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Comment by georgeburdell | Hacker News Reader

I didn’t know this was a phenomenon. I have been thinking of hard problems to fall asleep at night for years

I have the opposite problem - if I'm thinking too hard near bedtime about financial math or boolean algebra for example, I won't be able to sleep. My brain is too active going through all the calculations in my head.

If I want to fall asleep within 5 minutes, what works for me is varied physical and mental exercise throughout the day, and an easygoing book or movie near bedtime.

If there's something stressful going on the next day, a tech-nerd podcast like ATP helps me forget about it and get to sleep. But I try not to let late night podcasts become a habit - sometimes they get too interesting and I stay up for over an hour to keep listening.

I'm the same way, I may become exhausted, I can feel myself being exhausted by my mind won't let me sleep.

For me, it has to be really hard, not like some leftover work you didn’t do that day. The more open ended the better. For example, how to make a transistor out of readily available household components. How would you do lithography, doping, etc.

Jesus, that line of thinking is a recipe to keep me up for days. How you could even begin to fall asleep with a line of thought so interesting is beyond me.

It's really obvious with our dog.

As a puppy we could walk for an hour, or even more than 5km, and at home he'd still be a rambunctious little pest because he might be physically tired but not mentally. But a 5-10 minute training session, where he has to think? Out like a light on the couch for hours. I imagine it hits dogs harder than us because they're less suited to problem solving and intense thought in general. Now he gets bored if he doesn't get his training but a couple of sessions a day are good for him and easier than a long walk (shorter walks suit him fine now).

I guess it works because you're not personally attached or motivated at solving them.

So it comes down to counting sheep type of distraction.

Like others echoed, if you pick an open ended unsolved mystery that is literally on your shoulders during the day, you'll be unable to switch off.

Truth, reading technical books before bed was a fantastic strategy to fall asleep fast. I don't do it anymore because I'm trying to take better care of myself and prevent/recover from burnout but damn does that work well!

Thanks for sharing that idea! I look forward to trying it out tonight.

Sadly the more likely consequence is that you might fall asleep quickly then wake up a few hours later and find yourself still thinking about it, and that second time your brain refuses to shut down until it solves it. Or maybe that's just me.

Same thing happens to me. I’m actually jealous of people that can code at night. I have such great ideas from 9-11pm, but if I actually write any code, I’m guaranteed to be up from 2-4am.

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