I tried to hack my insomnia

During a stressful part of my life recently I struggled with getting to sleep. I just couldn't stop thinking about shit that was going on.

until one night I fell asleep on the couch in front of the TV, and it occurred to me that I could just modify this behaviour to bed.

So I put a handful of old Star Trek episodes on my phone. Each night I put me earphones on (so as not to disturb my wife), turn on an episode of Star Trek, and I am asleep within the first five minutes. ... I can even repeat episodes... it doesnt even matter since Im asleep within literally 5mins.

At first the earphones were annoying, but after a week you dont even notice them.

The stress at work continues, but I sleep like a baby.

I think the familiarity of Star Trek (which I watched a lot as a kid) gives me a subconsious sense of security.

I picked up very serious sleep problems (and seemingly permanent bags under my eyes) right around puberty and lived with it for about twenty years. Tried most of the "hacks" on this page (yes, including exercise) to no avail.

It all unexpectedly went away when I moved into my current apartment. I have huge, unblocked, east-facing windows, and every morning I’m bathed in sunlight. No more sleeping in; I’m wide awake, no arguments. Consequently, by midnight I am dead to the world.

All of this makes me a bit worried for the future, as "big unblocked east window in the bedroom" seems like a big ask for a rental. But yeah, it worked, my sleep is solved for the time being. Except for chunks of February.

I'm in a particularly stressful time in my life (just moved, intense new job) where I've been struggling to sleep. There will be some nights where I simply don't sleep at all; just lay awake in bed all night. Of course I'm aware of all the health/safety/productivity issues associated with no sleep, and the anxiety of not sleeping just furthers my inability to fall asleep.

This is what I've been attempting to do to help with my sleep problems, with reasonable success:

  1. Lift heavy each week day.

I'm using a PPL routine with at least one big lift each day. I also trying to burn a significant amount of calories each day in the gym.

  2. Strict evening routine.

I try to go to bed within the same hour each night if I can help it.

  3. Reduce responsibilities.

One of the biggest issues for me is missing my routine. I now try to keep my weekday schedule the same (don't go out at night) so I can have plenty of wind-down time at home before bed.

  4. Wind down time.

I try to do something relaxing before going to bed that will distract my mind (like play a low intensity videogame, read about non work-related topics, etc.)

  5. Supplements.

I drink a cup of chamomile tea and take 5 mg of melatonin before I go to bed, and this seems to help (or might be a placebo)

  6. Listen to something calming and familiar while I fall asleep.

Unlike others in this thread, no Star Trek for me; I like to listen to twitch streamer ZFG speedrun Ocarina of Time. I turn the volume on my phone to the lowest setting, put the phone face-down on the bed next to me, and the audio commentary seems to be helpful background noise.

My insomnia is a little different than the author's; I fall asleep easily but wake up three or four hours later. And when I'm up, I'm wide awake.

I tried just about everything discussed here....meditation, podcasts, watching television, reading before bed but nothing really helped me consistently. I even bought a treadmill and started running every day which does help, but the thing that actually did the trick best was a few puffs of marijuana about an hour before bedtime. It was sufficient to take me "out of my head" enough to get a better night's sleep without feeling foggy the next day.

Meditating right before going to bed, given that you haven't stared at any screen for an hour prior, can help tremendously with insomnia. That and intense and regular exercise, a clean diet, hydration... Healthy habits, to cut it short. Also, make sure your bedroom is dark and its temperature is cool.

I've heard a couple of times of this technique by the US Army in which you relax your body starting by the face, then arms, torso, legs. Finally you picture yourself in a canoe in the middle of a lake or something similar to avoid thinking of anything. Anyone knows how effective is this?

https://medium.com/s/story/combat-tested-training-unwind-and...

2 new tricks to add here (that work magic for me at least)

- child pose for about 10 minutes with the head/forehead resting on a pillow

- forced yawning, but without needing to actually make a sound, (and without needing to open the mouth wide). Hard to explain, there's some oral/neck musculature that is not triggered voluntarily that I've been experimenting on which becomes somewhat easier to control with exercise. I'd start with lots of yawning first

things that definitely made a difference for me:

a) only dim lights after sunset (reflect for a moment on how unnatural it is, after million or years of modern human evolution, that we all of a sudden have light after sundown. (especially blue light screens, seriously, use apps) ; this disrupts your circadian rhythms and melatonin cycles, so it's a big deal.

b) black out shades. don't underestimate - I've monitored my sleep +2 years with multiple fitness trackers, and noticed a clear positive difference in restlessness levels. it also cured my problem of waking up in the middle of the night to pee believe it or not.

c) air tight wax ear plugs ; sounds will wake you up and you often won't know why. a motorcycle, someone closes a door etc.

d) chilly room. I find ~70F is great. again going back to evo history, it's always been chillier at night.

e) habit x 10. go to bed at the same time, wake up at the same time. be unplugged for at least an hour before sleep and relax for a bit when you wake up. follow point a) after sundown. your sleep drive will take over. this might take months to get there, especially if you're a high cortisol individual, but biology will take over if you let it.

I've been using the Dreem headband for a year and a half and there are enough factual errors about it in this piece to make me distrust the rest of it.

Firstly, it doesn't require leaving your smartphone on all night as she writes. Once started, it's autonomous (it even reportedly shuts down its onboard WiFi/BT, probably for power saving reasons but also to alleviate any fears about having an RF emitter so close to your head for 8 hours)

Secondly, getting an accurate hypnogram (detailed sleep phases) on a consumer EEG device is a huge deal in itself (she doesn't seem to understand the point), but this one goes even further by promising to actively enhance slow wave/deep sleep through precisely timed audio stimulations (white noise pulses). The research in this area is apparently the starting point of the company.

Thirdly, the app does include the kind of CBT program she praises at the end of the article. I find the combination of this with a device that provides an accurate sleep log to be a potentially more efficient combination than CBT alone.

One area where I do have reservations with this class of devices is privacy : not only do you have your exact sleep/wake times + hundreds of MBs of your EEG data uploaded to their servers every morning, the latest version apparently has a built-in microphone !

It's reserved for future use (an obvious application is snoring / sleep apnea detection) and reportedly not activated yet, but of course it's closed source firmware and you have to take their word for it, and even if you trust their intentions (I do, and there's always GDPR), you also have to trust their security as well.

Disclaimer : I have no stake or direct interest in Dreem, but I'm very familiar with their product and even interviewed with them at one point.

Yeah, I suffered from insomnia for most of my life. I didn't really realize it was an issue until I was about 20-21. I think it took falling asleep at the wheel and rear ending someone, crashing on my bicycle multiple times from not being able to stay awake (going downhill at 20+mph btw), and a plethora of other stupid events for me to realize maybe I should seek help finally. I think it's pretty amazing to see what I accomplished on so little but, ultimately, it's sad because I know I could've done way more with better sleep.

And it was 100% stress related. Taking pills, trying breathing exercises, and everything else didn't fix it. It could make me slightly better than doing nothing but it was never fixed.

I have a rhythm now I follow that works better. But, really, I never found a "solution". I just got into a less stressful life. (Finally having a girlfriend, high(er) paying job, etc. was the "trick" - aka solve what causes my stressors)

I had so much trouble with insomnia a few years back - I remember not being able to get sleep for at least 3-5 days straight on multiple different occasions. I thought I was going to die at least two of those times it happened.

These days my ability to fall asleep feels like a superpower (because - 1. I know just how absurdly many people out there are functioning on less than optimal sleep on a daily basis, and 2. I know I'm not the only one who has had trouble with falling asleep).

These are the bits of advice I have:

1. I've woken or havent been able to fall asleep because I was hungry. Always try to have eaten at least one satiating meal a day. Also make sure you're not dehydrated or have to pee.

2. Don't ever worry or intentionally think that you have to fall asleep. The stress, the cortisol, and the excitement(when you start falling asleep) will keep you awake. Going one night without sleep is not the end of the world. At worst you were really really relaxed in a nice cozy bed for 8 hours, so take comfort in that time.

3. This one is the most important: think about your brain like its some sort of muscle. If it's engaged its sort of 'flexing', and its very hard to fall asleep if its flexing. If I just 'unflex' my mind the way I would let go of my grip, the next thing I usually notice is that its morning and my alarm clock is waking me up.

Other than these things, everything else I've seen had little affect on my abilities to sleep when I had insomnia - working out until exhaustion out didn't work, neither did weed, neither did alcohol, and neither did induced food coma, reading a book, watching tv, counting sheep. And when I learned again how to fall asleep, I haven't had a problem with blue light, I haven't had a problem with caffeine, I didn't even have a problem with a lot of noise. These things help or hurt your ability to sleep but it doesn't ultimately determine whether or not you do.

Unlike many members of my family who can fall asleep regardless of the circumstances, I need to feel sleepy/tired to sleep. I'm fairly fit, so getting to that state with a job that involves me sitting at a desk can be a challenge.

When I do sleep, I sleep pretty well, but getting to that state can be tough. I simply have to do some physical work each day to tire my body - otherwise, sleeping is near impossible. The gym is often not enough (and if I go in the evening, it actually wakes me up). I find I need to do something moderately strenuous and mundane, like carrying a few groceries for a mile or two, or maybe sweeping + mopping a few floors round the house or perhaps some DIY.

Also, if I'm unable to sleep, rather than trying to sleep, I find it's better to get up and do some work, even if means being in front of a screen. That knocks me out eventually!

How has no one mentioned medical marijuana?

You can't sleep when there are enemies nearby. Didn't you play Skyrim, Minecraft, Fallout...

Or more seriously you have messed up bloodwork. Get your blood checked. Vitamin D is necessary during day. Seeing the morning light and end of day sun set can actually help.

Or you didn't exercise enough. Various military organisations have sorted out sleep: they can get you tired enough to sleep vertical. Often while still marching.

I find that I have always have trouble sleeping, but then when I took up a practice of strong-determination-sitting (meditation+) I would fall asleep during the meditation! and I would also notice that my mind-activity was several noticeable clicks lower after a 20 minute sit.

It has to be tried to be believed (IMO)

>ctrl+F "exercise"

>0 results

None of the stuff they talk about in the article helped me kick my insomnia/DSPS.

Only exercise helped.

Everyone is different, but for me strength training wakes me up, while cardio helps me sleep. What surprises me sometimes is how much cardio I need for good sleep. In one particularly high pressure week, I had to row (erg) 7-10km per a day to sleep well.

Not really on topic, but I'm trying to find some way to get EMG (muscle) readings preferably without using glue (which I suspect can become messy) or disposable electrodes (which can become costly). What is the best way to do this?

Great tips overall, thank you all. I might add getting familiar with CBT-I (Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for Insomnia). I was struggling for months with sleep and this was a life saviour.

I recommend people look into oleamide for insomnia

Just googled to see if 'sleeptech' is a thing. And yes, it is. This is where we spend 1/3 of our lives after all.

What about marijuana? An indica strain should put you on your back in no time.

vitamin D deficiency. https://youtu.be/74F22bjBmqE

Life is not a computer you can hack. I bet we barely understand 1% of how our system works and trying to hack it means one is not even aware of their ignorance.

Or you know, you could go to the gym and start exercising? Try to stay awake after a heavy day of lifting.

Insomnia is a fake idea invented to promote the industrial work cycle.

If you go to sleep when you're so tired, as opposed to when the societal clock says you should, you won't have any trouble sleeping.