I suffer crippling insomnia. Recommend me a movie/show

[Bhazor]

So for years I've struggled with insomnia not being able to sleep until 4am then nodding off at 2pm or lunch. I've tried many non prescription treatments (exercise, hot milk, changing diet) but the only thing that consistently seems to work is watching TV in bed. Anyone have any recommendations for pretty, slow, long, soothing films without any pesky noises or exciting nudity?

A few I've found successfully tranquilizing: any Attenborough documentary, Pillow Book, Kurosawa's Ran, A Matter of Life and Death.

[Darth Geek]

Starfighters

[Relaxing Dragon]

Honestly, going with the classics sometimes works wonders.

I need to be pretty charged to stay totally alert through 2001: A Space Odyssey as it is. If you're trying to sleep, though, it's a surefire winner (although one that possibly guarantees some very strange dreams).

[losingmydignity]

So for years I've struggled with insomnia not being able to sleep until 4am then nodding off at 2pm or lunch. I've tried many non prescription treatments (exercise, hot milk, changing diet) but the only thing that consistently seems to work is watching TV in bed. Anyone have any recommendations for pretty, slow, long, soothing films without any pesky noises or exciting nudity?

A few I've found successfully tranquilizing: any Attenborough documentary, Pillow Book, Kurosawa's Ran, A Matter of Life and Death.

Not to play doctor, but what you have might not actually be insomia, but Delayed-sleep-phase-syndrome (Night Owlism). I have it myself. I thought of this because for some reason 4am is the magic hour for  people with DSPS. I'd at least do a google search and talk with a sleep doctor about it.

Have you seen any of Robert Bresson's films? Or Tarkovsky's?

[WhackyWookiee]

MST/RiffTrax is always good to fall asleep to.

The best thing is something you've seen before, so you're not compelled to pay attention too closely.

[Bhazor]

Honestly, going with the classics sometimes works wonders.

I need to be pretty charged to stay totally alert through 2001: A Space Odyssey as it is. If you're trying to sleep, though, it's a surefire winner (although one that possibly guarantees some very strange dreams).

Well two of my examples are fantastic films. Ran and A Matter of Life and Death are two of my favourite films and I can watch and enjoy them as movies or as a great big cup of warm milk.

I think the important thing is balance. It has to be nice to look at to keep me staring and interesting enough that I don't let my mind start wandering. But not too interesting that I willfully try to stay awake or to noisy or exciting so as to wake me up. Thats why I think BBC Nature documentaries work so well. Beautiful scenery, insightful but hushed narration, sexy beautiful wildlife. By the same token I find the longer Hardcore Histories have the effect too, I adore the series but if I start listening to Thor's Angels (a three hour talk on the mixing of scandanavian paganism with Roman christianity in Europe's dark ages) after midnight it puts me down like a tranquilizer dart.

Not to play doctor, but what you have might not actually be insomia, but Delayed-sleep-phase-syndrome (Night Owlism). I have it myself. I thought of this because for some reason 4am is the magic hour for  people with DSPS. I'd at least do a google search and talk with a sleep doctor about it.

Huh, that actually sounds pretty familiar.

[Wonder Warthog]

The adrenals have an unusual cycle; you have two energy peaks during the day.  The first energy peak is at 9-10AM and the second is at 4-5PM.  There is a lull between the two peaks, the siesta period.  DO NOT NAP DURING SIESTA!!  If you nap then you reset your body's clock and start the adrenal cycle all over again.  Your first peak will hit around 5PM or so and then the second will kick in at around 11PM.  I got this from a book called Adrenal Fatigue I dont remember author's name.

[olePigeon]

Here're couple of late night gems.  Would love to see some RiffTrax, as well, though the gratuitous boobage in Barbarian Queen might not be appropriate.

Starcrash
Barbarella
Barbarian Queen

Starcrash is, well, Heavy Metal.  I guess before there was ever a movie thought to be made from the magazine, this was it.  Caroline Munro running around in a bikini.  All the time.  Even in the end, she has a bikini on over her space suit.

Barbarella is a what happens when fanboys make a movie staring Jane Fonda.  It's just short of slashfic.

Barbarian Queen... hah.  OK.  So, everyone here's played Dungeons & Dragons.  Remember that adventure your friend ran?  You know, the one with the topless barbarian?  Yeah, someone made a movie about it.

[TheUnabeefer]

I've been watching either anime (Japanese audio, English subs) or Super Sentai (same audio/subs as the last parenthetical statement) and after a few episodes my eyes are nice and heavy and ready for sleep.

[Malt]

For about a year I watched 'Alice in Wonderland' (Animated Disney Version) before going to bed every night and that worked pretty well.

I personally feel if the program isn't interesting enough for me to pay some attention to it just makes the insomnia worse because my mind just trails off randomly, so I don't subscribe to the idea that it should be something totally boring...

Also, if it's a marathon of sorts that seems to help too, for me at least. Like if I know there's 100 more episodes to go I don't have to worry about what I'm going to watch next...

Lately I put on Monty Python's Flying Circus (Youtube) and it really does the trick, I don't tend to get past one or two episodes most... Or southparkstudios.com is another good one.

Ran is a very good choice. It's hard to make a ton of recommendations because I don't know what you have access to i.e. Netflix or Youtube or whatever plus I could start naming DVD sets but it's not like I'd expect you to go out and buy them or something... Like there's a 'First 100 episodes of Spongebob' which is about 36 hours but I don't know if it's even available for purchase anywhere anymore plus maybe you hate Spongebob I don't know. 

And yeah there's a ton of Mst3k episodes on youtube, could just put a marathon on and you might be out in less than one episode...

Oh and Metropolis (original). That one did the trick for me for about a week straight.

[Malt]

Ok this isn't a movie or tv show obviously but I think it's a great way to nod off. There's a ton of audiobooks on youtube, pretty much any book you could think of. Hope this helps.

Grimm's Fairy Tales audiobook 11+ Hours

[RoninFox]

A constant loop of Futurama from the first season to the last on Netflix was my insomnia cure for quite awhile.  Love the hell out of that show, but I've seen them so many times now that its actually more comforting than anything else and if it's late and quiet I tend to drift right off.  The only problem is that the ending credits often woke me up.

[Pak-Man]

I have nothing against the movie, but for some reason Blade Runner lulls me to sleep every time. Maybe it's that mellow soundtrack.

[RoninFox]

Depending what version you watch, I can see the Harrison Ford narration doing it too.

[Bhazor]

Ok this isn't a movie or tv show obviously but I think it's a great way to nod off. There's a ton of audiobooks on youtube, pretty much any book you could think of. Hope this helps.

Grimm's Fairy Tales audiobook 11+ Hours

Tried it but it seems I need a visual component to get my eyes "tired".