Bedtime Story

[Xev]

Soooo I go to the dentist today and they tell me I have ~ 153/110 blood pressure.. (https://www.webmd.com/hypertension-high-blood-pressure/guide/diastolic-and-systolic-blood-pressure-know-your-numbers#1) I told them I was feeling really stressed and to give me a minute. The dentist went back to the wailing child she was unintentionally torturing into screaming tears, and I began to count backwards from 100 (try this if you have trouble sleeping at night.. start at 500 if you're *really* having trouble)) and think happy thoughts (such as, if I don't get my blood pressure to lower - they won't extract the tooth I broke in half).

After she got the child untraumatized and finished whatever it was she was doing while I silently meditated, the dentist came back to me and they checked me again and I was at 127/73. I was a tiny bit lower than that when they finished the extraction. I forget the exact numbers. I was just glad to leave.

That's been a really good trick for me, counting backwards. There's something about it that puts me to sleep.. I read the tip, years ago, after I got divorced. It has something to do with the math side of your brain taking over (and boring you to sleep like a really poor math teacher).

And now I pass the tip on, to you.

To make it even more punishingly boring... every time you lose count and forget what number you're on.... you have to start alllllll over again. If you start at 500, in bed, in the dark, and it's quiet, and you're relatively comfy and tired, and really having trouble getting to sleep, it's almost guaranteed that you'll be starting over and over again until you finally doze off from the mind numbing boredom.

You cannot let your thoughts stray from the count, is another part of the secret. You must stick to the count. Whenever other thoughts invade, push them back and go back to the count. Usually, when other thoughts invade, is when you lose count and have to start over again, which, incurs additional mind-numb..

It takes practice. This might help you, might not, there it is. I use it all the time.

Happy Dreams  : )

[Twisted Toon]

But, I like math and numbers. I don't find them boring.

I have tried a lot of things to bore myself to sleep. The thing I've found that works best for me is a shot of Vodka. Whiskey might work just as well. I've just had left over half a bottle of vodka from when friends come out for a week and can't live without their Vodka and Dr. Pepper fix. The real kicker is that I don't really like the taste of alcohol.

[Vee]

If you're really having trouble sleeping i can recommend as many comics as you like that you won't make it through 3 panels without a coma.

[Xev]

But, I like math and numbers. I don't find them boring.

I like math, too. Thanks to a primary/grade school math teacher that gave me multiplication tables to write, instead of Sentences ("I won't talk in class"), when I was being.... naughty.. I still have rock solid basic math, today. I think about him all the time. I've always liked math to one degree or another. I think I have a Minor in math (I didn't finish my major..) due to I think I took all the required math for a CS degree way back when.

I like math, but, counting backwards isn't what I would call ... exciting math. I'd call it... mind numbingly boring - especially if you follow the prescribed method (or your improved version).

When I first got divorced in the early 21st century I'd drink a 5th (750ml bottle) of tequila every night to get me to sleep. Every night. For like a year. Bought it by the 6-pack so I could get the discount. I didn't buy the finest, either. It didn't feel very healthy but it worked.

Meanwhile, I looked for alternatives, and this, was one, that worked. I still use it probably once a week on average. Whenever I want to fall asleep faster. As per the above, it's proven helpful in lowering blood pressure in a clench, too.. I've got the ... numbers to prove it.

It's not something I just tried. It's something that's worked for *me* many times. Soooooooo I pass this method along in the hope someone else, even 1 person, can get some benefit like I have.

I learned this method ... online, probably. I've adapted it to me, so, you (whoever) will probably end up adapting it to you, too.

I haven't had a drop of Tequila, since... I don't even know. I would guess..... 2008? I drank a bottle of red wine a month or so ago, though  : ) Just for fun. Probably slept like a champ : D

If you're really having trouble sleeping i can recommend as many comics as you like that you won't make it through 3 panels without a coma.

It's a similar feeling, like reading when you're tired. Eventually the brain numbs. This method, however, can be used even in a Dentist chair, or, in the dark, in bed, and, no materials are required.

But, yeah, reading is good. I'm also a big reading fan. I read Alice in Wonderland from cover to cover, looking up all the big words when necessary, in 2 days (I was kinda upset I couldn't finish it in 1..), when, I was... like .. 10? 9? No older than 11.

[Thunder Glove]

I need to be listening to something interesting enough that I can focus on it, but where I'm not invested in a story so I have to stay awake to hear how it ends.  I have a bunch of podcasts for that purpose: Wait Wait Don't Tell Me!, Ask Me Another, Troubled Waters (formerly International Waters), Says You!, How Did This Get Made?, Judge John Hodgman, and Go Fact Yourself.  And if there's no new episodes of any of those podcasts, I just put on a random episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000.

And if that fails, I put in my earbuds and try to overstimulate myself to sleep. I put on two (or more!) videos that I've seen before and have them "fight", while I focus on who's "winning" (i.e., which one is louder at any given moment) rather than on the actual content of the videos.  Often one video will be spooky or disturbing music, while the other does its best to drown it out with superheroes or video game explosions, so I have a video to root for.  It's weird, I know, but it works for me.  Probably not for anyone else.

But boring myself to sleep has never worked.  Nothing wakes my brain up like being bored.  It just starts going "Wanna do something fun now!  C'mon c'mon c'mon!" instead of going to sleep.  I found this out when I tried listening to a podcast called "Sleep With Me" to help me fall asleep.  It had the opposite effect.

[Xev]

And if that fails, I put in my earbuds and try to overstimulate myself to sleep. I put on two (or more!) videos that I've seen before and have them "fight", while I focus on who's "winning" (i.e., which one is louder at any given moment) rather than on the actual content of the videos.  Often one video will be spooky or disturbing music, while the other does its best to drown it out with superheroes or video game explosions, so I have a video to root for.  It's weird, I know, but it works for me.  Probably not for anyone else.

It's weird, I know

I'll take that lol.. : )

Yeah, whatever works, huh. Sleep's important. Air/water/food/sleep.

[Xev]

Please suggest some comics :D

I'm glad you were inspired enough by this post to make your first post to bump this post.

Sleep is a kinda funny thing if you are interested enough to think about it. It's one of the few things we all have to have to survive. Could you go longer without food, or sleep? It's mystic, too. Think about it. Every breathing thing on this planet that I can think of goes into a deep meditative trance on average once per day/night, so deep that they don't even know when you're in the same room with them, heals themselves, and then brings themselves back from the trance. It sounds amazing but we all, big and small, smart and dumb, do it.

Do you remember having to learn how to sleep on command when it was 'time to go to bed'? I sorta do. I had a hard time learning it, maybe is why.

If you ever in your life have a consistently hard time sleeping and you have to be any kind of strong and/or alert, you start to appreciate how important sleep really is.

Anyway, thanks for the bump. If this post helps even 1 person then it was worth making. I used that trick to get to sleep just last night btw  : ) I start at 1000, now...... I never get to 1 that's for sure. I usually never make it to 900 even. I sometimes start over a lot after dozing off for a sec and losing track where I was, too.

TG's tip (that is about the complete opposite approach as mine) made me laugh. I mean, it just goes to show what we'll do to get to sleep (from his approach to mine and visa versa) and also how it relates to where you are in your life. I get what he is doing. Neither of our ways is better than the other it's all about whatever works for you, today. Hopefully everyone reading this will never have sleep problems that affect their life negatively but I'm guessing at some point, they will. I found my solution on the Internet.. maybe you do, too.

Please suggest some comics :D

google it up :D:D:D:D

Hummm.. yeah. It's kinda like asking what toon is best to play in CoH. It all depends on you.

You can't hardly go wrong with DC or Marvel the last I knew. Otherwise, just go for whatever cover grabs you and flip a few pages and... yeah, by then you should get a good idea if you're on the right track. That's how I did it when I was starting out.