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Comment by slacka | Hacker News Reader

Yes, audiobooks/podcasts at night are great.

Lack of sleep ages you, makes you overweight, and susceptible to many health issues. Here's what I did to get enough sleep:

    * Make sure every monitor/portable device is using Redshift / Night Light blue light filter. 
    * Set a "sleep alarm"  After which no work on a screen. Only reading books/audiobooks
    * 0.5mg of Melatonin helps sleep naturally (more gives trippy dreams) 
    * AVOID sleeping pills (they're more addictive than crack)
    * Exercise 3-5 times a week
    * Get some natural sunlight during the day

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Using melatonin properly completely changed how I sleep. I used to have trouble falling asleep and waking up in the morning, so my sleep schedule would drift back to the point where I would be late to work because I was falling asleep at 4am. I followed the advice of this article[1] and got my sleep schedule back on track. TLDR:

* I take 0.3mg at 7:00pm with the goal of falling asleep at 11:00pm

* Redshift always on at 4500k, turns to 2500k at 10:00pm

I still use a screen until the moment I fall asleep, and I probably don't get enough sunlight. However the changes listed are sufficient for me at least.

[1]: https://slatestarcodex.com/2018/07/10/melatonin-much-more-th...

What sort of podcasts/books?

Not properly tried this before, but I'd imagine if it was interesting I'd want to stay awake and listen to it or find out more information... if it's boring I'd just be annoyed by the noise. Maybe bore myself to sleep?

I prefer science and history, not stories or news. Interesting enough to engage you, but not too much. Science Friday or Sean Carroll's Mindscape are good examples. Anything you find that lets your mind disengage and wander around bedtime. Make sure you have a sleep timer that stops after 30-60 min and/or turn off autoplay.

0.5 mg of melatonin? or 5.0 mg? 5 to 10 mg of melatonin is the amount in most all doses sold on Amazon. I've never seen such a light dose.

0.5mg of melatonin is a perfectly good dose. For many people, anything over 1mg means sleepiness on the next day. I suggest doing some research, including how to taper it down once you no longer feel it's right for you.

It's the correct dose. See https://slatestarcodex.com/2018/07/12/did-a-melatonin-patent... for the sad background.

TLDR: MIT did a study and patented Melatonin usage with reasonable dosages. Manufactures just increased the dose 10x to get around the patent. The patent is expired but the damage remains.

Apparently it works as effectivley at lower doses.

Someone posted this a while back, and it goes into a lot of detail: https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/E4cKD9iTWHaE7f3AJ/melatonin-...

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