Comment by impendia | Hacker News Reader

Comment by impendia | Hacker News Reader

Hello --

I have experienced the same symptoms, although not quite as badly (waking up very early), for the last two years. Take this with a huge grain of salt, because most of what I tried didn't work all that well, but I'll let you know what I tried with at least modest success.

And, if you ever figure out how to get your sleep back on track, I'd be grateful if you'd message me and let me know what worked!

-- Weighted blankets: I got one, and this seemed to help a little bit.

-- Cool bedroom: it's recommended to set the temperature to 68 or below.

-- Consistent sleeping times. Go to bed at the same time every night (if you can).

-- Limit activities in your bed. No TV, internet, smartphones. And no lying in bed wishing you could sleep. If you don't feel sleepy, then get out of bed, go do something else for a little while and then maybe try again.

-- You might check out CBT-I -- cognitive-behavioral therapy for insomnia. (Some of what I suggested above is part of this.) In general the most widely recommended therapy.

-- Keep up exercise and your social life, even if you're tempted to cut back (as I was).

Good luck! (Contact info in profile.)

> Limit activities in your bed. No TV, internet, smartphones. And no lying in bed wishing you could sleep. If you don't feel sleepy, then get out of bed, go do something else for a little while and then maybe try again.

I listened to a (Swedish) podcast some time ago where they interviewed a professor[0] about sleep and health effects of good and bad sleeping patterns etc. One question that came up was something along the lines of "what should I do if I'm lying in bed, just twisting and turning and unable to sleep?" The response was very much in line with your suggestion: don't remain in bed trying to force yourself to sleep.

Get up, do something. Read a book, walk around, do the dishes – pretty much anything really. It's apparently much more effective than trying to force yourself to sleep. He also said that you should avoid activities that shines a bright light in your face, like watching a TV or fiddling with your phone or tablet.

I'm going to try your other tips to see if that helps any with my own sleep issues – thanks for sharing!

[0]: https://staff.ki.se/people/johaxe

I think this is bullshit. If you go out for a walk you will wake up even more.

On top of that, if you actually have times when you feel like you get 0 hours of sleep (i recently started a new job and could barely sleep for a week) if you don’t remain in bed nevertheless - you will not rest even for a slight bit; while simply laying in bed will give you at least some rest.

The advice I've read is not necessarily to go for a walk outside, but to do something more low-key: wash some dishes, read a book, or simply sit quietly for twenty minutes.

Especially if you feel "tired" but not "sleepy" -- although these can be hard to distinguish.

This is recommended (by expert researchers, on the basis of experiment) as part of a cure for chronic long-term insomnia. Like many cures, it can be a bit arduous at first. I haven't seen it recommended for short-term insomnia, especially when there is some causal factor like starting a new job.

Listening to boring podcasts or reading machine learning papers in bed really helped me deal with my stress related sleeping issues. I'd be fine all day, but when I tried to sleep my mind would start racing and I'd start stressing about my startup. Doing an intense task that required me to pay attention and prevented me from thinking about other random issues.

Thanks so much for the advice. It's really hard not to be on screens before bed. I'll try cutting this one first...

This. Only have good things to say about CBT-i. Worked wonders for me.

Also I can second doing physical excercise.

The most important part is not here: natural light, or equivalent.

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