When I'm having trouble sleeping, I'll try just about anything to get some ZZZs. I've heard about all kinds of shuteye strategies, like improving your bedroom's feng shui, changing your sleep position, and writing down your worries. When I can't sleep, it's often because I'm thinking about something too much, and if I distract myself, I can nod off in no time. Recently, I learned a great way to stop my mind from racing: Think in color.
Here's how it works: Pick a color, any color. Then, start visualizing all the things you can think of that are that color. So, if you are thinking green, you might start with lettuce and celery and move to your new green shoes and the green beer bottles in your fridge. Really, it can be anything. The important thing is not to think about it too much; just to let the images come, flowing slowly into the next. It works because it doesn't require any problem solving or counting — just watching the mental images float by.
I've tried this method several times lately, and it really works like a charm. How about you? Have you tried this and, if so, did it work?
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I'll definitely start trying this!
1This sounds good, and more effortless/calming than what I do! Sometimes if I'm REALLY having trouble sleeping, I'll try and (geek alert!!) go through the alphabet naming a filmmaker for each letter. I've never made it all the way through, or even to the trickier letters, before falling asleep. I'll definitely try the color thing next time.
2thanks! i'll try this
3i have found the only way i can rest comfortably is if I clean my room. Usually it's a mess but as soon as it's spotless I end up sleeping like a baby.
4These kinds of sleep suggestions never work with me...somehow, I swear, they keep me awake even longer, trying to think about something specific. And I know they say "not to think about it", but that just never works with me.
5Since I was little, I've played a similar game only picking a letter and thinking of all the words I can that start with that letter. Works every time.
6I do this sometimes...I think about a plain white room and painting it all one color. The monotony of it all is pretty sleep-inducing.
7I did this a lot as a kid. I think I read somewhere something about going through the colors to get to sleep (ROYGBIV order) and I'm a type A that can't sleep, so it at least kept my brain from staying on the hamster wheel of what I had to do... and it kinda naturally evolved from just thinking of the color to thinking of things in that color... lemons and rain jackets and whatever color drenched thing... it tunes out the static and just lets my brain keep going since there is no chance of shutting it all down.
8Thanks for the tip! I am def. going to try it.
9Zombielove - me too! I thought I was the only one that slept well with a clean room! My best nights of sleep are when it's clean. I wonder why...
Thanks for the tip! My boyfriend is a horrible sleeper, and I just read this article to him. Here's to hoping he has a night full of sleep for once!
10I'm going to try this!! I can never sleep and have tried everything! I recently heard, maybe even on this site, that counting backwards from 300 in threes works, BUT I just figured out the pattern and it just went too fast!
Also, I'm so OCD the whole apt. usually has to be clean before I can sleep. I hate sleeping with dishes in the sink, etc. I sometimes even make my bed before I get in it--haha, its sick!
11Try Benedril.Ask your Doc first.I take 2 almost everynight.It really helps me sleep.When my Mom was in the hospital they gave her 1 everynight for sleep!I never feel tired the next day.
12I never have problems sleeping probably because I don't get enough sleep, ha.
13I couldn't fall asleep until 4 and got up at 7 this morning. I need to try this!
14Hmmmm I've never tried this...
15I do something similar but different - I think of a girl's name and a boy's name for every letter of the alphabet. You fall asleep in no time!
16I do this, but sadly I can't ever think of anything.
17I've done this with a slight variation... I try to concentrate just on a blue sky and when thoughts start to creep in, I visually push them out and keep concentrating on the blue. Works every time.
18I usually just make up a story in my head and continue it every night while falling asleep.
19What great technique...
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