I want to be able to sleep through noises.

[insanit_e]

I want to become a better and deeper sleeper.

However my genes are against me. Everybody in my immediate family has a sleeping issue. Both my mum, dad and two brothers are INCREDIBLY light sleepers, to the point where its just weird. Like, they can't sleep if they can hear ANYTHING, whether its somebody 2 rooms away typing at their computer, or a bird outside, or a floorboard creaking, etc. If there is ANY noise at all, they can't get to sleep, and if any noise happens while they're asleep, they wake up straight away. One of my brothers literally can't sleep unless he wears earplugs.

I'm pretty much the same, but perhaps a tiny bit better. This is because ive kind of trained myself to sleep through certain noises. Thing like traffic, doors opening/closing, distant conversations. However i'm still pretty terrible. If i can hear TV, clear voices, or music I can't fall asleep. But ESPECIALY music. The thing is, i am a musician/music student with an exceptionally sharp ear (perfect pitch, etc.) and because of this I can't even listen to music when i read/do essays, because it distracts me too much. Let alone sleep.

The thing is though, this is really difficult. Especially because I live in a share house which is fairly noisy. There are always people around, always music playing. My housemate is always willing to turn it down when i ask, but even if it's down really low, at a perfectly reasonable level, I can still hear it through the wall. When people are over, and they are hanging outside on the front porch, i can hear their voices and laughter from my room and it keeps me up.

I really really really want to just be able to sleep anywhere, anytime, like most people I know. I wich i could sleep through noises and music.

I'm not interested in things like medication. I'm more interested perhaps in techniques i could use to help me block out these noises and stop noticing them. Or to be able to just sleep anyway.... somehow. Do you think that if I tried paying music loudly in my room every single night, eventually i'd HAVE to sleep and would learn to sleep through it? Is anybody in the same situation as me, and has found a way of being a better sleeper generally?

 

[bluesnowmen]

I don't know about you but when I smoke herb, I sleep like a baby. Have you given that a try?

 

[addictivepersona]

Have you tried sleeping with a fan going? Point the fan away from you if the breeze bothers you. Was told the sound would help me fall asleep since it would block out background noises--It certainly did block out background noises... All I could hear was that fucking fan, and it drove me nuts! Maybe you'd have better luck, lol.

 

[Neo Incapacitator]

Weed always has me sleeping like a rock.

 

[vagueblur]

I have trouble sleeping unless it's perfectly dark and quiet too. A fan is good, or search for 'white noise' mp3s... they tend to cover up all the other noises and make it easier to go to sleep.

As for being able to sleep like everyone else, maybe try some relaxation techniques? Google "yoga nidra"...

 

[doesntmatter]

Others have beat me to it. Create some white noise. Keep a big box fan or "windmachine" fan right next to your bed on high. Hopefully this would drown out any distinguishable sounds and replace it with something your brain doesn't want/need to identify.

 

[daysonatrain]

fan works wonders for me. earplugs are very nice, and block out nearly all sounds, its very calming to feel your breath and heartbeat like this as your falling asleep as well. the only problem with this for me is that they often fall out as i roll around at night. also, istn great if you need to hear an alarm clock in the morning. i live in a share house as well and a fan near my bed is all i need.

 

[Roose]

Fan for sure. I keep it on the low setting though. I find myself focusing on the constant whirr of the fan and idk but it helps me to relax and fall asleep.

 

[sdripper]

I don't know if i read it or if i learned it on my own but a change in sound level is what wakes people ime

so, fall asleep to silence and any little noise could wake you, sounds right?

so, fall asleep to constant/loud noise and it would take much more to wake you ,

mmm, and then if your noise was taken away you could wake from that too, the level of sound changed

yes, im a dousche

 

[Cornishman]

Earplugs.
Can't sleep without them.

 

[PriestTheyCalledHim]

Earplugs.
Can't sleep without them.

I was going to suggest that. I'm also a light sleeper.

When I've lived in university dorms and in apartment buildings when at a university it was very loud and earplugs helped me sleep.

You could try exercising a lot during the day like doing cardio so that you're so tired by the time you go to bed that you have to sleep.

 

[insanit_e]

The fan idea is sounding good to me. Now that i think about it, i used to have an old crappy desktop computer in my room and its fan was so clogged up with dust that it made a really really loud fan noise, and i could definitely hear outside noise a lot less.

I don't want to use earplugs for 2 reasons: the first is so that i can ear my alarm in the morning. But the main one is that i know a few people who use earplugs to sleep and they get sort of "addicted" to them, in that they can't sleep without them after a while. Definitely wouldn't want that.

 

[Depressicaa]

The fan idea is sounding good to me. Now that i think about it, i used to have an old crappy desktop computer in my room and its fan was so clogged up with dust that it made a really really loud fan noise, and i could definitely hear outside noise a lot less.

I don't want to use earplugs for 2 reasons: the first is so that i can ear my alarm in the morning. But the main one is that i know a few people who use earplugs to sleep and they get sort of "addicted" to them, in that they can't sleep without them after a while. Definitely wouldn't want that.

Asides from sound, there are 'light alarms' They work by making the room brighter. I don't see any problem with dependence on earplugs, its the same as dependence on a car for transportation imo, except if its too tight it could cause ear infections.

 

[phactor]

Try to the fan or some other source of white noise. I'm a very light sleeper and have needed a fan for years. I am very distracted by noise. My sleeping problems were direct contributors in my substance abuse.

Doesn't matter if its negative 10 outside, that fan is blowing.

Also, back when I was in middle/grade school school my two best friends who basically lived at my house ended up sleeping with fans due to sleeping in my room so much.

 

[izzy66]

i work weird hours n often sleep during the day. i also live alone in the middle of nowhere and have dogs that bark if anything comes in the yard. whatever may go on outside, i have to deal w/ it so i totally understand being a "light sleeper" and staying asleep long enough to get real restorative sleep.
i've tried lots of things from earplugs to white noise but running or some other kind of major exercise has helped me the most.
best of luck to you.
-izzy

 

[rm-rf]

i cant sleep in silence. someone's breathing in a house next door will wake me up.

i use two pieces of ambience:

1) Air filter. Makes a very nice humming noise at a pitch that drowns out a lot of bkg sounds, but isnt very loud itself. You can switch it up with a fan or an AC.

2) Ambient sounds app on my phone: i usally sleep to ambient sounds of crickets (i grew up in a wooded mountain area)

these two combined let me sleep. only one of them and i can still wake up in the midst of sleep. neither of them and falling asleep is hard.

 

[amanda_eats_pandas]

Asides from sound, there are 'light alarms' They work by making the room brighter. I don't see any problem with dependence on earplugs, its the same as dependence on a car for transportation imo, except if its too tight it could cause ear infections.

Like everyone else my main suggestions are earplugs and a fan as well. At home my parents use the house fan to drown out noises when trying to fall asleep before everyone else. Relaxation techniques would help too.

As for the earplug dependence I know what you mean, I've unfortunately grown attached to them and can't fall asleep without them. If a clock is ticking in a room or someone is breathing too audibly I can't sleep without earplugs. It can be a problem when you find yourself spending the night unexpectedly somewhere or lose them. Hence why I keep a pair in my purse, backpack, car. My sleep is important to me lol.

 

[lola]

Yeah as others have said, you can download/buy "white noise" CDs or MP3s, you can choose between generic white noise, wind, light rain (my favourite!) etc. You can play them on repeat all night at high-ish volume to block out other sounds. I used to do it when I was working night shifts and had to sleep in the day in a really noisy house, worked a treat!