How long does it take you to fall asleep at night?

[Disgustipated]

I don't consider myself an insomniac, I'm far from it. But most of my life I'd have trouble falling asleep. Although I work nights now, and it's a little easier. But even then sometimes I don't get tired if I'm doing something fun like playing computer games or with my gf. Sometimes it would be worse than others, and I'd be up half the night trying to fall asleep. Lately it's been good. But even good for me is still at least 15 minutes.

For the purposes of the poll we'll say it's when you lay down in bed, close your eyes, and make up your mind to go to sleep (I put this last clause in there just for people who watch tv in bed). On average, how many minutes/hours does it take?

I won't include this in the poll, but feel free to discuss in the thread what sort of activities you might do in bed (not those kinds of activities, keep this family friendly) before going to sleep. In the Navy I used to listen to my headphones/CD player (back before MP3's were available). Then I went through a phase where I'd fall asleep to the TV. But now I can't stand having the TV on, it's distracting. I need to fall asleep to near pitch blackness, and very little sound (other than my fan and air purifier).

I make this poll because I'm curious. I have heard things in popular media about how fasts normal people fall asleep, and I envy them. . I voted 20 to 30 minutes. But sometimes it can be hours for me. And god forbid I'm in a hotel room.

 

[shadowplay]

I fall asleep quite quickly if I have the TV on. Without some kind of noise in my head, it takes me over an hour to fall asleep, because my mind becomes too active.

 

[Silurian]

Well it depends if the bedroom door is closed or not.

It also depends where I am, home is better; how tired; not to hot or cold; if I have been to the pub; my state of mind (no comments) etc.

A couple of years ago my wife was flying back to Macedonia at 0600 in the morning from Heathrow. I was working away in London so met her at about 2200 off the coach from Devon. She did not want to get a room so we had some thing to eat and drink and hung around the airport for awile. At about 0100 I went to sleep on the floor of the airport and slept for a few hours whilst she read magazines. She said I went to sleep quite quickly and started snorring which got a few looks by the other people walking around.

 

[emzie]

Somewhere between 45 and 75 minutes.

 

[Cutlass]

Usually 1-2 hours. I don't fall asleep easy. Unless napping on the couch. Then I fall asleep easier, but rarely stay asleep more than 1/2 an hour at a time.

 

[Ajidica]

Generally 15-20 minutes depending on how tired I am. That might be because I tend to stay up late and only get around 7-8 hours of sleep, even on weekends.

 

[Zelig]

Under 5 minutes.

I get 1 hour+ of strenuous exercise per day, don't intake any caffeine after noon, and get up at 6am every day.

 

[The_J]

I have totally no idea, but voted 5 - 10 minutes, because it can't be long, else I'd have at least a rough idea.
Just don't get enough sleep (...I don't think that's even possible), else that might look different .

 

[Joecoolyo]

Varies wildly.

Also no idea since my clock is annoyingly bright, so I face it away from me when I go to bed.

 

[Zack]

Varies wildly.

Yeah, this.

EDIT:

If I read before I go to bed, once I put the book down I usually go straight to sleep (and I'll often put the book down because I'm falling asleep). On the other hand, if I'm thinking about something, it'll take awhile.

 

[Integral]

Anywhere from half an hour to ninety minutes. Depends on how much I have rattling around in my head.

 

[Save_Ferris]

For me, 7 AM to 10 PM is trying to sleep.

 

[Tee Kay]

For me, 7 AM to 10 PM is trying to sleep.

This.

And when I'm actually trying to sleep, between half an hour to 2 hours, occasionally 2.5.

 

[Pacioli]

Generally 5-10 minutes. I count myself as one of the lucky ones.

 

[Ajidica]

What is wrong with you people? Taking over an hour to fall asleep is a rarity for me.

 

[sophie]

There have only been a few times where I've truly had trouble falling asleep, and those were because of anticipation of the next day and I'd have a billion thoughts rattling around in my head. Otherwise I've never had a problem falling asleep; it rarely takes me more than 5 minutes to get to sleep.

 

[FriendlyFire]

This.

And when I'm actually trying to sleep, between half an hour to 2 hours, occasionally 2.5.

Maybe get one of those breathing machines that Mobboss uses ?

 

[madviking]

10 minutes on average.

 

[Kennigit]

varies wildly.

when I have a good schedule, maybe 15-20 minutes average. Right now I'm not on a set schedule so I just go to bed when I'm really tired and thus fall asleep instantly.

 

[Quintillus]

For me, 7 AM to 10 PM is trying to sleep.

Less than 10 minutes. There are occasionally nights when I'm too distracted by thought to fall asleep quickly, but those have been quite rare lately, and when they do happen, I usually do something else before trying to sleep - get something to eat, surf the Internet, read something, play Civ, maybe take a walk. After that I can usually get to sleep quickly. But that also disqualifies those nights from the poll question, since I make up my mind to stay up later in most of those cases. So of what's left, < 5 minutes on average. If it's more than that, I don't remember it.

I do prefer having a quiet room, though I'll take white noise such as a fan over an alternative that is usually silent but occasionally non-silent, as that might wake me up. Darkness isn't as important. Not being in direct sunlight is preferable, of course, but I'm pretty good at sleeping during the day, and prefer 6 PM to 6 AM night shifts with daytime sleeping to 6 AM to 6 PM day shifts with way too early of wake-up times.