I love that I can fall asleep quickly and more or less anywhere. What’s funny is that, since I’ve had kids, I sleep like a log unless someone yawns in the next room. THEN I wake up.
It sucks. One minute you’re driving along the highway and then next… zzzzzzz
I never used to be a easy sleeper. That changed when I got a relaxation CD (Paul McKenna, free with a newspaper as I recall).
It is pretty typical for that sort of thing, 25 minutes long (20 minutes if you subtract the fluff at the beginning). I used to use it fairly regularly (2 or 3 times a week) at lunchtimes, because I had early starts and was training hard. Even if I didn’t sleep, I still felt better for it.
Now, I generally drop off before my wife puts her light out. If I ever have trouble getting off into real sleep, I just replay the track in my head, and it works a charm. If I can plug it in, I do so (phone or iPod). I even edited up a 3 hour version for longhaul flights (UK/NZ, ~30 hours). Once or twice a leg, and I listen to the whole thing even if I don’t sleep - makes the whole trip much more survivable, and the lag adjustment much easier.
Si
I don’t know if there’s a medical explanation for this, or if it was all psychological, but…
As a kid/teen I always had trouble falling asleep, and was an extremely light sleeper - any noise woke me right up. When I was 19 (many years ago), I got mono. The first few nights of sickness were horrible and I didn’t sleep at all. I was resting on the couch (my sick spot) and finally fell asleep. When I woke up, my brother was ten feet away in the kitchen, fixing lunch. I had slept through him coming home and all the noise that normally would wake me right up.
Since then, I have no trouble falling asleep. I’m usually asleep within a few minutes, and sleep well and deeply. Even when I have occasional insomnia, I can keep myself relaxed by just laying with my eyes closed.
I still wonder if the mono and that one, really really good sleep somehow flipped a switch in my brain that taught me how to fall asleep and stay asleep.
I’ve always been a good sleeper, even as a baby I slept through the night early on. I prefer about 9 hours of sleep - at least that’s how much I sleep if I don’t have to get up by an alarm the next day. Anything in motion makes me sleep (unless I’m the driver). Planes, trains, automobiles, as soon as it’s in motion and if I have nothing better to do, I’m asleep in minutes.
Once in a great while, I might not fall asleep right away. I use a sort of meditation technique focusing on relaxing individual joints and muscles starting at my toes and working my way up. It helps empty the mind and hear your own breathing and I’m usually asleep before I finish my legs.
Last night, I got into a really comfy position on my side with one hand under my pillow, the other stretched out. I let out a contented sigh and was out like a light. Woke up about 15 minutes before my alarm and had a great sleep.
It’s like reading about other kids having candy when you have none!! Or rich kids with swimming pools! Amazing stories and different lives! Thank you for sharing.
It’s probably seems so mundane but for those of us who don’t sleep well it’s like a completely different world. I’ve never “fallen” asleep in my adult life … never just nodded off whilst reading a book or watching TV. Going to sleep is hard work and takes a huge amount of planning and effort - it’s awful! I’ll give all my sleep to someone who wants it … I would be happy to never go to bed again (major sleeping disorder here!).
You know, if your sister - like my mom - can drop off to sleep in mere minutes, she may be chronically sleep deprived.
I go through cycles of hypersomnia and near normality thanks to my chronic depression. Until I had a bout of legitimate insomnia, I had no idea that “aching for sleep” and “unable to sleep” could coexist. It was horrible.
What’s it like being able to fall asleep? Well, for me, it’s grokking that the day has come to an end, wrapping up what I can, and going through my nighttime rituals. Once I climb into bed, I may lie on my back for a while and think thoughts, but after a few moments, I turn onto my side. My body relaxes, my breathing slows down, and I’ve closed my eyes without realizing it. If I’ve had a busy day and my muscles are tired, I feel heavy, like I’m slowly sinking into something. It’s a very pleasant sensation.
Sometimes, if I’m at a curious place where my brain keeps thinking even while bits are shutting down for sleep, I’m aware of sleep rising in me like a water table. Oh, there goes the voluntary movement. Oh, there goes the sense of touch. Oh, sounds are far away and don’t matter. And usually about then, I’m gone.
I’ve had times when thanks to a migraine or a very, very bad day with depression, I seek sleep as a refuge. Or, I’ve had some insomnia, and I took a pill to help me sleep. There’s a moment when sleep cancels out the pain/mood, or the medication hits the bloodstream, and it’s like a switch being flipped. It goes from painanguishbleakbad to ohthankheavenssweetblessedrelief.
I swear, if I could bottle that tiny moment and sell it, I’d be the richest woman on the planet. For a very short time, because then the human species would starve to death or I’d be assassinated for creating a world of lotus eaters.