Tips for light sleeping?

[axolotl]

I'm sat here at the moment with a minor but painful ear infection, which was always on the cards because I'm a light sleeper and for the last couple of years have used silicon earplugs almost every night. So this is something I'm keen to stop doing.

Most of the tips out there for light sleeping are about white noise and plugging your ears up, but I was wondering if there are any tips to stop being a light sleeper in the first place? A lot of it is I am genuinely woken up easily, but a lot is also anxiety - it's not always that I'm kept awake by parties up the street, or next door's baby crying, or the local foxes yapping in the garden, or whatever, but kept also awake by the worry that a party up the street will kick off, or next door's baby will start crying, or the foxes will start yapping, etc...

So what I'm asking really is has anyone got any tips to make me a heavier sleeper, rather than pandering to the "fact" I'm a light sleeper and trying to cancel noise?

[Hollow]

Hi,

I have been having the same problem for the past few months, too much light sleep and waking up several times during the night.

currently working on improving my sleep hygiene although it hasn't made much difference yet,i also think a lot of it is due to anxiety. You can try some herbal teas that might help you relax and sleep deeper.

[jamiebythesea]

I mentioned this elsewhere on here, but I was having the same problems, then in desperation I bought this 'Avantek sleep machine' from amazon... wasn't hopeful as I had tried most things to improve my sleep, and it really has improved the length of time I sleep now.
Just select what noise you want, from white noise to nature sounds, set the volume and the timer for say 1 hour and it will play then fade away and switch itself off at the set time.
Has really worked for me. The only thing that has apart from sleeping tabs.

[Buster70]

Hi , if you have a smart phone there are a lot of sleep apps that have helped me at times , there are also apps with background noise like rain , storms , sea sounds , they do help slow down your mind and distract you from other noises , may help , take care .

[Fishmanpa]

I'm sat here at the moment with a minor but painful ear infection, which was always on the cards because I'm a light sleeper and for the last couple of years have used silicon earplugs almost every night. So this is something I'm keen to stop doing.

Most of the tips out there for light sleeping are about white noise and plugging your ears up, but I was wondering if there are any tips to stop being a light sleeper in the first place? A lot of it is I am genuinely woken up easily, but a lot is also anxiety - it's not always that I'm kept awake by parties up the street, or next door's baby crying, or the local foxes yapping in the garden, or whatever, but kept also awake by the worry that a party up the street will kick off, or next door's baby will start crying, or the foxes will start yapping, etc...

So what I'm asking really is has anyone got any tips to make me a heavier sleeper, rather than pandering to the "fact" I'm a light sleeper and trying to cancel noise?

Other than drugs and I don't recommend that, I don't know about becoming a heavier sleeper. I always thought you are or your not depending on a few factors. I use noise canceling ear plugs and they work wonders. No more dreaming that my car is breaking down or amp is going on the fritz only to wake up and realize the noise is my wife snoring. No more dreaming I'm in the woods because the birds are chirping outside.

Positive thoughts and sweet dreams

[MyNameIsTerry]

When my anxiety was at the worst stages I had issues with insomnia and being woken by noise. What really got me past this in the end was because my sleep pattern became later I was forced to sleep at noisy times. We had road works going on and I learned to sleep through it. The same with the bright sunlight.

It's not very helpful but for me it was about reducing anxiety. Typical of any issue with insomnia really, the more you worry about it the more it bothers you. Learning not to care really helps with stuff like this. If it wakes you up, so what, you go back to sleep or catch up the night after. It can feel damn hard at the time though as we put so much emphasis on needing sleep and feeling rough the next day. Learning to go without helped me get through that too, I became desensitised to it.

I have found an eye mask helps with the light issue. I could never use the ear plugs as they were felt too uncomfortable so would just keep me awake.

[Hollow]

It's not very helpful but for me it was about reducing anxiety. Typical of any issue with insomnia really, the more you worry about it the more it bothers you. Learning not to care really helps with stuff like this. If it wakes you up, so what, you go back to sleep or catch up the night after. It can feel damn hard at the time though as we put so much emphasis on needing sleep and feeling rough the next day. Learning to go without helped me get through that too, I became desensitised to it.

Hi,

This is very true when you worry less you are more likely to get back to sleep. Mindfulness also helps me with going back to sleep after waking up, just concentrating on the breathing when the mind starts worrying definitely helps.