I have watched my Family Guy DVD's a million times, so I just put the DVD on play all and set my tv to turn off thirty minutes after I plan to fall asleep. This has always worked for me.

dwhicks01

I think this holds true for both music and movies. I prefer to listen to music, and I like things that go all over the place. I have fond memories of falling asleep to pink floyd albums, as I know them so well. A huge choice for sleeping music is the french band Air. really beautiful memory that has some weirdness to it, but lots of soothing melodies and songs. "Their first Moon Safari is an amazing album.

I also know for a while I would put on movies to fall asleep to. One that always knocks me out is the classic Spartacus. By the time they are in camp and singing, I'm dead to the world. But again, usually it will be music, music that I can play the melodies in my head without having it on.

dirtybacon

Oddly, the music does not need to be quiet. When I was in high-school, I used to used speed metal hard rock to blur out the sounds of the birds and playing kids outside while making homework. Very relaxing.

I can imagine though that a slightly more relaxed music is better. I have good experience with 'Ten Summoners Tales' by Sting. Wonderful music, and just quiet enough to sleep with.

Nepkarel

This is an unfortunate side-effect of familiarizing yourself too much with your music. I find that I can put a CD in and be half way through before realizing that I wasn't actually listening. =( But honestly, for sleeping, lyric-less music is much, much better. I prefer classical.

taybay

I love music. Especially older, more familiar, CD's that allow me to... "zone-out." Without having to concentrate my brain activity on new sounds or lyrics, I can appreciate a peaceful and restful segment of the day, devoted to......nothing!!!!

Michaelwon

I haven't tried this in a while but I used to tune into a basketball game on TV. All the squeak, squeak of the rubber soles on the floor just put me out. Have to beware of the commercials though. You can have the game or a movie or show at just the right volume and get blasted off the couch by the raucous commercials.

rolltimer

So basically the advise is listening to stuff that offers no new brain stimulation will put you to sleep? That's fairly well-established stuff, isn't it?

sumocat

I have lived with tinnitus (constant ringing or hissing in the ears) for just over the past 13 years. It was caused by over exposure to loud noise when I was a DJ/Producer in some Hip-Hop groups.

I've found using something that creates "white noise" works the best for me. You can create white noise by using a device such as the HoMedics SoundSpa (Summer Night, Ocean Waves, White Noise, Mountain Stream or Spring Rain).

If you don't have a SoundSpa, you could use a CD or DVD of the same sounds and have then looped and repeated. You could also use a running fan or air conditioner. You could also use a radio or TV that is "in between" stations. This works better on older, analog-type equipment, rather than newer digital equipment that "locks" onto stations that are actually producing a "live" signal.

I hope this helps others as much as it has helped me.

cpmmug

Here's an whacky idea...a dark quiet room...

dgsevier

I find I can only get to sleep with the aid of Digitally Imported's Chillout or Ambient stations, or a decent nature simulation (waterfalls or rainstorms) - Aire Freshener does the trick. Silence seems almost deafening to me when trying to sleep.

m4dm4n

Try something different! How about classical music? It's said to be relaxing, even soothing, especially Baroque (Bach, Handel, Vivaldi, and the like). For example, all the slow movements (2nd out of 3) of any given Baroque concerto ;)
With a "pulse" of around 60, your actual pulse will get slower as well - a good start to sleeping.

There's this nice anecdote about a Russion embassador who had trouble sleeping (and was ill and depressed). He had an excellent personal harpsichordist (Goldberg) and he also happened to live at the same time as the great J. S. Bach. He got him to write some "smooth and lively" music for Goldberg so that he could play that from an antechamber of the count's bedroom.

Today, of course, you just need the CD (choose whether you want the original harpsichord, or, most common in recordings, modern piano). The Goldberg Variations. Very interesting. The theme is sooo tender...

inainai

I will sleep very lightly if music is playing, even if it is very familiar. The only thing that works for me is white noise.

MonolithTMA

Just put on the Jazz channel on MusicChoice (or whatever your sleepy music type is) and night-night-city.

missdona

I do this with a block of television every day between 7 and 8pm. Fox airs Simpsons then Seinfeld. Since I have seen basically ever episode for these shows I can effectively zone out and get my 10 minute nap on.

It takes a while to get used to it if you aren't familiar with sleeping with a distraction in the background. But once you get used to it it actually speeds up your ability to get into that nap zone.

One thing I will note is that while I do actually nap, it never feels like I fell asleep. So it always seems like I can hear what is going on regardless if I'm not understanding the plot, etc. I would describe the nap feeling as a slow decent in an airplane that makes a quick climb just before it got a few feet from the ground.

The key is to actually make yourself wake up (even if it was a 10-15 minute period, it will feel like longer) and not try to 'eek out a few more minutes.' Your body will naturally adjust and you will feel very energized.

Turn the cell phone off though! It is scary to have that thing go off mid nap!

mmr

Nap? Holy crap, who has time for a nap, much less to agonize over the choice of music during said snooze?

savvy999

Just record your wife asking you to take out the garbage or mow the lawn. You'll be asleep in no time!

Deprong Mori

"new music is no good as you end up concentrating on the lyrics"

I tend to hear music as rhythm and pitch, not so much lyrics. The vocals are just different pitches to me, so I generally don't know any song titles or lyrics to songs. I know a lot of guys like me who know a ton of tunes and can hum out vocal lines and melodies (especially musicians like myself) to anything, but not know even one verse.

Having said that, however, I tend to put on the TV to go to sleep. I find that if I have something I can listen to (especially documentaries), my brain shuts down instead of running a mile a minute thinking about the previous or next day's activities.

khomel

I meant to add this to my last comment. My grandparents collect old clocks and my room at their house had at least 5 different clocks going at once with the really loud ticks so I'm still a little fond of that sound.

mlhoward516

I have played the piano since I was 4 and my teacher insisted on me using an analogue metronome (with the arm the goes back and forth with the ticks). I used to fall asleep to it, and I recently found a widget that imitates the sound fairly well and you can set the beats per measure so it gives me something to count when I can't sleep.

mlhoward516

For a similar reason I have an instrumental Zune playlist and a few instrumental Pandora stations, for when I need choons to get in the zone at work. I found that I listened to lyrics too much, even for songs I knew well, particularly where the lyrics were the focus of the song (most rap, for example). So, I made a playlist without lyrics.

krom

to study in college i HAD to have either music on in my room or complete silence at the library. nothing was more distracting that hearing someone else's tv or conversation.

but for sleep/nap..... familliar vs. non familiar music doesn't make a difference, it drones out all external distractions for me ... but i can't deal with talking.

i have found two streaming stations: friskyradio.com and groove salad @ somaFM ... excellent "rarely" vocal trance/chill stations.

fuzzymuffins

I do this with stand up comedy on a regular basis. I know all the albums by Lewis Black, Jeff Foxworthy, Bill Engvall, George Carlin, Ron White, Jerry Seinfeld, Mitch Hedberg, in and out, so I don't end up concentrating on them. Music, I concentrate on, no matter how well I know it. Stand up works for me ;)

JeffDrake

My boyfriend has never seen a full Harry Potter movie. Turn it on and within ten minutes he's out. He's really tried to stay awake but something in it just makes him pass out. Pretty funny, great for insomnia!

Foiler

Aaron Copland, rest in peace, would be horrified by this thread.

pinecone99

@inainai: yes! the goldberg variations! that's my favorite go-to-bed music!

suuuueee

The opposite is actually true for me. With music I know well, I get very into the lyrics. I always want to sing along and I have a ton of memories and thoughts associated with the music, so it keeps my brain going. With music I don't know well, I can tune out the lyrics and just let the sounds wash over me. (That's why I listen to Radio Paradise when I need to do some work -- mostly they play music that sounds nice but is unfamiliar to me. One day in the lab someone put on an all-Beatles internet radio station, and I was too busy singing along to pay attention to what I was doing.)

I find that Sigur Ros is great for falling asleep, because it's singing in an abstract, made-up language over long, slow, dreamy soundscapes.

snowmentality

But my old favorites are on vinyl!

MissCellania

Nothing puts me to sleep faster and more reliably than a baseball game on TV. The leisurely pace of the game, the insipid drone of those announcers...

wordwhiz