Do you have a certain position that you have to be in to go to sleep? Do you have to have any background noise? Complete quiet? (I could make jokes about the Missionary position, but I figure someone else will do that.)
For example, to go to sleep, I have to have a fan going in the background. It helps tremendously if my darling husband is snoring. I think it’s because, somewhere in the back of my mind, if he’s snoring, he’s breathing. It’s a comforting thought.
I also have to sleep facing the outside of the bed, whichever side I end up on. I also have to have a pillow to hold during the night so my arms will be comfy.
I like sleeping with other people, but not in the sense you are thinking. 'Bout once every two months I make it a point to get in bed with a female friend of mine and go to sleep. No hanky. No panky. It’s just comforting, I guess. When I do that, I always “spoon” the girl. We usually face away from the wall.
Listening to unconscionably loud heavy metal, usually reading a book. When I can’t stay awake anymore, I fall asleep.
Half the time I end up on the floor, or some other weird place, but oh, well. I’m an insomniac. I can’t fall asleep at will (or wake up at will, either).
The only way I cannot sleep is on my back. Somewhere in my childhood I got the weird idea that there was a baker hiding in the ceiling just waiting to drop a pie on my face. If I slept on my stomach or my side I was safe from the mustachioed pie man. I am not as afraid as I used to be…but you never know!
A while back I drew the pie man for my father and he said he looked like an animated character from a bakery commercial he saw when we lived in Chicago. Any of you Chicago folks familiar with a crazed pie dropping baker?
I start off by laying on my back. After a couple minutes, I always turn to my left and put my right arm around my spare pillow. I tend to wake up in odd positions and trembling after I realize I kicked off my blanket.
I’m an insomniac and I can’t fall asleep at will. In fact, I can only sleep under very precise conditions, and even with those precise conditions it’s frequently a very fitful sleep.
[ul]
[li]3 X 3mcg of Melatonin 45 minutes before I want to go to sleep. Otherwise I’ll be up well after midnight trying to find something to keep me from being bored senseless.[/li][li]Pitchdarkness. If the sun is shining or a light is on, fuhgeddaboudit. However, I can take an afternoon catnap for about half an hour every now and then.[/li][li]A fan. Without a fan going on in the background, the silence is deafening.[/li][li]Complete silence. If anything but the fan is making noise (for example, the TV or a radio), I can’t fall asleep.[/li][li]Hi Opal.[/li][li]I have to be nekkid. If I have underpants on I feel like there’s a little gnome holding a blowtorch to my ass.[/li][li]Lying on my back. Can’t sleep in a car for this reason.[/li][/ul]
If I have all of the above conditions met, I’ll still toss and turn all night and contort my sheets into a big pile underneath me. Sometimes in my dreams I’ll flail about and bruise Mrs. Rastahomie. And on a few occasions I’ve woken up screaming in bloody terror.
I cannot [read: CANNOT] sleep with someone else in the bed with me. This will probably prove to be a bad thing when and if I ever get someone who wants to sleep in the same bed as me.
I have to sleep on my stomach with my legs and arms spread across the bed. [spread eagled…sorry about the visuals]
I also have to be buck naked or I feel all clingy and claustrophobic.
I can’t have too much noise in the background.
There can’t be any light coming in the room or I wake up.
Well, I have to be on my right side, no matter what. I used to not be able to sleep with other people, but now I can, it’s just mildly uncomfortably (I don’t like to share the blankets, or my space for that matter)! Sometimes I have a teddy bear with me, sometimes not. Must be completely dark, completely quiet, door closed.
Initially when I get into bed I lay on my back for a few minutes. But when it’s time to go to sleep, I turn on my side (facing the outside of the bed) and put a pillow under one leg. I don’t curl up on my side … my bottom leg is straight and my top leg is resting on the pillow. I tend to take the pillow with me during the night if I turn over to my other side. I also have to have at least a sheet covering me no matter how hot it is, and I can’t go to sleep in an unmade bed.
I used to be a fan addict … had to have it on as background noise. Now I have a sound machine from Sharper Image set to “White Noise”. Which is nicer than the fan because it doesn’t cool down the room in winter
This doesn’t change when I’m sleeping with someone. I’ll cuddle with them for a bit, but when it’s time to go to sleep, away I turn and, please, don’t spoon with me when I’m trying to fall asleep. I need my space then.
I just reread this in preview: by the gods, I’m neurotic!
But like rasta, I have to be naked, with the fan on, no other noise. If there is someone else in the bed with me, I am usually exhausted and have no problem drifting off to sleep in whatever position we end up in
I am really touchy feely so I love to spoon or have one leg draped over her leg while lying sideways (sorta a turbo spooning)…<sigh>
And I always have a down comforter with a flannel cover- it makes sleep so much nicer!
I’m one of those people who can sleep nearly anywhere, when I want to. I’ve been known to sleep in cars, on the floor, under tables/chairs, ON tables/chairs, on stairs, in class…
I’m not as bad as my brother, though. He can sleep anywhere too, only with him it frequently happens when he dosnt want it to. He once crawled under a piece of furniture to retrieve a toy, and promptly fell asleep there. We only found him 'cause his leg moved and was sticking out.
Sleep? I don’t have time to sleep! If and when I do get to bed, I have to have a little light coming in from the window. I’ve also got to have lots of blankets and comforts to keep me warm. I sleep on my back with my right hand over my stomach and my left arm at my side, or on my side with my hands under the pillow supporting my head. I can’t wear those long night dresses because my legs get tangled in them and I feel trapped, so I sleep in short nighties.
Curled up, facing away from the wall, in complete silence and total darkness.
I can sleep anywhere, actually (on the unconscionably long bus ride home from a class trip I slept for three hours sitting upside down in a school bus seat, with my feet hooked over the top of the seat and my head resting on the wheel well), but that’s how I sleep in a bed.
I sleep best in a car, though. Especially when somebody’s driving it, and I can just curl up against the passenger window and watch the stars roll past as I drift away.
Another lifelong insomniac/exact-conditions sleeper here.
I have to have a little light, but not too much. I sleep in a tee shirt and undies. Naked feels too exposed and vulnerable for me. For white noise, a ceramic heater on the ‘fan’ setting works great(and if it’s really cold, on low heat). If there’s a ticking clock, or dripping water, or voices, then forget it. I could have been up for 3 days straight and still wouldn’t be able to sleep. Same goes for sleeping in planes and cars. Can’t let my guard down that much. In bed, I always turn methodically - back, left side, stomach, right side, repeat - until I finally get drowsy (which can be anywhere from 20 minutes to 3 hours) then I’ll fall asleep on my back and usually wake up on my back or left side. And lately I’ve also been wearing socks and will sleep better if the pillow is good and plumped up under my neck. It’s just gotten worse over the last few years to the point where I feel like the Leona Helmsley of sleeping conditions! sigh
I can sleep on my back if I have to, but I almost always start off on my stomach. If I’m facing right, I have my left arm crooked, on top of the pillow, supporting my head. My right arm is than crooked underneath the pillow. If I switch to facing left, my right arm then goes further under the pillow, and supports my head through the pillow, and my left arm comes down right beside my face, or just under my cheek. Always like that. I can NOT sleep while on my side.
