success, but it has helped some people.
Exercise in the middle of the day, so that you're tired enough to sleep. (Exercise right before bed keeps me up, and if I exercise in the morning, I've already recovered by bedtime.)
Use earplugs that work and are comfortable. Try a variety of them. You'll find different kinds at supermarkets, pharmacies, hardware stores, and home improvement stores.
Separate blankets/sheets/covers in bed, so that other people and animals aren't waking me by tugging them.
A drop of lavender essential oil on a tissue placed near the head of the bed. I keep it enclosed in a container during the day, and add another drop every few nights. I leave it in the container, just opening the lid, to ensure that I don't get the essential oil on my skin. (A friend recommends lavender hydrosol, which is cheaper, or an eye pillow stuffed with dried lavender.)
A sleep mask (available at some dollar stores).
Magnesium supplements (but not the common ones). Magnesium is needed to recover from stress, and is used up by stress. Most supplements have very low bioavailability, and some can keep you awake. Magnesium glycinate (a.k.a. magnesium bisglycinate chelate) is good. (I got mine as powder from Seeking Health.) I had only slight success with a magnesium cream, applied after each shower: Skin absorption works a bit better than magnesium oxide supplements. (I apply it to the legs, because if I sweat with it on my torso, it gets slimy. I've also tried epsom salt baths/foot baths, which did not work reliably.) Some friends have also reported success with magnesium oxalate.
Notice which thoughts are intrusive and keep you from sleep. Try to notice and shut down those thoughts, by redirecting to other thoughts or to breaths, when they happen. I tell myself stories, reliving happy memories and favorite films.
Pay attention to temperature. I've had times when I was too cold or warm to sleep, but not enough to be uncomfortable, so I didn't realize it. Adjust windows and blanket layers. One year, I kept waking up early, and my wife finally figured out that the thermostat program was the problem. We had set it to raise the heat an hour before getting up, because getting out of bed in the cold sucks. The heat was waking me. We changed it to turn on fifteen minutes before the alarm time, and I stopped losing sleep in the morning.
Autohypnosis or CBT-I. These are skills that you can be taught. Availability and cost will depend on your circumstances. Some friends have known them to solve devastating insomnia problems.
Completing the stress cycle. Whether or not you can remove stressors from your life, your body may need to
feel like you're done being stressed.
See here for quick ways to accomplish that.Eliminate tastes. When I go to bed with any flavor left in my mouth, even from toothpaste or mouthwash, it can interfere with my sleep and make my jaw clench, as though my body suspects I'm eating. I finish my nightly oral care routine with gargling and swishing a homemade mouth rinse. It's a jar of two cups of boiled, filtered water (please don't pour boiling water into a cold jar); 1 teaspoon of kosher salt; and 1 teaspoon of baking soda. It may need shaking before each use. (Bonuses: Most people don't need antiseptic mouthwash anyway. I avoid the cancer risk associated with alcohol in mouthwash. And the salt content reduces overnight dryness.)
For waking up: Drink a tall glass of water first thing in the morning. I add bottled lime juice. (Apparently, some people swear by squeezing a third of a lime into a glass of water every morning. I can't be arsed. And who cuts limes into thirds, anyway?) A bit of exercise in the morning helps, too.
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