Solitaire. After a few games I’m out like a light.

I put on a Playlist of DCAU animated series. Batman: The Animated Series through Justice League Unlimited. I’ve seen them all a million times and it’s something that lets my ADHD brain rest. You’d be surprised st how much of those shows are orchestral soundtrack withiut dialog.

I do visualisation techniques. Mostly, I’m on a soft picnic blanket on a hill with long grass blowing gently with a mild breeze on a warm day. I can smell nearby flowers and I can hear a nearby brook bubbling over little rocks. I focus on the sounds, smells and visuals, and overall sense of peacefulness till my brain drowns out whatever is stressing me out and keeping me awake.

I lay completely still. Properly, completely still. I focus all my energy on not moving a single muscle besides what I need to breathe.

Then, while doing that, I try to conjure up elaborate fantasy scenes in my mind.

9 times out of 10 I’m gone within five minutes.

Read or take a dose of melatonin.

Reading books or playing video games. If I have the energy then also working on projects.

If I still have 8+ hours time I’ll throw in a Zopiclon, otherwise I’ll give up eventually and watch Youtube until the alarm goes off.

Count from 1 to 10, then 10 to 1. With each number, relax your body a little more. When the mind strays, bring it back to counting. Repeat until unconscious.

If that isn’t working at all, get up, go to another room, play soft music at low volume on headphones, and depending on the circumstances read a book, jot stuff down, or just contemplate stuff. Chill until sleepy, then either go back to bed or just curl up where you are.

I can usually sleep at night, but if I didn’t use my phone I would probably draw or play the keyboard (with headphones connected) for a while, then I would stop and try to sleep again.

I take a random number around 800 and start to count backwards in increments of 7. It’s kind of tedious and drowns out my other thoughts. I don’t think I’ve ever made it to zero :)

Of course you should use bigger numbers if your math skills are better.

Coom to weird porn for an hour and feel like shit afterwards, then take melatonin.

I try to name unconnected things until I’m interrupted by a different thought, then when I realize I’ve gone off I play the unconnected naming game again. Doesn’t matter if there is a connection. Apparently this disorganized thinking is similar to sleep thoughts and can help get your brain in the mood for sleeping.

Example: sheep, glass, shelf, sock, alien, whisker, etc

I read a book. It’s quiet, it’s restful, it often helps me get back to sleep but even if it doesn’t it’s still relaxing and worthwhile.

I listen to audiobooks I’ve already listened to so that they don’t take much effort to keep up with while still being more interesting than laying there motionless with nothing to do.

I mean, I know it’s entirely opposite to the accepted advice…but when I can’t sleep, I actually find it helpful to go on my phone.

Scrolling social media doesn’t help though. What helps is putting on long form videos on YouTube that aren’t overly engaging. It helps if you’ve seen them before too. If my thoughts are racing, having something else to focus on (but not too focused) helps a ton.

Sitting in the dark without a mild stimulus doesn’t help, despite what the common advice given seems to be.

I know you said you can’t have sound, but what about headphones?