I must have noise to go along with going to sleep. Usually thats an audio book or long-form video essay type YouTube videos. I wear one earbud to bed if I’m sleeping at night with my girlfriend or just blare it from the TV if I’m sleeping alone during the day (rotating shift). I feel like when I don’t have engaging audio and I’m trying to sleep I can’t quiet my mind enough to sleep. A fan or random ambient noise isn’t enough for me.
Yes, I have a fan always going through the night and I always have something playing like an old podcast as well. I just can’t simply sink into sleep with nothing alone, I’ve tried that, with limited success and there’s people around me, whose noises tend to wake me up.