Mind games to help you fall asleep

Your only aim is to land the ball on the tile or the game ends. I loved playing this game with EDM tracks but it works surprisingly well with idyllic music too. This next game may not be the one with the best graphics but it certainly has good music.

SpinTree is a low poly game where you have to grow a tree by tapping on the energy stars. Your Tree has a circling ball that continues to revolve around it and you have to capture the star by tapping the screen as they come closest. This simple gameplay paired with forest sounds and guitar notes makes it a peaceful experience.

This last app, Stack has very simple gameplay, you have to stack blocks to create the highest tower. The blocks should match the block below or the leftover part gets broken off and make the game more difficult.

Play Stack Android iOS. Harmony is a puzzle game where you create symmetric patterns and harmonic notes. The objective is to solve a puzzle where you have to form a mirror image of a pattern. The taps produce a musical note which fits well with the title. Play Harmony Android iOS. Okay, This is the most interesting game in this list. Your aim is to beat the levels where you have to make the ball touch every white item.

Each item has its unique musical note and when you aim the ball correctly, it plays a tune as it hits the tiles. The levels are designed by the users and you can create your own level. There are levels and the new levels keep adding. Play Okay? Android iOS. VOI is another Puzzle game in the list which pairs calm music with minimalistic gameplay.

Your aim is to create the pattern shown in the above circle with pieces below. I usually don't get too far until I'm drifting off. How is it that nobody has mentioned thinking through a ribald sexual encounter yet? Not a mind game but it stops me thinking about stuff. SETI lectures, the universe episodes, astronomy cast. I used to speculate about the atoms that are currently in my body, and imagine what they've been doing since they were formed. Before they were me. This is fun and soothing to do even if, like me, you're no expert on the actual formation of the universe and its constituent doohickeys.

I write holodeck programs, because I'm a giant nerd. Also, if you listen to the same guided meditation track frequently, and train your body to relax to it on cue, it'll put you right out.

There are even sleep-oriented ones. I imagine taking public transportation in a new city, and what stuff looks like or is made of. Questions include: Do the stations have stairs, elevators, escalators and what do they look like? What is the seat arrangement in the train? Are the seats plastic or metal or? Is the fare card a swipe card or proximity card?

What's the currency look like and how do I buy one? How do the fare gates open and what do they look like? Do I need my card to get out at the end of the trip? Where is the map in the train car and what does it look like?

Do the lines have names? What's the flooring material of the station and train car? Are there dings or beeps to announce stations? What's the signage like? You start with any word with four letters, and then you replace one letter, to form a new word. You should do it as quickly as you can think of it. The letter you replace can come from anywhere in the word.

You keep going as long as you can, replacing letters to form new words Just in case it wasn't clear, I'll give you an example. When I was a kid I used to imagine myself falling down a long, dark tunnel toward a distant spot of light. Then I got older and found out that's what people say they see when they're dying, which made it kind of creepy. But it still works for me. I imagine a wave crashing on the beach. When does the foam crest?

What's the shape of the wave? I imagine a droplet within the wave and track its movements. Then the wave hits the shore, slips under, and I imagine another wave. How is that one different? Also, if I'm in the horrid 'oh god it is x already why am I awake I need to be up in y hours' I will try to distract myself from being anxious by making myself calculate the time by different percentages or units of measure - how many cakes I could bake, how many episodes of community I could watch, how far I could bike.

A lot of people say that this would make them even more anxious, but I don't know, it makes it abstract enough that it works for me. I count up to , but I have to imagine each number in 3D, each from a different media. So 1 might be shiny pink granite speckled with gray, and I visualize it. I usually cycle back through the pretty rocks and minerals pretty often, but also fall asleep pretty quickly. It's usually just the groundwork for the scenario. I am the opposite of claustrophobic - I actually have crowd anxiety and worked myself through a period of agoraphobia years ago, and being while trapped is terrifying I find small spaces very comforting.

A lot of people seem to have the opposite issue, so YMMV. Also, I'm a horndog. I imagine the period-correct decor and details as I sink into my luxurious bed. The rocking of my wagon lulls me to sleep as we travel overnight to our next town.

Shout out to anyone who misses the show Carnivale. I was designed to not need to eat or poop and there is a button in my box that is very much like a morphine drip except it's a drug specifically designed for clones that is non-addictive and has no side effects. I imagine books or essays I would like to write but, crucially, have nothing to do with the writing or work I actually do. That is, I am an economist but imagine history or science fiction books I would write.

Not winning points on imagination here, but I have had a lot of success with focusing just on my breathing. Deep breath in belly should be big We used to go to this ice cream parlor when I was a kid. They serve a sundae there called the "Dare to Be Great" that's made with, like, every flavor on the menu. Sometimes I imagine a giant ice cream sundae, and name all the different flavors it would have.

I imagine climbing the endless winding stairs of a solitary lighthouse. I've never yet reached the top, but that's part of the design I suppose. Ursula Hitler's method also works well for me. I used to try to plan what to wear the next day, by mentally flipping through my closet. Until I realized it put me to sleep everytime, before I could make a plan.

Seriously, it took me a while before I noticed this was not an effective way to save time in the morning So now, I call it putting myself to sleep by trying to remember what is hanging in the closet. I often put myself into scenes from TV shows or movies where I have a huge crush on a character.

I always fall asleep before the inevitable sexy times happen haha. If there is any possibility at all that what's keeping me awake might be discomfort just below my threshold of noticing, I take some ibuprofen and do some stretches before I do all those mental exercises.

Bonus add-on trick: When sleeping, your eyes are rolled right up into your eye sockets, but in a relaxed way. I deliberately roll my eyes up and to the left while relaxing into sleep and 'day' dreaming.

It seems to trigger my brain into proper dreaming, same way as smiling is associated with being happy. Fake it til you make it! Sleep Disorders. Healthy Sleep. Nutrition and Sleep. Home » Education. Whether you do or don't have your smartphone at hand, there are excellent games to try out next time you can't sleep.

By Christian Flapton Christian Flapton. A full-time physician, medical writer, editor, and internet entrepreneur. Read full bio on Christian's personal site.

Includes well-known professionals, who together provide decades of sleep medicine experience that enables Talk About Sleep to fulfill its mission of creating access to high-quality sleep information, education, and support. Last updated: December 09, Talk About Sleep is reader-supported.

We may earn a commission through products purchased using links on this page. Learn more about our process here. In a published paper on the subject, Beaudoin argued that his technique is effective because since our brains are wired to make sense of everything, we cannot fall asleep without having to dwell upon and analyze everything.

This is why cognitive shuffling acts as a mental distraction when we need to help ourselves relax. Chamomile tea is known to be one of the widely used teas as it acts as a sedative and sleep aid conventionally consumed in various parts of Iran. It is known to be full of antioxidants and promotes calmness as well as reducing anxiety.

The extract improves daily performance as well as the quality of slumber for older adults. References 1. The effectiveness of melatonin for promoting healthy sleep: a rapid evidence assessment of the literature.

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