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jimt1234 | on: I found a backdoor into my bed
> For someone who suffers from insomnia this seemed worth a shot.

I can relate, having suffered the same for most of my life. One thing that really helped me was a simple white noise machine, typically used to help babies sleep. Good: I sleep great with it. Also, it's not connected to the internet and doesn't require an app. Bad: I basically can't sleep without it. I have to travel with it (camping!). I even purchased a backup in case the primary fails, which has happened.

The other major sleep improvement was putting effort into accepting that life is pretty great; all of my worries that kept me awake at night were overblown. This took actual work, but it paid off.

Anyway, just thought I'd pass that along, hoping it might help someone else that struggles with sleep.

https://www.amazon.com/Yogasleep-Portable-Soothing-Rechargea...

adiabatty | parent | next
If you’d rather not buy another gizmo for a function your phone has likely gobbled up already…

iOS, iPadOS, and macOS have a pretty great built-in background-noise generator these days. While lots of actual beaches can go dead silent and then have a loud wave crash in, the waves that

It’s available in Settings -> Accessibility -> Audio & Visual -> Background Sounds. You’ll have to download the sounds each once, but after that they stay on your device.

Digging this deeply in Settings isn’t pleasant if you just want some white noise, so you may want to add a control to Control Center like “Background Sounds” (way down in the Hearing Accessibility section) to turn the ocean noise on and off.

I turn this on my iPad when going to bed if I want to take extra steps to ensure that I don’t wake up in the middle of the night.

geoelectric | root | parent | next
You can also assign it to the triple click shortcut in Accessibility. You probably can to the double/triple back taps too, though I haven’t tried.

I do use a standalone Lectrofan for sleep as I prefer my noise machine to be across the room and Alexa-controlled (via a smart switch), plus it’s louder and the brown noise is “browner.”

But I keep iOS BG sound mapped to the triple-click shortcut for when noise-cancelling just isn’t enough in loud restaurants etc. It works great with AirPods for reducing my noise sensitivity issues.

| root | parent | next
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walthamstow | root | parent | next
I tried it but I don't want my phone near the bed or even in the room. A simple, standalone machine is perfect. Same thing with my 2002 Sony Dream Machine alarm clock.

If you're trying to get better sleep, get your phone as far away as possible!

knodi123 | root | parent | next
:facepalm:

I can't believe I had to download an app for that because the feature is buried in SETTINGS (!!!!). What an obtuse choice. Thanks for the tip though, I hate that my white noise app has a rotating ad banner.

brundolf | root | parent | next
It's been life-changing when combined with my AirPods Pro. ANC deadens most sound, but acute sounds still get through. Adding background noise on top of it can usually cover the rest. And they have both bright and dark noise, to cover different frequencies of environmental sounds
croisillon | root | parent
just tried it, that's cool, but in what circumstances "should" i use it?
10729287 | root | parent
I find it pretty useful at work when I want to focus and can't with music.
loading story #43139670
rpozarickij | parent | next
I use an air filter for that. I have a Levoit Vital 200S and it allows to set up an automatic filter power schedule so I don't have to think about that when going to bed. Mine switches to the white noise mode at 9:30pm and then back to the silent mode at 8:00am (I usually wake up much earlier than that, but hearing the air filter sound change also tells that it's 8:00am without looking at a clock).
flanbiscuit | parent | next
I also need white noise to sleep.

At home I have a simple one that plugs in and generates noise with fan. Looks almost exactly like this: https://res.cloudinary.com/guest-supply/image/upload/f_auto,...

When I travel I take this small portable rechargeable one: https://www.amazon.com/Machine-Babelio-Adults-Non-looping-So...

I'm on android so I don't have the built in sounds that iOS has

vlachen | root | parent | next
I use the mynoise.net android app. They changed it a few years ago, not for the better, but it is still servicable.

https://mynoise.net/

specialist | parent | next
Me too. Tried all the things. No improvement.

Turns out most of my anxiety, insomnia, etc sensations were caused by pinched spinal nerves.

I say sensation because I believe, but cannot prove, that my physical sensation led to my mental state. Most diagnosis assume the reverse; that mental state leads to physical symptoms (restlessness, clinching, pit-in-stomach, whatever). I have not yet read anything or met anyone (care providers) supporting my hunch.

So... Anyone experiencing treatment resistent pinched nerves, eg sciatica pain, may want to consider possible physical causes.

In my case, it was collapsing vertebrae due to osteoporosis resolved with a S1-L5-L4 lumbar fusion. Yes, that surgery and recovery was very difficult. The upside is I now often sleep like a corpse. It's glorious.

YMMV.

lifthrasiir | parent | next
I had insomnia for over a decade and all it took to fix that was just weeks of sleep inducer followed by regular melatoin takes. I assumed it will take some gizmos to do that, but apparently it wasn't. Once you could lock your sleep into the daily pattern---something I could never done by myself for a very long time though, hence sleep inducer---then securing it turns out to be much simpler. Consult your psychiatrist first, of course.
theonething | root | parent
by sleep inducer, you mean sleeping pills? Which one in particular?
ddalex | parent | next
Have you tried taking magnesium before bed time?
m463 | parent | next
I just use 3m ear classic 33 NRR earplugs. they're the best.
mihaaly | parent | next
White noise machine: FM radio tuned to an empty frequency.

Very low tech, very cheap, very secure, very effective.

rufus_foreman | parent | next
I have two white noise machines, have them in stereo, one on each side of the bed. It's useful to be able to adjust them separately, I've got tinnitus in one ear more than the other so don't need it to be as loud on that side.

As I get older, deafness will likely reduce my need to rely on technology.

walthamstow | root | parent
This is such a great idea. I got a machine for my side of the bed, but my wife can barely hear it (which is more annoying than hearing it), and if I turn it up it's too loud for me.

Stereo - genius!

idiotsecant | parent | next
For the price of a white noise machine you can buy a 10A squirrel cage blower, some mdf to make a box out of, a contactor, and a smart plug and have a white noise machine that filters your air, turns on and off from your phone, and also makes white noise. It can also act as a table to put your phone on and a charge point.

I had the two problems of poor sleep without white noise and a dog allergy and now I have neither.

alwa | root | parent
Throw a high-grade air filter over the intake and you’ve got an air purifier, too!
7bit | root | parent
The possibilities are endless. Using some parts of a fridge and a kitchen maker and you can also add an ice cream maker ! Never stop imagining!
nurettin | parent | next
Don't you get permanent tinnitus from this?
catlikesshrimp | parent
I approached this the brutish way: I downloaded hours of white noise as a sound file (mp3) and just use VLC to play it. Any smartphone - no internet.

I used wireless headphones back then. My choice of "white noise" was popcorn in a microwave (because the neighborhood was that noisy)