I train my cats that night time is sleep time – of course it’s been 14 or 15 years since we had more than one kitten at the same time. I play with them and run them around a bit, then they get fed just before we head up to bed. I also keep the squirt bottle handy on the nightstand if they get rambunctious during the night.
I also play a noise App (there are many, the one I use is called NatureScape) to mask my tinnitus as well as the sounds of the cats moving about and the cars passing on the street.
My fiancé got a CPAP machine within a year of us moving in together, so that made a huge difference in both of our sleep. On occasion, I hear when it is not flowing properly, so I wake him up to fix it, but it is nowhere near as often as I used to be awakened by his snoring.
I love the ‘Do Not Disturb’ feature on the iOS devices – I have it set for 10pm-7am, and only people on my VIP list can ring through, or if someone calls from the same number twice. The only time it failed was when some drunk idiot called me from a bar by mis-remembering her mother’s phone number. The first attempt didn’t ring, but the second did and I hung up on her; then the third call came through and it was a bouncer (off-duty cop) and I explained that they had the wrong number. I ten texted my 21-year-old son to find out if he or any of his friends were at that bar – and they weren’t. I also manually turn on the DND feature when I am at work or in the movies, etc. (I did have to leave a movie theater when my son was in a car accident a few years ago).
If I am having trouble sleeping, or falling back to sleep after I get up to pee, I play word games that provide you with 6 letters and you have to come up with as many 3–6 letter words as you can from those letters. It requires me to think just enough to distract me from whatever other thoughts might pop into my brain, but not as much as reading, TV or surfing the web do – which stimulate me too much to allow me to doze off again.
My son’s first 3 years are a complete blur to me though, because of the disrupted sleep—it is horrible.