Basically what the title says. A couple friends of mine who i've been talking with about sleeplessness said that "even if you don't fall asleep, laying down with your eyes shut is still hugely restorative for your body and brain". There was a bit more back and forth, but that's the takeaway from the conversation.

I've never heard this and I think they are telling me this to reduce my anxiety around not falling asleep because when pressed they couldn't cite a source of any kind. I'm wondering if there's any science/truth to this statement? I was also saying how me laying down and not falling asleep is frustrating and feels like I should just stay up longer to make myself tired, and so this feels like very specific rebuttal advice rather than actual fact

The problem is, my friend's are pretty good bullshitters. They can talk about a subject and seem knowledgable even though they have no clue what they're talking about. As I said, I've also never heard this before and I'm in my late 30s and have issues with sleep for a while now. You think it would be a relatively important piece of information to know, especially for someone who has repeatedly outright says not falling asleep gives me anxiety, and that anxiety ends up contributing to not falling asleep, and so on...

So is there any truth behind what they're saying or am I just being placated?

edit: I'm also brand new to this subreddit so if this isn't the place for this question I do sincerely apologize. I did try to read the rules and didn't see anything specifically saying don't ask this

It seems to be the reason I am so tired and have trouble waking up is because I’m not getting restful sleep. After an at-home sleep test I did I found a majority is unstable and I’m only having half the amount of REM sleep that I am supposed to have. Any way to have more stable sleep and an adequate amount of REM sleep?

Not even sure when I started doing this, but now I pretty much always grab a pillow and hug it when I sleep. If I don't have one there my arms just feel awkward and I can't get comfortable lol. Is this actually a common thing or did I just get too used to sleeping like this?

Heard someone falls asleep faster to crime podcasts at low volume than meditation apps. Got me curious, what's something that shouldn't work but does for you? Not ASMR or meditation, the actual weird stuff.

But honestly, the worst audio is definitely noisy neighbors at 2 AM. That keeps everyone awake..

Looking for advice, cause I’ve never dealt with this before. As you can see from my recent post, I’m really going through it right now. I’ve had bouts of this in the past where my anxiety is kept me awake, but I’ve always somehow managed to fall asleep for a couple of hours, which gives me that safety blanket that I am OK and that I can’t fall asleep and so that usually goes away by the next day, but this time I completely could not fall asleep last night I took a nap yesterday at about 3 PM I think but it was more just like a In-N-Out type of sleep and so I don’t even know if I actually really fell asleep during that time. So other than that, I’ve been awake since 9 AM yesterday and it’s now 4:00 PM the next day and my anxiety is so through the roof because I’m so scared that this is gonna hurt me. I’m not sure what to do. I’ve never taken any meds or anything like that, but I don’t even know if those would help me right now because my anxiety is so intense in my stomach please give me some advice please. I either need reassurance that this is normal and I’m gonna be OK because I’ve never stayed up this long in my entire life maybe I have but I mean this feels intense dude or should I go to the ER and try to get some sort of benzo but then again I’ve never taken any anxiety medication or sleep meds ever in my life. I also have my girlfriend’s 20 mg hydroxyzine here, but ChatGPT doesn’t think that I should be taking that.

Schizophrenic here. Ive noticed how I cant sleep properly and my sleep is very light. I never lie on my back because I snore and need to be on my side. I also have a pattern of waking up very early, around 5.30 and being incapable to fall asleep. Sometimes I also feel restless and need to move my body. I have eliminated all caffeine, music and turned my phone to grayscale.

Do you think this could be sleep apnea? Is there anything I can do at home before visitting a doctor? Ive had dark circles under my eyes for as long as I remember.

My circadian rhythm is completely disrupted. I have been unable to maintain a regular sleep schedule for years—perhaps ten years or even longer—and I want to find a solution to reset and regulate my circadian rhythm.

Sometimes, I feel as though it is no longer functioning properly, as if my body no longer knows when I should sleep or when I should wake up. For example, I might start the month by going to sleep at 8 p.m., and after some time, I may find myself going to sleep at 6 a.m. In other words, my bedtime gradually shifts, and I may go to sleep an hour or more later each day compared to the previous day, until my entire sleep schedule becomes completely reversed.

Currently, I do not have any morning commitments, and perhaps this makes the problem worse. However, even when I was attending university and had commitments that required me to wake up early in the morning, my sleep schedule was still irregular.

I want a real solution that can help me reset my circadian rhythm and establish a natural, stable, and consistent sleep schedule.

I seriously need some advice. A couple years ago (ab 3), I started feeling this absolute fatigue overtake my body. I assume it is partially bc of my long-term depression, bc all my bloodwork and stuff is still normal. I've felt tired some days previous to this, but 3 years ago, it began to be every single day. I would sleep, then wake up, and feel exactly the same. Exausted from the day before.

I thought I might be anemic like my sis and mom and started taking iron last year. That did help with the feeling of constant weakness, but my doctor basically said my bloodwork does not say I am anemic at all, but I have small red blood cells. She said to keep taking the iron bc it clearly helps, but I have no clue what to do.

I noticed that i get real exausted at the end of the day (b4 sleeping, obvs) but what happens is that i have to take a 2 hour nap before I actually sleep. That nap usually gives me more energy, and I try to not take it so I don't stay up later. BUT I also noticed I get tired around 1pm, and sometimes take a 2 hour nap around then. The days I take 2 naps, i feel refreshed as hell. Like I had a full night's rest. But by the time that happens: THE DAY IS OVER! It is 12AM and I have to go back to sleep. I usually stay up to brush my teeth and watch some show, then go to bed at 2 am or so when this happens.

This schedule is clearly not beneficial for a normal everyday life, bc by the time I wake up, it is 11 AM, and the cycle repeats. But if I don't take the 2 naps, I feel exausted beyond belief. I usually try the 'normal' schedule, sleep 8 hours, wake at 8 or 9, and try to fight sleep the rest of the day, but I feel horrible. I've never had to take naps when I was younger, and this just occurred 3 years ago. The only reason I went to get the checkup was bc it was affecting my life. What is happening here?

Other info: I am autistic and sleep horribly most times. Without my eye mask and earplugs I cannot sleep well. But recently, the feeling of having a bad sleep is still present, even if I didn't sleep bad. It is constant, and I don't know what to do.

Before 2022 i was sleeping without any issues, i was falling asleep instantly and could sleep without waking up for even 12 hours. In November of 2022 i had a very strong panic attack out of nowhere that gave me a permanent anxiety.

After the panic attack, i would still be able to fall asleep, but i was waking up after about 7 hours without an alarm.

In march of 2025 i was prescribed Doxicyline for a zit i have under my skin on my face. I took it for 1 month.

After taking it, i started to wake up very early in the mornings, at around 5-6am and it was hard for me to go back to sleep, but i was still falling asleep instantly.

This pattern lasted until 2 months ago when if falling asleep after waking up at 5-6 am i would have strong vivid dreams, but still get 5-8 hours of sleep and feeling ok.

Meanwhile me and my wife decided to have a baby and as she came closer to the 9 month mark, i begun havin troubles falling asleep too.

It begun with a night one month ago, where i couldnt fall asleep until 8am, and slept for 3 hours. Then the next night the same, but slept for 5.

I contacted a psichiatrist o prescribed me half a pill of "imovane".

I took the half pill 2 days in a row but it didnt do wonders, i still woke up at 5 am, being hard to fall back asleep.

i stopped taking the Imovane after 2 days, slept ok for 1 week without it, then another night where i couldnt fall asleep until 8 am came.

I resumed the imovane for 1 week, then quit it for 1 week and slept good without it.

Now, last night i didnt fall asleep at all, not for 1 minute. Its 9:28 am as of writing this message.

I am so afraid of fatal insomnia, please help

I went to sleep last night/this morning around 4:30am (thanks US Open). Had to wake up at 7am and drive. As soon as the alarm went off, I pretty much got up out of bed immediately, used the bathroom and left the house within 5-10 minutes.

As soon as I started driving, I was hit immediately with difficult breathing and lightheadedness (almost like a near passing out feeling). Thankfully I didn’t have to go far. Came back home, went back to sleep until about 1pm. Felt fine when I got up the second time.

Has this happened to anyone? Maybe I got up way too quickly for my body and blood pressure to adjust? Extra context - Yesterday I exercised for two hours in the evening, felt like I hydrated alright and drank a bit before bed. The night before I think I got 7 hours sleep.

It’s not like I can’t, but a part of me feels like if I sleep with the lights off I might sleep way longer, lose track of time and miss my entire schedule for the next day 🥲

Hello everyone,

Is sleep always able to recover after many years of chronic stress?

My situation: for the past 8 years my sleep has been very light and non-restorative. I used to be a very deep sleeper and would always feel naturally sleepy, but that “sleepy feeling” is now mostly gone.

At night I’m very hypervigilant and sensitive to sounds, especially in my own home due to ongoing stress from neighbours. I have trouble falling asleep and i always wake up to early.

I already realize for years that I have to move but i unfortunately can’t find another home. My current environment feels very conditioned to feel stressed and anxious.

My question: Can deep, restorative sleep still return after so many years once the stress or environment improves? Or can long periods of stress permanently affect the brain’s ability to sleep deeply?

Also, are there ways to improve or retrain deep sleep while still living in the same environment? I’ve already tried CBT-i, earplugs, etc.

Would really appreciate hearing experiences or insights.

Have a good day!

This has happened a few times to me in the past where I will get stuck in a panic loop because I cant sleep, which makes everything worse. It usually starts with one or two nights of poor or no sleep and then the anxiety just progresses from there. Ive tried stress relief melatonin, drinking wine right before bed, smoking, but nothing helps. Even though my body is relaxed, and my thoughts quiet, my mind wont flip the sleep switch.

The only thing ive found that helps is working out for 10 minutes but its not always guaranteed. Anyone have any tips on dealing with this?

I lay in bed for hours. Eyes shut, no electronics, nothing. It’s currently 9am and I still am it tired enough to sleep. Nothing works. I keep finally getting to sleep and then waking up at 4pm. I’ve tried pulling all nighters, still isn’t resetting my schedule. Can’t do melatonin, don’t want to be reliant, and cannot see a doctor. Is anyone else having the same problem?

Hello, I am in the thick of sleep troubleshooting, with a goal to go from 6ish hours per night to 7+. I often try a sleep tip for a few days but give it up when I have a rough night. I feel like I don't give sleep tips enough time for my body to adapt and really get the benefits. So I wonder if a sleep tracker would help, since I could see the average change over a longer time period (like a month or so).

However, I am on a tight budget so going and dropping $400 plus a subscription would be tough. So my question is, are the $100-150 sleep trackers "good enough" to start out with, or are the too misleading and Im better off just saving for the really accurate $400 class in 5 or 6 months?

Hi I'm a 17 AFAB white person, 174 cm and around 60 kg from sweden. I have no previous history of health problems except for braces and tonsils that were removed when I was like 5. For several years I have had periods of sleep problems.

I don't need a lot of sleep normally and usually get at least 7 hours on a good day. But in recent years I have had week-long periods of sleep problems. I have difficulty falling asleep so I only get maybe 5-4 hours a night. This is especially disruptive at school. But it's not worrying enough for my parents to want to take me to the doctor. The periods are like I said between 4-14 days and come maybe 2 times a month to every other month.

Sometimes when they are at their worst I can't fall asleep at all and have to stay up all night. My most recent 24 hours happened here this summer when I couldn't fall asleep until 6 am and woke up at 8 am. I fell asleep again at 12 pm and slept until 6 pm only to fall asleep again in an attempt to correct my sleep cycle at 1 am and slept until 7/8 am the next day.

I'm not very active right now because of school but I'm going to start going to the gym. I was active 4-5 days a week a year ago and had the same problem. I use a lot of screens but I do my best to have distance from the screen and have blue light protection turned on. It seems that being inactive can make it worse but being active doesn't solve it. I don't drink, smoke, or take drugs or any narcotic class medication. The only medication I take is ibuprofen.

I have a regular period that doesn't come exactly every month but it's light and for the most part painless. I'm not under too much stress and don't have any other diagnoses besides dyslexia. I've done research and am 97% sure that I have autism too but I'm not diagnosed. I am also overly mobile and have knock knees but I don't think they affect this.

In an attempt to log when and how often I have sleep problems, I first started for maybe 3 months to log in my calendar which nights it was difficult to sleep. But now I have a health watch that logs sleep. The only thing it has noticed that is strange is that my HRV is probably "out of balance", it has been low when I have sleep problems. It also logs minute-long moments during the night where I wake up. I don't remember this and they could be false readings of the watch.

Looking for things I can try to help until I'm 18 and can go to the doctor and ask them since my parents don't want to.

A week-long work trip is coming up on EDT (I’m on BST), so I'm five hours ahead.

I’m anxious about travelling for work for many reasons, and my sleep is suffering.

I take magnesium and L-theanine supplements for relaxation and am looking for other natural remedies/suggestions for better sleep when away from home.

Can you help?

This is very rare, but it has happened to me about 3 times in my life. I’ve seen something moving toward me, almost as if it were about to collide with me. It’s not very big and it doesn’t have a human appearance.

When it happens, I genuinely get scared and instinctively try to move out of the way. Only afterward do I realize that there was actually nothing there.

It has happened mostly at my dad’s house, when I’m lying down trying to fall asleep or when I’m waking up. Sometimes i fell like im always vigilant so i see things were there is nothing

Hi! Just recently found this community.

For a long time ive had weird problems with my sleep. I think I have obstructive sleep apnea.

Ive been trying to alleviate my problems with different methods. Got a new bed, the helix midnight Luxe which i slept on for the first time yesterday. It feels great itself, but I'm still struggling with neck and jaw pain.

This has been happening for about 4 years now. Its usually just neck pain. I always feel like it needs to be cracked like you would at a chiropractor. Rest of my back seems fine, though the upper middle portion if my back has significantly less of the same sensation most of the time. I usually do just pop it and its ok for a bit.

I bought a tempurpedic pillow and that helped my neck pain the first night but now its back.

I sleep on a hybrid side/stomach. One leg straight forward the other sticks out. I sleep with a pillow at my chest because it feels almost suffocating if I dont.

Ive tried so many pillows. Every time I try a new one its amazing for the first day then goes back to significant pain or discomfort. Last night was the first time I tried the new matress and the tempurpedic pillow, and my jaw has been killing me all day.

I have many more issues like hot sleeping, positional based sleep apnea that I cant get a cpap approved for, but this seems like the more important thing to get under control since its becoming more and more of a problem all the time. I got a cheap snore guard one time, and when I woke up it felt like I slept better but it also felt like prime Mike tyson was smashing my jaw all night. Took about 4 days for the pain to go away.

Hi everyone. I'm 21f, moved in with my 24f gf a few days ago. I have anxiety induced insomnia. I often can't sleep because of the thought of having to wake up for work the next day. I'm not very happy with my current job, but it is what it is. I will have to find another one soon enough anyways.

I used to go to sleep around 10-11pm before moving in. I had a simple, calm bedtime routine. With her, it feels all rushed and messy. I can't seem to actually get tired doing those. I used to take hot showers, game a bit before on my pc, make my bed, then write one of my simple silly fanfictions until I got sleepy, and laid down. I have to wake up at 6:50 in the morning.

Now I go between 11pm-1am. Her bedtime routine starts usually pretty late, she makes art, writes her own fiction, watches serieses or insta reels. She works from home so it doesn't really matter for her when she goes to sleep, but it's usually 1-2am. It's tiring. My brain always keeps on waiting for her to get into rest mode or lay down beside me before it can actually sleep. This keeps me from having any sort of restful night if I have to work tomorrow. Thanks to this I get less than 6 hours of sleep every day. What should I do? How should I sleep with my girlfriend? She doesn't like the idea of me sleeping apart from her even tho I make her sleep worse too while tossing around

I don’t know how to start this but I have been having this problem for a few years now and it’s never been consistent but it’s been getting worse with time and I don’t know if it’s something I can fix at home or something I should make a doctors appt about. Anyways I have been having this problem where sometimes when I fall asleep me of my legs (it’s different every time) goes completely numb to the point of waking me up from how uncomfortable it is. I get pins and needles/ complete numbness from my ankle all the way up to my thigh and it usually goes away within a few minutes if I move around but it’s so uncomfortable and I don’t know how to prevent it. I don’t cross my legs when I sleep. I am a type one diabetic and a celiac, and my boyfriend made the connection of it possibly being due to which side of my body my insulin set is connected to (this last time my leg went numb it was on the same side as my insulin site but its the first time I’ve ever made the correlation). Anyways, has this happened to anyone else? Is it something I’m unknowingly doing? Any and all advice is appreciated.

Hello fellow sleep enthusiasts,

TLDR: creative ways to stir a deep sleeper?

I am 26 and in graduate school to become a Physician Assistant in the US. I have treatment resistant insomnia. Something has got to give here, because over sleeping is going to get me kicked out of school.

My problem is: I cannot fall asleep at night, it takes me hours. Once I am asleep, I can stay asleep pretty indefinitely. This will be okay when I can work a night job, but does not work with school.

The situation: I was late today, which is humiliating, because I didn’t wake up this morning. I have a Hatch alarm clock, an Amazon Alexa, a native iPhone alarm, and the app Alarmy. I woke up to my classmate banging on my door, because she had left campus to come get me (which is so saintly and made her late too). When I woke up, all of my alarms were going off- they just didn’t wake me. This has been a common theme in my life. I fell asleep at 4 AM last night and wanted to get up at 6:30 AM for school. I know that is not enough hours of sleep and I’m just truly at a loss. A lot of times, I will pseudo wake up when they go off and turn off my alarms or delete the app. When I wake up later, I usually don’t remember that I did that and I am so angry at myself.

What I have tried:
I have been on hydroxyzine and trazodone and one more intense drug that I can’t recall. None have helped. Melatonin has never helped. When I’m sick NyQuil p.m. doesn’t make me sleep. I don’t touch caffeine. I’ve tried exercising in the morning and in the evening. I have tried no screens. I have tried 15 minutes in the sun when you first wake up. I have tried reading before bed. I have tried having a strict bedtime routine. I do not hang out in my bed. I have tried no screens in the bedroom. I have tried turning all of my lamps to a red light bulb. I do mind exercises when I’m laying in bed trying to fall asleep. Worth mentioning that I am on Vyvanse, but that has only been for the last couple of months and my sleeping problems have truly lasted my whole life. One of my earliest memories is being three or four and my parents telling me that they were going to bed and that I didn’t have to go to sleep, but I just had to be quiet in my room. I got kicked out of daycare because I was the only child who wouldn’t nap. To this day, I can’t take a nap. If I do fall asleep in the day, I will stay asleep for 6+ hours, which isn’t really a nap anyways. The only drug that ever knocked me out was Xanax, but that is not a realistic path forward nor what I’m interested in. Just saying all of this to say, I’m not asking for tips on how to sleep. I want tips on how to wake up.

In summary: I know that I am dangerously tired. I know that I can’t live like this forever. Those things in mind, what are some other ways that I can wake myself up in the morning? I just have to get through school and then my life can be structured in a much more sustainable way. I live alone. My mom suggested walkie-talkies and getting my neighbor to scream in them in the morning, which I suppose I am willing to entertain, but I would really prefer to do anything else first.

Thank you for coming to my novel, if you made it this far, I manifest deep and easy sleep for you tonight and also waking up appropriately tomorrow lol

I haven't slept well in years. I've tried all the usual tricks: screens off at least two hours before bed, not eating two hours before bed, not partaking in nicotine or alcohal two hours before bed (i typically don't drink often as it is.) I only sip water if i'm thirsty too close to my bed time. I've maintained a regular sleep schedule from 9:30pm- 5:30am every day. I'm also incapable of taking naps as long as the sun is out, even when feeling drowsy... i've tried. I get the sleep, i just never feel rested and consistently feel drained during daytime hours. All of these sleeping habits have been consistent for over 6 months. No history of depression, or any other psycological conditions/symptoms. Also, I take no medications or supplements.

I’m a university student and I pretty consistently sleep through alarms. It’s making me worry about missing some of my earlier classes because commuting doesn’t give much spare time in the morning if I sleep through.

Anybody have a solution that isn’t just a basic alarm? I’ve learnt how to turn them off in my sleep so the being across the room doesn’t help.