I clear my desk off and place every article of clothing I can into the hamper. Remove any food, plates, bowls, utensils, paper towels, garbage lining in your wastebin that may or may not have a week or two old clif bar wrapper inside of it. Anything food related in my sleeping space, even if I’ve not eaten & my stomach is totally empty and has been for hours or for the whole day or days on end— will inevitably signal to my digestive system that there is work to be done & that digestion must happen. I can’t sleep if I’m digesting. I also to sit on my couch with a pen & notebook & vomit or diarrhea whatever thoughts have been haranguing me over the evening onto page. If I’m digesting things in my brain especially I find it impossible to sleep.
Open a window, as many as possible to allow fresh air in. Turn on your fans: ceiling, desk, windowsill-mounted box fan, whatever you have. Circulate the air as much as possible. I cannot sleep in a stale bedroom. Have a glass of water at your bedside. If your situation is really hopeless, maybe even fashion a receptacle to urinate into so you don’t have to walk into the bathroom all bleary eyed in the middle of the night. I’ll admit that this is something that I myself don’t have the courage to do yet, but one day when I’m older & even less continent I doubt courage will have very little to do with it & I will piss right by my bedside before yawning & curling up back under my two duvets. Tao Lin recommends this.
Have a bedtime & even if it’s hopeless & youre prone to tossing & turning all the way from 11 PM to 11 AM, stick to it. If I really can’t sleep, I resign myself to about an hour of wordy reading. I’ve been reading the first chapter of Freud’s Interpretation of Dreams for the better part of 3 months now. That helps too.
I am a total stiff & stretching is a total ordeal for me (trying to stretch my hamstrings makes me as red in the face as running a 5K [this is probably cope on my end, and my reluctance to stretch is likely a testament to a deeper, psychological inflexibility that I’m not willing to tackle at this time]) , so much like urinating into a bedside jar, glass, or other such receptacle I can’t personally recommend it based off my “””experience””” but I’ve read that stretching does go a long way before bed.
I’ve heard good things about magnesium. I take glycine because it gives me wild dreams.
Aug 5, 2024
Related Recs
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literally can change your life. A sleep mask or blackout curtains are kind of a must — any light is detrimental to the body finding its natural sleep rhythm.
a slightly cooler temperature also helps, as does (and this is controversial!) wearing socks. socks help regulate the body’s temperature as you sleep, if you can stand them.
developing a routine can really improve sleep quality. try to go to bed at the same time (+/- 30 mins) every day of the week. same thing with waking up.
try to stop consuming food, content, blue light, and music with words at least an hour before bed. your parasympathetic nervous system is a slow roller — let her take her time! I really recommend an analog alarm clock that runs on batteries and a sunrise alarm during the winter — allows me to leave my phone plugged in away from my nightstand.
keeping a small dry brush on your nightstand can help you wake up better, too.
counting backwards from 100 helps me turn down the noise in my brain when I’m in bed if falling asleep is an issue.
Dec 9, 2024
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after what i’ve done? not well. on a bed, but not centred - away from the room‘s door. i have to sleep with 3 (or at least 2) pillows. one i actually sleep on, and two laid beside me in a vertical row. and i have to cover my entire body and face with the duvet, even if it’s at the height of summer. can’t use a sheet as a cover bc it’s just not….substantial (i think i need a weighted blanket fr).
for bedtime rituals, the only thing i do before going to sleep is piss, and put my hair up. my sleep itself is very broken up bc of needing to get up and piss more lol, after which i can’t sleep again for a few hours, but then there are other times where i just sleep for 9 hours straight.
though problematic and potentially rlly unhealthy, i also can’t sleep without earphones on, listening to music or asmr.
Apr 26, 2024
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take a bath or warm shower with low lights/candles.
a sleep mask or blackout curtains are kind of a must — any light is detrimental to the body finding its natural sleep rhythm.
a slightly cooler temperature also helps, as does (and this is controversial!) wearing socks.
developing a routine can really improve sleep quality. try to go to bed at the same time (+/- 30 mins) every day of the week. same thing with waking up.
try to stop consuming food, content, blue light, and music with words at least an hour before bed. your parasympathetic nervous system is a slow roller — let her take her time! I really recommend an analog alarm clock that runs on batteries and a sunrise alarm during the winter — allows me to leave my phone plugged in away from my nightstand.
counting backwards from 100 helps me turn down the noise in my brain when I’m in bed if falling asleep is an issue.
Jan 13, 2025
Top Recs from @steelyfan1998
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sometimes you just need to read some real shit straight from the realest person you know .
Feb 24, 2025
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This is a confession post, not a recommendation, not even much of an anti-recommendation. Tbh it reads like a humilation ritual. Honestly just keep scrolling; it's not worth reading. I'm just posting it because I think I had a point when I first started writing this, one which I lost pretty wuickly. But I spent a good couple of minutes typing this all out, so I'll post it anyway. Thank God I'm anon. If you do read it, please forgive me.
My friend Tyler brought a joint to the super bowl party last night. He handed it to me & told me about how it had weed diamonds in it while I smoked, he told me that it was some good shit and that I wouldn't have to smoke so much of it since I've got such a low tolerance & all, but I could also smoke as much as I liked, seeing as he had a bunch more & that it was the super bowl & we had a bunch of wings on the way anyway, so might as well smoke some more weed so you know what? yeah, i smoked some more weed since what's the harm anyway it's just weed after all.
I've been a mess all day. I've been slow & stupid & disgustingly horny since I woke up this morning; but really honestly since I smoked the weed. If you're one of those types that "actually becomes more functional when you're smoking weed" & that I should "just let people enjoy things" I don't know what to say to you. I'm going to be weird for 4 weeks now and it's all my fault. This happens every time.
Even when it doesn't turn me into a non-verbal paranoiac nutcase, even when it's enjoyable to me in that moment-- I become something lower than a beast. I stand over the platter of chicken wings & gorge until I am sick and then I gorge even more. My stomach becomes distended & my face and fingers are covered in thai curry buffalo chicken fat goo. I waddle around & fart & I find this very funny. I confuse the sound of my own voice with that of my younger sisters & this is incredibly disqueting to me. Do I really sound like that? I become a big confused overgrown fat baby.
I'm going to be be weird for four weeks now. Slow. I was supposed to meet up with my friends to watch Luka's debut for the Lakers. I'm stitting at my desk typing this up; procrastinating going to the gym (which I can NOT neglect [especially after my evening of spiritual obesity]) & the game starts in 5 minutes. Stupid. Typing out this confession right now is painfully difficult. Every word that I type has the appearance of a whitehead that can't be popped to me. This textbox full of blemishes so infuriatingly, stubbornly, immutably DISGUSTING. I feel sick just reading back what I'm writing here. Once again, if you've made it this far, forgive me. This is a confession, not a recommendation. Disgustingly horny. This one I won't elaborate on. Forgive me.
It's not because I smoked weed. The smoking of the weed was just the first movement in a sequence that had already begun before I'd even accepted the joint from Tyler. My own spiritual weakness is the mantle upon which all of these failings hang. I'm not this way because I smoked weed, I'm this way because I'm the type of guy that smokes weed even though I know what it will do to me. There are 999,999,999 other weeds in my life that I am all too willing to permit myself. I haven't eaten anything but bread & butter all day. The lakers game is starting soon. Off to the gym I go.
Feb 11, 2025
Mar 4, 2025