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How to Sleep

theatlantic.com

21–30 of 274 posts

Re: How to Sleep

#21
post #8

1. Room temperature should be between 60 - 67 degrees F. 2. No electronics, games, and minimal to no blue light 30min to 1hour before sleep. 3. Do not exercise less than 3 hours before sleep. Exception: sex. 4. Coffee and other stimulants before 12pm, not after. 5. Avoid naps longer than 15 minutes day of. 6. Stretch before going to sleep, particularly if you experience minor restless legs or periodic leg movements.…

60-67F? That's cold. I live in Fl so if I were to let myself get used to that temp I would literally melt when I went outside. 76F is more reasonable here.

Easy in the winter, crack a window if necessary.

In the summer the A/C bill would be outrageous.

Re: How to Sleep

#22

What are your recommendations for dealing with noisy roommates/hallmates? There have been nights where I had to put on my ANC headphones to get some peace and quiet. (I've heard a good pair of earplugs may work?)

Howard Leight MAX earplugs have the highest noise cancellation rating in dB that I've seen, and they were the best ones I've tried.

Works for me, I live right below my landlord who has an uncarpeted wooden floor with kids, where otherwise I'd have the sound of incessant stomping upstairs as a very reliable daily alarm clock.

Re: How to Sleep

#23
post #18

What are your recommendations for dealing with noisy roommates/hallmates? There have been nights where I had to put on my ANC headphones to get some peace and quiet. (I've heard a good pair of earplugs may work?)

Earplugs take away a lot of the noise, the only thing might be that if they don't fit, i.e. are a bit too big, then they can be somewhat uncomfortable after half the night. I would definitely try that if I was you :) For reference, I'm currently using them most nights because I'm on exchange and am sharing a dorm room with another guy that snores at night -.-....

In terms of comfort, if you lie on your side it sometimes works well enough to just wear one ear-plug, with your other ear on the pillow.

Re: How to Sleep

#24

What are your recommendations for dealing with noisy roommates/hallmates? There have been nights where I had to put on my ANC headphones to get some peace and quiet. (I've heard a good pair of earplugs may work?)

Get a white noise machine.

Something along these lines I recommend is a loud HEPA filter fan, so you get fresh air + white noise.

Re: How to Sleep

#25
1) no glowing screens at all after the sun goes down.

2) no glowing screens at all after the sun goes down.

3) no glowing screens at all after the sun goes down.

4) very low candle-temperature lighting only after dark. Especially try to keep it out of your direct line of sight.

It'll work, but 1-3 are hard.

Re: How to Sleep

#26
>So either that is the amount of sleep that keeps people well, or that’s the amount that makes them least likely to lie about being sick when they want to skip work. Or maybe people who were already sick with some chronic condition were sleeping more than that—or less—as a result of their illness. Statistics are tough to interpret.

Love that, no lazy journalism, no ridiculous claims. Just the facts and some possible implications.

Re: How to Sleep

#27
post #25

1) no glowing screens at all after the sun goes down. 2) no glowing screens at all after the sun goes down. 3) no glowing screens at all after the sun goes down. 4) very low candle-temperature lighting only after dark. Especially try to keep it out of your direct line of sight. It'll work, but 1-3 are hard .

Hmm, can people reasonably do 1-3 in places where the sun sets at like 6PM?

Re: How to Sleep

#28
post #26

>So either that is the amount of sleep that keeps people well, or that’s the amount that makes them least likely to lie about being sick when they want to skip work. Or maybe people who were already sick with some chronic condition were sleeping more than that—or less—as a result of their illness. Statistics are tough to interpret. Love that, no lazy journalism, no ridiculous claims. Just the facts and some possible…

From The Atlantic, I expected a little more science and a little more suggestion from this article. This read more as a summary of all of the little sleep tips I've seen and heard anecdotally over the last few years rolled into one summary.

Not exactly on the same level as "When Your Child Is a Psychopath" or "My Family's Slave" (two very recent and exceptionally great articles from The Atlantic).

Re: How to Sleep

#29
post #27
post #25

1) no glowing screens at all after the sun goes down. 2) no glowing screens at all after the sun goes down. 3) no glowing screens at all after the sun goes down. 4) very low candle-temperature lighting only after dark. Especially try to keep it out of your direct line of sight. It'll work, but 1-3 are hard .

Hmm, can people reasonably do 1-3 in places where the sun sets at like 6PM?

There are tools that reduce the amount of blue light emitted from the screen. They essentially turn your screen orange. The difference it makes is large enough that you wonder how you managed before it. The most well known is f.lux, but it's also natively supported in some phone OSes.

Re: How to Sleep

#30

I'm not sure what the long term effects of chronic melatonin supplementation are, but I'll find out eventually. I've been taking between 3-6mg of melatonin every night for the past few years (2011?) It's almost required. Without it my sleep cycle seems fine at first, but then gets out of whack as I can't seem to keep a circadian rhythm in line with the rest of society / the earth's rotation. On the opposite end of th…

I share the habits (melatonin, caffeine and exercise) and eventual strategies (coffee withdrawal from time to time).

Would you care to elaborate on your methods? (What time do you take melatonin, how much and at what time do you take coffee?)

Thanks!

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