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Comment by disordinary | Hacker News Reader

I found it to be the opposite. I knew I wasn't getting enough sleep and so I would constantly look at my clock, phone, watch, etc. so that I could get an idea of how little I was getting. When I got a fitbit I stopped worrying about looking at my watch constantly to see when I fell asleep as it would tell me in the morning. I still have sleep anxiety and I'm only averaging 5 hours of sleep per night, if I have something I can't miss (like a flight) the next morning I still will often get none, but it's not as bad as it was.

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I had the same. I'll just reply w/ a laundry list of things that helped me. Black out blinds and eye mask, eliminate all sources of light in the room. Keep the heat down about 64 in the winter, in the summer I sleep w/ a thin blanket and in my underwear. Go to bed at the same time and get up at the same time even on the weekends. Exercise daily. No coffee after 3pm. No eletronics 2 hours before bed. I also sometimes take melatonin.

Thanks for that.

Unfortunately because I live in New Zealand for a global company I often have meetings in the middle of the night so the no computer before sleep is tough, I'm also worked up after those meetings and usually need to wind down somehow.

I do try and do most of the above, including no coffee after 12 (which is tough because I love coffee).

No offense but why don’t you change jobs? It seems as if the ‘lifestyle’ that your company forces upon you does not fit your personal needs

None taken, it's more interesting to work for a large scale global company. Solutions that I help develop are used by hundreds of millions if not billions of people every day. Very few companies in the local market have that scale.

It will get better at some point, we're just delivering a lot of projects in Europe but attention will shift to this part of the world next. But if it doesn't look like it will improve I'll probably look for something else when the current set of products are in market.

I also choose to have meetings at night, work would happily pay for me to fly to Europe but I try and avoid flights when bluejeans will suffice for environmental reasons.

Also - you get to live in New Zealand

Have you tried decaf coffee? Would highly recommend it as another no caffeine in the afternoon advocate.

> Black out blinds and eye mask, eliminate all sources of light in the room

Why do you need black-out blinds if you have an eye mask?

Most eye masks are not true blackout, some light still seeps in at the edges. Same deal with blackout blinds unless they're positioned millimetre perfect.

Combining the two resolves both edge cases sufficiently well that they cease to matter, and both can now be slightly offset without creating any problems. This is especially useful with the eye mask as it wont stay exactly where it was due to moving in your sleep.

> Same deal with blackout blinds unless they're positioned millimetre perfect.

Double layering usually fixes this issue e.g. blackout blinds + blackout curtains, or shutters (non-louvered) + blackout curtains.

Any form of double layering solves the problem, really. Whether it's double layered at the window, or double layering in discrete locations (windows & eyes), having two distinct solutions with their own strengths and weaknesses can usually resolve edge cases in both.

...this applies to lots of things in IT as well, not just window curtains :-)

> Exercise daily.

Although daily might be a bit extreme, the effect of regular exercise on sleep is pretty profound, at least in my case. I've been sleeping longer and better (according to my Fitbit) since I started working out and running, and if I have to have more than a few days off my sleep really starts to suffer.

> daily might be a bit extreme

You can exercise daily without issue for extended periods of time, you just can't exercise daily to the limit (or even anywhere close to). How to do it really depends on the activity (or activities).

Nice explanation for calisthenics, but if you pay attention you can transpose it to any activity: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CA9OklE7r3A

There was a similar blog post at Runtastic but I can't seem to find it RN.

Accurate. I used to go to the gym and lift weights 6 days a week regularly, slept fine. I just took two months off and didn’t exercise at all. I hopped back into my gym routine again this week and besides being extremely sore (which can happen ever if you only take a week off), I can barely fall asleep and the quality of sleep is horrible. I’ve read that it’s common among bodybuilders who train too hard. It may be a a shock to the central nervous system (heavy compounds like deadlifts can do that).

Isn’t that pretty common? If I know I have to get up unusually early I can never sleep. If I have to rise at 4AM to drive to a bicycling event that starts at 6 I can never sleep before that. Same for very early flight departures or anything out of routine. I’ve adjusted by just getting up so early every day that there’s no possibility of anything being extra-early!

I don't think so. I travel regularly to Sydney for work, the flight we catch to get a full working day has a check-in at 5am. None of my colleagues who I travel with have this problem.

I try and deal with it by avoiding early flights if possible and flying the day before and staying the night but it's not always convenient with schedules, etc.

I found that if I set two independent alarms (i.e. my phone and my alarm clock), I sleep much more soundly when I need to get up early -- the second alarm gives me reassurance that I won't oversleep even if my phone battery dies so I sleep better

> I would constantly look at my clock, phone, watch, etc.

I have a projection clock which displays a dull red digital clock on the ceiling. It means if I do wake up I can check the time without having to roll over, rind a bright clock etc. It’s so dull it doesn’t disturb my sleep and I find really useful to have.

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