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Comment by swah | Hacker News Reader

Same. Also not super tired, can go through with coffee, etc. But I don't feel rested when I wake up, almost never. [1]

The things I never tried: giving up caffeine completely, eliminating sugar completely, eliminating carbs completely, losing 20 kgs (I'm a bit overweight like BMI 27).

What didn't work: Ritalin, Venvanse, Modafinil...

[1] I feel like it could just be "stress" ie don't know how to relax and let go (beer does work but I wake up worse). I cling to small stuff like "will my wife remember to pick up the clothes later?" (making up a real example that has zero bad effects if it doesn't happen today)

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Unfortunately, there are many things it could be.

Doctors are only so helpful (and most are even less so)

Here's a list of things I tried that sorta helped with my tiredness spells. Recommend doing any of these changes separately:

- Sugar fast for 4 weeks (helps reset your cravings)

- Switched from coffee to green tea

- Reduced caffeine intake to one a day or 3x a week

- Acupuncture

- 15 min walks or bike ride every day

- Omega 3 oils

- Higher intake of minerals I was deficient in (eating more green vegetables)

(spoiler alert, I had undiagnosed ADHD which contributed to my high anxiety, which gave me waves of alert/exhausted)

Sugar fast.... Seems impossible. Most I've done is one week and it was absolutely horrible. I was always hungry, despite eating a lot.

Yeah, it's pretty rough the first week. It can help to modify the definition of sugar to be processed sugars.

I kept fruit in. Some people allow honey

I don't mean to diagnose you with a mental illness from a passing comment in an HN thread, but your footnote rings the same bell my partners (diagnosed) anxiety does. They were prescribed xanax for it which helped but made them very lethargic, so they stopped.

Since you were prescribed ritalin at one point i'm guessing you went to see a mental health professional, maybe try to get a second opinion?

Other things they find effective (that don't require a diagnosis) include breathing exercises (flavor of the month is a free(no ads!) app called RespiRelax+), grounding exercises (name 3 things you can touch, etc) and indulging in dopamine activities (for them it's gaming and cooking, for you it might be sport and model aircraft). Last point is not really going to help you sleep but they find that if they can't sleep because of anxiety, it's better to try to forget about it by doing something they like rather than lay awake in bed.

1. Check your Vitamin D levels, if deficient use liquid drops to supplement. Lot of people suffer from this in winter, especially in the northern hemisphere.

2. Do you suffer from a stiff neck? If 1 does not help to release muscle tension, check for Intracranial hypertension or Intracranial pressure (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intracranial_pressure).

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