[Solid Snake]

It's weird how different people have different triggers for sleep; I tried RPG's ASMR videos and boy, that technique does not work for me at all. The first video actually nearly did make me sleepy until the person running his imaginary poker game placed coins into some container (apparently everyone's 'wagers'), completely waking me back up because the awful sound of coins clanking against stuff is an instant wake-up trigger for me. The second video was disastrous as I actually found myself engaged in criticizing the person's drawing as he progressed. The third video had me engrossed enough in listening to her sleeping tips (as generic as they were), agreeing and disagreeing at various intervals, which had the opposite of the intended effect.

For me personally, I need complete silence -- complete silence -- and complete darkness as well in order to sleep. Even the slightest noises can distract me, let alone conversations or dialogue, which immediately demand some sort of mental engagement from me. The bad news is that, as a light sleeper, even comparatively light sounds from my roommate can wake me from a slumber. The good news is, so long as it's silent and dark, I can sleep anywhere, and get eight hours easy. Sometimes even more than eight hours. I like sleep a bit more than I probably should.

I did, however, suffer from nearly month-long bouts of insomnia triggered by the insane stress of cramming for law school finals two consecutive winters in 2009 and 2010. (Probably posted about it here. It was a miserable time for me.) My mind was working at a hundred miles a minute and I couldn't find a way to shut it off. I had very similar problems -- couldn't eat anything, lost weight (and I don't exactly have much extra weight to lose), perpetually exhausted but couldn't fall asleep for more than two or three hours at a time.

One thing that helped me: Scented candles. While I require darkness -- so much so that I'd even place the candle in such a way that the candlelight was obscured from my vision as I attempted to sleep -- I found that the smell of certain scents (vanilla and pumpkin, as well as candles that emulated the smell of rain or thunderstorms) really made me sleepy. I think a part of my brain subconsciously associates rain with sleep? I can't explain it otherwise.

In the absence of complete silence, white noise machines are also phenomenal in masking sounds and faking your brain into believing it's silent. I now have two white noise machines and run 'em constantly, I think by now my mind associates the sound of white noise machines with sleeping as even listening to it in the middle of the day will make me tired.

Another tip: Engage in sex or masturbation before bed! No, seriously. Orgasms release hormones like vasopressin and prolactin naturally in your body, which is better than taking artificial pills to emulate the same effect, and the released hormones relax you, reduces anxiety levels and makes you sleepy naturally. While the effect is more pronounced in men (hence all the jokes about men falling asleep automatically after orgasming), women experience it too.

Finally, I sleep with a few stuffed animals. (Yes, even at my age.) They're cuddly and soft and hugging them often has a certain therapeutic value, but beyond that, I also think they help me sleep. I haven't read anything that confirms why or how that'd be the case, but it is something I do believe, as on a few trips when I haven't had them with me, I've found it more difficult to sleep. Unless I have my family's dog around -- she seems to have an effect equal to stuffed animals in the sleeping department. I don't know if it'd work for everyone, but as someone who loves dogs, I enjoy having them with me on the bed as I'm sleepin' -- on top of the covers, of course, get your filthy minds outta the gutter. They're cute and cuddly and loyal and noble protectors and also a great source of stress relief in general.

I can't wait until I own my own dog...this thread is about dogs, right? Every thread should be about dogs. Dogs are the best.