Nothing. As close to silence as possible.
Tinnitus gang hates this comment.
Tinnitus is the worst.
Mawp
I can’t do silence, my thoughts are too loud. Rain sounds work well for me.
…white noise drowns out the ringing in my ears and calms the voices in my head…
I always have a fan running in there summertime and it’s too weird sleeping without it on the winter.
…at some level i secretly suspect that sleeping under omnipresent white noise has only made my tinnitus worse over time, but that could also be a natural consequence of my ears aging-out…
(could also come from driving a convertible at speed while blasting music on a three-hour commute every day, if i’m honest)
And dark as possible!
I use Futurama. It’s my comfort show and I’ve watched it so much it makes me sleepy now haha
Hell yeah Futurama sleepers ftw. There used to be a sub for it.
Anything but jurassic bark 😭
I always wake up when Jurassic Bark comes on and it’s a real bummer. So I don’t watch Futurama going to bed anymore.
Technology Connections doing a deep dive into something like how a VHS cassette tape works. I’m interested, but if it’s late, the topic also knocks me out in about 15 min.
This is mine too. Half the time my brain records bits and pieces when I’m asleep and I wake up knowing a few facts about how street lamps work or some shit.
Technology Connections: REAL SHIT
Technology Connextras: I sleep
A fan and total darkness.
…my fan broke earlier this year; i’m shopping for a mechanical white-noise generator…
…when our central air conditioner failed during this summer’s hundred-degree spell, i installed a temporary window-box unit and sleeping was BLISS: tinnitus gang needs fans…
A box fan can be acquired for like $15
…we have a couple of industrial fans but the sound’s not quite right by comparison to cross-flow impellers…
Audiobooks.
Mostly the one I’m currently reading, but I have to listen to that part again the next day.
If that’s too engaging I listen to Nothing much happens, Bedtime stories where as it says, not much is happening, read in a soothing voice.
Same. Whatever I’m currently listening to I add a bookmark before bed and go back to that point the next time I listen.
My audiobook player has a sleep timer that after it expires, will gradually fade out to nothing.
Best part is if you’re still awake enough that you notice it happening you can just shake your phone (with an adjustable intensity) without turning the screen on or anything and it resets the sleep timer.
My ability to fall asleep has never been better.
Darkness and a home server fan
Good sleep hygene ie dark quiet cold is incredibly good for you. It makes you 5-10% better at literally everything. Falling asleep to content is incredibly bad for this its literally making ur dumber and more distracted.
How is it bad sleep hygiene to fall asleep to noise? If it is adequately non-engaging, it is pretty much the same as other white noise. Furthermore, it really depends on each person what makes them relax.
To paraphrase an actual sleep scientist (and not just talk out of my ass like most people do about health):
It is easy to see know if you are getting enough sleep. If you feel tired during the day, you need more sleep.
Because the issue with noise is it causes disruption in your sleep cycle and possibly prevent you reaching deeper stages of sleep. White noise is fine and actually considered beneficial because it provides sufficiently consistent noise that can help mask other sounds that may be disruptive. It boils down to monkey brain still worried about animal coming to eat you but not worried about sound of rain hence millions of years of evolutionary selection on our brains to wake on sudden noises but not consistent noises.
Do you drink coffee? If so how are you going to know if your tired or not?
I see you repeating the claim that it makes sleeping more difficult, but I do think those that listen to sounds, be it ocean waves or someone talking, have the experience that it makes it easier for them to fall asleep.
Sure, there can be problems with sleep quality for numerous reasons. However, making a blanket statement that this disrupts the sleep, especially of those that have positve experience with it, is going to need some factual sources (that I do not think exists).
According to what I have read, it is fine if it is not too stimulating.
EDIT: Also, it is easy to take a break from coffee: It only requires not drinking a few cups. Either way it does not really prevent fatigue, at most delaying it.
As I said, if the noise is sufficiently consistent, then there probably won’t be a problem with it. Content, though, implies something more than just background noise.
You missed my point about coffee entirely. The point is that if you take coffee, you don’t know that you’re tired, regardless of if it’s effective or not.
I am pretty certain our brains evolved to filter out friendly/known voices some tens of thousands of years (or more) ago. I feel tired sometimes before and after coffee, and often less so on coffee breaks because the real issue with coffee is that the caffeine can definitely disrupt sleep.
I understand you need consistency to not be engaged by sounds. I hope you understand that other people have other limitations, hence, again, it is your first statement I disagree with.
Alarm clock sound.
Works every time!
Math class
Great Lectures are so fantastic too. Interesting stuff but the production quality is so great and soothing and excellent speakers. I don’t stand a chance haha.
For sure
I’ve been listening to Fall of Civilizations, with some Kosmo before that.
I used to try to put on ocean things, but the animals were all too pretty, so I’d end up watching it instead of sleeping.
Fall of civilisations is my go-to as well!
Nice! Those videos last me forever, too! They’re 2-3 hours, but knock me out in 5-10 minutes, and they’re interesting enough I keep going back until I get through it.
I finished the Sumerians last week and am 1/4 into the Songhai now.
Oh I didn’t even know there were videos haha
Classic movies, usually from TCM. I love classics but they’re often fantastic to fall asleep to with their slower stories and quieter dialog.
ASMR videos. I know some people associate them with fetish stuff but they’re really varied and most are just about relaxing.
The fetish stuff is all created by people who can’t experience ASMR and just assume it’s what being horny feels like. Sad really.
The I cant sleep podcast. Just a guy reading random wikipedia articles.
Over the last year or so I’ve conditioned myself to fall asleep to “Seasons” by Chris Cornell. It’s the first song on my sleep playlist and I realized I was conditioned a few weeks ago when my wife was watching the movie Singles (which features the song repeatedly) and every time a bit of the song was played I would yawn.
A book.