How to turn of brain?

When i try to go to sleep at night i normally lie awake for atleast 1 hour just twisting and turning in bed and thinking about shit, sometime i lie awake for longer. now i need to know how the hell im supposed to "relax" my thoughts at night. i have low patience so meditation is not something im in to. i was thinking about some kind of pill that you can pick up at the local health store or drugstore. cause im sick of lying around for hours with nothing but my manic thoughts to keep me company :roll:

I would suggest using the MILD method. Repeat something to yourself over and over as you are lying in bed, like "I will realize that I'm dreaming". If you can focus your attention on that one that, you may find that your "manic thoughts" go away, or are at least kept at bay enough for you to become sleepy.

Of course, I know that you've been around DV for quite a while, and are probably already familiar with this, so maybe you've found that it doesn't work for you. Nevertheless, you need to find something that you can focus your mind on in order to keep the other thoughts out. Perhaps the muscle tensing/relaxing technique is something that could help you here also.

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Originally posted by Krippe
When i try to go to sleep at night i normally lie awake for atleast 1 hour just twisting and turning in bed and thinking about shit, sometime i lie awake for longer. now i need to know how the hell im supposed to \"relax\" my thoughts at night. i have low patience so meditation is not something im in to. i was thinking about some kind of pill that you can pick up at the local health store or drugstore. cause im sick of lying around for hours with nothing but my manic thoughts to keep me company :roll:

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patience is something that can be learned... go to sleep later and get up earlier (get up at 6AM go to bed at 11PM) i pretty much guarentee that you'll fall asleep pretty fast after a week or two, you can alsoe make up stories in your head and usually that puts you to sleep

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Originally posted by billybob_001

you can alsoe make up stories in your head and usually that puts you to sleep

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i do that often but i usually stop after awhile cause i thought i shouldn't do that cause it prevents me from falling asleep.guess i can continue my little stories then :)

You say you toss and turn? Try not to do that, find a comfortable position and relax until your body falls asleep(your mind won't be far behind). I have/had ADHD so I can't really relax my mind, and I used to not be able to sleep very well and I found that it is because I kept changing position.

It usually takes me three flips to fall asleep, lay on my left, flip to my right, and then back to my left, or vice versa. I dunno why but it almost always works for me.

Anyway, there was a time when I used to work two jobs. I worked a graveyard job from 11pm to 7am, and then another job from 8am to 3pm (or about that).

Basically that meant that when I got home in the afternoon at about 3:30, I had to be awake in exactly 7 hours to get ready for work again. Not much time to waste tossing and turning, and everybody already knows the more pressure you put on yourself, the harder it is to fall asleep.

So what I used to do was simply lie there and clear my thoughts, and I would think to myself: "If I sleep, cool, If I don't, then at least I'll use this time to just relax and be comfortable."

If you don't fall asleep, it's not the end of the world. We've all pulled all-nighters and lived through em. Just use the time to relax and give your body as much rest as you can.

Lie down with that mentality and you'll drift off in no time.

I fall asleep pretty quick usually but if I need to sleep and I'm not tired ( stocking up on sleep in the middle of the day if I know I've got alot of driving to do , for instance ) I
have two methods for relaxing myself.
Depending on my circumstances I'll either :
1. Lay comfortably and take a mental inventory of my body. I got the idea from a yoga dude. I start at my feet and work my way up ,doing a detailed analysis along the way.
I focus on relaxing each body part before moving on.

2.I'll visualize the lyrics to a song in my head and project them onto a huge mental
screen. I try to keep up with the original pace of the song while making sure the words are crisp and readable.

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Originally posted by mroberge
It usually takes me three flips to fall asleep, lay on my left, flip to my right, and then back to my left, or vice versa. I dunno why but it almost always works for me.

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I find that too. I find it more comfortable to lie on my right side, but at home (this rule does not apply in my university room) my window is to the right and the light is distracting, so I always have to turn over on my left side to actually sleep. But if I'm not relaxed enough, it's back over to the right again.

This is really weird, I've never sat back and analysed my getting to sleep routine before (o_O)

I do the little stories too. Sometimes it's hard to keep concentrated on them, but they really help to pass the time.

Try not to think about things in your life. I find it really distracting to do that. Do the stories, or think about random stuff.

I had a similar problem. I was exhausted, yet my mind would race with thought. What I was told sounds a little corny. But it works well for me.

Each time a thought appears in you head, acknowledge it as a thought and nothing more. Meaning don't think about the thought.
Visualize putting the "thought" on a cloud and watch it float away.

Another one I thought of was similar but you instead picture the thought on a computer screen and push delete.

Both process will tire your conscious and it won't be able to feed itself with new or recurring thoughts.

[quote]I had a similar problem. I was exhausted, yet my mind would race with thought. What I was told sounds a little corny. But it works well for me.

Each time a thought appears in you head, acknowledge it as a thought and nothing more. Meaning don't think about the thought.
Visualize putting the "thought" on a cloud and watch it float away.

That's cute. Thanks for the tip!

D

[quote]I had a similar problem. I was exhausted, yet my mind would race with thought. What I was told sounds a little corny. But it works well for me.

Each time a thought appears in you head, acknowledge it as a thought and nothing more. Meaning don't think about the thought.
Visualize putting the "thought" on a cloud and watch it float away.

Another one I thought of was similar but you instead picture the thought on a computer screen and push delete.

Both process will tire your conscious and it won't be able to feed itself with new or recurring thoughts.

I'm ADHD so my mind is over active and I wasn't expecting this to work, but it did. It was weird, after I let the thought go I tried to remember what the thought was but I couldn't.

Also the plus side to ADHD is a vivid imagination and that means vivid dreams.

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Originally posted by danbarber


I'm ADHD so my mind is over active and I wasn't expecting this to work, but it did. It was weird, after I let the thought go I tried to remember what the thought was but I couldn't. *

Also the plus side to ADHD is a vivid imagination and that means vivid dreams.

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That is great that this works for you. :)
I think there could be multiple applications for this. You could cater it to your own perosonality.
I think the entire process is to do something that in redundant yet appealing to subdue your conscious.

get some music, listen that, for +/- 15 minutes... or longer :wink:
then just lie down, and just lie there, and don't mind your thoughts, when you think about something, so be it...

you'll be asleep in half an hour... (including the music minutes)

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Originally posted by CryoDragoon
get some music, listen that, for +/- 15 minutes... or longer *:wink: *
then just lie down, and just lie there, and don't mind your thoughts, when you think about something, so be it...

you'll be asleep in half an hour... (including the music minutes)

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Good idea Cryro! :)
Unless you poorly choose cryptic slaughter or Napalm death. :tongue:

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Good idea Cryro! :)
Unless you poorly choose cryptic slaughter or Napalm death

Too bad I'm a fan of heavy metal and various other forms of metal (such as death and power metal)

I can't stop thinking. I concentrate on trying not to think, but it seems my mind wants to purposely deny me and keep thoughts flowing anyways. I love classical music, but listening to it when you are trying to WILD or just sleep makes you fall asleep too fast. It's relaxing, but I can't keep attentive. I tryed to WILD for about two hours and I finally got frustrated that I couldn't. I then tryed to just sleep, but I couldn't because I was too restless. It was so annoying.

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Originally posted by Krippe
When i try to go to sleep at night i normally lie awake for atleast 1 hour just twisting and turning in bed and thinking about shit, sometime i lie awake for longer. now i need to know how the hell im supposed to "relax" my thoughts at night. i have low patience so meditation is not something im in to. i was thinking about some kind of pill that you can pick up at the local health store or drugstore. cause im sick of lying around for hours with nothing but my manic thoughts to keep me company *:roll:

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Well, you seem very conflicted and stressed at night. Perhaps you are getting into way too much drama during the day. Try minimizing the scenes you make throughout the day. Avoid deep disputes or discussions, which make you wonder all day and night what you might have said better. Nothing bothers one more at night than regrets. If one can simply avoid drama throughout the day, then there are no regrets. This advice also applies to your comutes -- don't flip off other drivers and spend your time yelling and honking. Don't work yourself up. Consider that your goal in life is to get from one day to the next with very little in the way of extra stressers. When it comes time for sleep, your day should have been one that is easy to close the page upon. There should be little to think about. If you do have something to think about at the end of the day, then consider that for future reference whatever you did that requires thinking about, do not ever do the same thing again. To have an easy peaceful mind at the end of the day, keep your life simple.

But this is easy advice for an Old Man to give, but difficult advice for a young man to take. Mostly because young men are vulnerable to young women screwing with their heads. Few young men will appreciate the fact, but they would be significantly better off if they would begin to deal with Women from a position of power and only on your own terms. Don't compromise. It is compromises that keep one awake at night. It is far better to be alone then to toss and turn with the realization that you are being screwed with, and that you are surrendering your integrity over what even any six year old would know is nothing but 'sissy-stuff'.

In short, examine just what it is that you are thinking about which robs you of your sleep, and then decide to lead your life in order to minimize such thoughts. Most of the time you will find you are thinking of drama that you don't really need and which you can easily train yourself to refrain from.

Well if you want to "turn off your brain," then I suggest dieing. I don't see any other way to turn it off. But as to your unable to fall unconcious problem, I suggest being a bit more tired before bed. Workout during the day or just exercise and it should really get you nice and tired for bed. Also, try going to sleep an hour or so later.

A hammer, or even a shotgun would work. But that might just give a bit of mess. You could try to walk a few laps around a dad car too... a driving car. Before you go to bed.

Or just HILD :D

im strange

:-/ it seem that i never can tell where my sleeping starts, its like if i dont fall full asleep i merely go into a really deep meditative state and i dont actually ever lose consciousness (it just quiets down cus all it has to do is look at my thoughts or the inside of my head, or every now and then some thought realm i project myself out onto)

like literally i can make myself be so close to sleep it practically is (like closest you can hold your brainwaves to the sleeping state) but im still perfectly aware of the room around me and im always alert when people come in or i still listen and keep myself awake in class even if my body falls asleep

my teachers get pissed at that but i listen so :D

eh, i would actually try meditation, it becomes like an addiction if you find your methods that seem to suit your consciousness, even if you do not have much patience (i used to have none but ive developed it because the relaxation and consciousness expansion i get from meditating is worth it)

but i duno if you have the time either, try some guided meditations perhaps, focusing on chakra opening or something of the sort so that you can use your active brain in a bit more positive way than keeping you awake

good luck :D