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I’m autistic and I’m the same but for me it’s less about going a minute without stimulation, more about not wanting to be alone with my thoughts because they’re constant and horrible at best.
Without my tv and pc always on around me (and weed) I don’t think I could sleep at all (pc to scroll/read till my eyes get sleepy, and tv to give my brain external conversation to focus on rather than the one going on in my brain). Even then it’s a struggle, but I’m still 100% more likely to get some sleep with these things on, than I am without (I don’t consider crying for several hours in either frustration or deep despair until my eyes can’t stay open anymore a good enough alternative ¯\(ツ)/¯).
I find listening to (already listened to—this part is important) stuff is like a sleeping pill. Rip YouTube videos and put just the audio on your phone. Play it at bed time—I use earbuds and throw it under my pillow.
Right now, I’m listening to Kings & Generals and Operations Room audio. In the past, I’ve done Futurama audio.
The sweet sweet, soothing voice of Robert Stack on “Unsolved Mysteries”. I’ve seen damn near every episode, so it’s become like a “comfort food”… puts me to sleep almost everytime
This is exactly a trick of mine. It has to be already listened to, so that it’s a more passive listening experience.
Sometimes it also helps if the content of the audio does not clue me in to how far through the video I am. That’s just one less “I’m not falling asleep fast enough” indicator to keep me awake longer.
I’ve taken to listening to the Cobalt Core soundtrack, I never remember getting very far so I guess it works.
A while ago, I read something about how back in the day, people would spend half of their evenings “thinking about sleep” and not really doing anything, talking about it like wasted time when you could be doing more fulfulling things. So it’s weird to me to hear that people are recommending two whole hours of this.
As someone who doesn’t have ADHD, here’s what works for me*: No heavy metal or intense video gaming right before bed. I usually just take one final scroll through the front page of Lemmy before I go to bed. And I leave my phone at my desk - that part seems more important. Studies have found it’s harder to fall asleep while looking at a screen. I learned this a while ago and thought it was a no-brainer, then was surprised over the years to learn how many people are literally scrolling through their phones while they’re trying to sleep. If you can give that up*, you’ll fall asleep easier, and if your phone is out of arm’s reach of your bed, your alarm clock will be much more effective in the morning.
*I can’t even guess how easy this would be to pull off with ADHD. Maybe it’s about as easy as it is for anyone else (which may not be all that easy tbf,) maybe it’s borderline impossible. If it’s the latter, sorry, I don’t have any ADHD-specific advice.
The sleep thing highlights how little we know about the brain. We have no treatment whatsoever which can safely induce sleep. This cliché advice, which is meant exclusively for acute insomnia of those who typically don’t experience it, is the cutting edge of sleep medicine. Humanity and the most advanced scientific research currently available is totally ignorant of everything not covered by these tips.
When I finally accepted that I have absolutely no control whatsoever of my sleep latency and there is currently nothing in all of medicine that can be done about it, my nights became a lot less stressful and a lot more enjoyable.
Weirdly, I can spend hours meditating. But meditating before sleep? Impossible. If I can’t have Netflix, I require music
Yeah bro not gonna happen. 2 hours is 2 entire hours and I have things I care about to do.
I thought reading is actually often recommended though instead of all those other activities. Knitting too. Relaxing things like that.
It might be a specific “stay alert” trigger for some, but not generally.
The thing about ADHD is that it is going to include a large portion of those “not generally” covered by that common trait by definition.
I guess it’s one of those “on a spectrum” things — for me, an ADHD person, reading before bed works.
It’s just other things mentioned in the post, like movies, games, are stimulating and not recommended before sleep even for neurotypicals, and even they still can’t live without screens before bed, that was my point.
I fall asleep super easy if I am watching stuff in VR. The trick appears to be to completely immerse yourself with stimulation until your brain shuts down.