A Journey From A Hopeless Insomniac to Sleeping Like A Baby | How I Sleep in Less Than 10 Minutes

Having a good sleep is essential for our physical and mental well-being to function properly and take on our responsibilities in our waking life. For so many years now, I have been having an irregular sleeping schedule, and that's due to being an insomniac. I haven't had myself diagnosed but pretty sure you are one if you lay on your bed before midnight but still can't feel sleepiness hitting you after many hours. The sun is already rising yet your still there struggling to fall asleep.

I envy people who lie on the bed and snore after 10 seconds, you know. Or those who can sleep in the vehicle, more so in public transportation. Do you use some sort of magic or whatever?

And so on my quest for an antidote for my worsening insomniac body, I resorted to a few stuff in hopes to fall asleep faster. And when I meant 'stuff', I don't mean those illegal substances. Lol.

I started by listening to nature sounds on Youtube. There are tons of it with some lasting for 8 hours or more. My preferred nature sound to listen to is rain with occasional and subtle thunder sound at the background. For some variation, I also listen to binaural beats and Tibetan singing bowls. What I love with binaural beats and singing bowls were the tingling sensations you feel in your brain. It's so relaxing. Oh, the sound of the rain hitting the roof is also tickling to the mind. Try it! These audios had helped me fall asleep after an our or two but they are still a hit and miss. It still didn't help me sleep most of the time. Then I tried turning off the lights, still didn't fix my insomnia.

December of 2020, I bought a Himalayan Salt Lamp because of the claims that it keeps you away from allergies, cleans the air, helps reduce anxiety, improves mental clarity, and most of all, helps you have a good sleep. You think this solved my problem? Nope. Well, it did for like three days but it was just a false hope, sadly.

I was frustrated more than ever and nearly accepted my fate that this is how it's going to be for the rest of my life.

Until June 2021, I decided to purchase a sleep mask online. It's not just an ordinary sleep mask fyi, but a cute owl sleep mask. I am trying to recall right now as of writing this post on how I got interested with sleep masks. I guess it all started when I went to a Miniso store and saw plenty of it in cute designs.

This one I bought has a pocket inside where a gel pack is already included. You can choose to cool or warm the pack according to your preference. I like mine to be as cold as ice so I put it in the fridge 10 minutes before I go to bed as indicated on its packaging.

My eyes felt numb the first time I used it and I was a bit scared having my eyes covered while sleeping because I tend to have sleep paralysis too. What if I have an episode and the sleep paralysis demon comes at me while my eyes are covered? That would be very traumatic. Lol. However, daaang no joke I was able to fall asleep within 5 minutes on my first try of wearing a sleep mask. Aside from that, I felt really good when I woke up.

Since then, I no longer had problems sleeping quick. As soon as I take out the gel pack from the fridge, I go straight to my bed and wear the mask. My trick with the mask is to focus your sensations to the coldness of the mask to your eyes. Notice how refreshing and relaxing the coldness feels into your eyes and in just a few minutes, you'll start to feel sleepy.

Now I have somewhat have an idea on what's causing me to lose my precious sleeping time. I'm probably overexposed to blue light of gadgets and just generally sensitive to light, so covering my eyes had helped, plus, the cool sensation was very helpful to make me feel relaxed.

This sleep mask has been my best sleeping item and forever will be. I specifically chose this owl design because the popping eyes look hilarious and they also serve like a knob when I adjust the mask or remove it.

One downside with gel packs though is that they wear off after a couple of months. It would take more time before it cools and also looses its coldness quick after taking it out from the fridge. I am planning to purchase and replace my gel pack someday.

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So, do I recommend a sleep mask for people having trouble sleeping? A big big YES!

This tiny item was a great help for my sleep. Well, I still have an irregular sleeping time but falling asleep fast is no longer much of a problem now.

I've spent over a thousand Peso for a lamp not knowing that the only solution to my problem was only 119 Pesos. Buying it was my best decision in 2021. :)