Does anyone else struggle with silence, particularly when trying to sleep?

Does anyone else find absolute silence difficult to deal with? In particular difficult to sleep in complete silence?

I think it started from a young age, being obsessed with music. Falling asleep with music.

As an adult, I still struggle with this and need some form of audio to drift off, be it music or something else.

More recently, I find stand-up comedy works best - it’s light-hearted and doesn’t require too much thought.

TheWorstNL,

Yep. I also have a bit of tinnitus so I prefer a bit of sound. Usually I play an episode of Frasier, Mom or Modern Family. Usually before the end of the episode I’m sleeping.

LachlanUnchained,

Yeh. Exactly me.

kill_dash_nine,

Do…do you live in my house? I will say that I tend to wake up to hear tossed salads and scrambled eggs though and shut off the TV when I can just roll back over and be asleep though.

Shepstr,

Put your TV on a 15/30min sleep timer?

kill_dash_nine,

Yeah, my wife usually sets an hour timer. Her sleep patterns are odd for falling asleep. She is out in 5 minutes some nights, other nights she can’t sleep for hours.

chrisphero,

I also have a sometimes hard time falling asleep, I guess I think and overthink everything too much…

So my go-to are audio books and podcasts.

LachlanUnchained,

I am a wild over thinker. Problem I have with audio books and podcasts, is i miss too much of them by falling asleep. Haha. Even with the sleep time on like only 30min.

chrisphero,

I mostly listen to audio books for sleeping that I’ve already read or listened too before, otherwise it has the opposite effect haha. This way I don’t care if I miss something or re-listen to something.

Sometimes I fall asleep within the same 5 min for a week 😂

Spaaarkz,

A plus one for the white noise machine. Game changer.

BeelzAlBob,

Same problem. I just use a box fan though for white noise.

negativeyoda,

I have horrible tinnitus after years of searing guitars. I have to sleep with a white noise machine or I am completely tweaked

LachlanUnchained,

I feel like I am the same. I love worry about my hearing in ten years time.

relative_iterator,
@relative_iterator@sh.itjust.works avatar

I do this too as a way to escape my thoughts. Meditation/mindfulness has helped in the past and it’s probably the healthiest solution. I don’t do that enough though…

DarkThoughts,

More the opposite. I can't stand all the noise. Especially during spring & summer when you have to open your window during the night.

LachlanUnchained,

Growing up, my bedroom faced a main road (even though it was a decent way aways), always want the bedroom window open. Doesn’t bother me in the slightest.

Mechanize,

If silence is the real culprit you should try out a white noise generator, generally speaking it should overload/excite you less then music or human voices and could help you sleep faster.

Where I live silence during the night is not really an option, and I had had problems only when on vacation “away from civilization”, but small stuff like white noise, a fan or similar low but continuos sounds helped me out without asking for my attention (which happens with movies, music or similar).

There are even apps that simulate different kind of sound and let you mix them (like rain, birds, wind) but I didn’t have enough patience to really dig on this solution.

LachlanUnchained,

I think it’s more getting out of my own thoughts. And I feel white noise etc won’t shift my focus from that.

Xiphorang,

Yes, I can't stand complete silence. I have a fan going at pretty much all times, summer or winter, and I definitely can't sleep without it. I have a white noise generator, but I prefer the fan because I'm so used to the airflow that the room feels dead and suffocating without it now.

spauldo,

My father and my son both can’t sleep without a fan. Ceiling fans don’t count because they’re too quiet.

When we moved from the middle of town (a block from the railroad tracks, no less) out here to the country, my girlfriend had trouble sleeping because it was too quiet. Then she had trouble sleeping because of my snoring. You just can’t please some people :)

I can’t sleep if I can hear voices. Other noises generally don’t bother me, but my brain tries to listen to whatever is being said.

Blizzard,

Try weed. Not right before sleep but a bit earlier, while watching those stand-ups for example.

LachlanUnchained,

Yeh. It’s amazing. I have a medical license for it. But sometimes I want to not sleep haha. More about the silence being frightening. Rather than not being able to sleep. Haha.

e-ratic,
@e-ratic@kbin.social avatar

My routine is a joint a couple hours before, then put on some rain sounds in the background while in bed. Instant zzzz

shawnsg,
@shawnsg@kbin.social avatar

blameitonjorge, nexpo, night mind I've found work great as they talk in a very mellow manner. As long as you're ok falling asleep to the type of stuff they talk about lol

spitz,
@spitz@lemmy.ml avatar

I find it helpful to listen to .mp3s of people talking about something I’m interested in. I can focus on that and drift off to sleep and wake up not even realising I fell asleep. Also, I’ve found a hindu mantra that helps sometimes. It’s so hypnotic, it just carries me into the navel of sleep.

Wooly,

Yes, but more so because of my tinitus. It fucking sucks, I can’t really focus on reading books because the silence is deafening.

fiat_lux,

The noise in my head is plenty loud already.

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