Peacefully transitioning to sleep

For as long as I can remember I have experienced "hypnic jerks we experience occasionally just before we fall asleep", only for me it was every time I fall asleep. It's only recently that I learned there is a name for my experience - EHS Exploding Head Syndrome. I have only mentioned it once to someone, who mocked me so I never mentioned it again, I always found falling asleep disconcerting as the loud bang in my head would jerk me awake. I worried that it was something bad and kept it to myself.

Edited to add: I also have tinnitus, the result of a head injury as a toddler, consequently I have never know 'quiet' inside my head. I thought the EHS and tinnitus were related.

In 2022, I read a few articles and reflections from people researching the brain around how it refreshes as we sleep and how that best works if the head is horizontal during sleep, so I began my own experiment, could I improve my transition to sleep without clinical interventions.

2024 - I no longer sleep with a pillow, I still have pillows on my bed as they are great for sitting up and reading a book. However once I turn out the light the pillows are discarded and I sleep with my entire body horizontal rather than have my head elevated, even a little. I sleep mostly on either side or, infrequently on my back.

I am not sure exactly when the loud bangs in my head diminished, maybe 8 - 12 months of sleeping without a pillow, what I can say is that falling asleep is now a gentle experience and I will continue to sleep without a pillow. I would not have it any other way, it is such a relief.