Ask HN: Do you struggle to sleep after coding all day?

Seems whenever I've had a hard day fixing a bug or doing some difficult coding, I struggle to sleep at night thinking about it.

Anybody else suffer from the same? How are you switching off before you go to sleep?

I have a somewhat reverse problem. Some days I struggle to through the day coding, even on routine or easier coding tasks. When this happens find myself daydreaming or finding other things to do that are not work related. The real problem comes though at about 10-11pm and I get a huge burst of energy and focus to start working. I am left with a choice to stay up later and get work done, or go to bed and wake up earlier to catch up on work I missed. If I do decide to go to bed I will lay there for an hour or so just thinking about work and what I need to get done.

With that said, last year I was talking to my doctor about it at my annual physical. He suggested I exercise more often. So for about the last 6-7 months I have made a conscious effort that whenever I feel like I am starting to struggle I will go out for at least a 30 minute walk. I usually end up taking about 4-5 a day. There is definitely a direct correlation between the amount I walk and my productivity. And I am starting to sleep a whole lot better at night. Another thing that has helped me is I stopped drinking soda and now only drink water (or coffee).

Yes! Not just coding, but I have been struggling to turn my mind off from work to sleep. I think about the new feature I'm coding, about new ideas on how to reach out to more users, etc... I really felt it started to become a serious problem in the last months, so I then cut my evening coffee (only have it in the morning now) and started to swim/gym around 6pm.. But the main thing is not to use your laptop as the last thing you do before sleeping... Even if you're working late, get rid of it and do something else for 40 minutes before trying to sleep.

Exercise, limiting blue light (really any light as darkness increases melatonin production) and mindfulness meditation are all excellent tools.

Yes, I have that same issue. Generally I avoid stimulants before bedtime and sometimes will read the news or some interesting papers before bed. I've also use meditation to quiet all the random thoughts in my head to make sleep easier.