How to Fall Asleep in Two Minutes or Less • Hacker News Board

Re: How to Fall Asleep in Two Minutes or Less

#71

Post by gilbetron » Sun, Mar 25, 2018, 2:54 PM UTC

I have had weird sleeping issues all my life, and the key for me to falling asleep was when I found out that our body gets tired not when it is warm, but when it warms up.

So next time you can't fall asleep, take off the blankets, make sure your room is cold, and then get really, uncomfortably cold, and stay that way for at least 15 minutes. Then, and this is key, cover your whole body only with your sheet, and then pull the blanket just over your legs. You'll warm up and fall asleep. If you pull the blanket all over yourself and "mummify", then you'll risk getting too warm, which will wake you right up again.

I'm sure this doesn't work for everyone, but I think many people get too warm and comfortable, and that will keep you awake.

Get cold, warm up, and snooze!

Re: How to Fall Asleep in Two Minutes or Less

#72

Post by indigochill » Sun, Mar 25, 2018, 2:55 PM UTC

gus_massa wrote: post #57

cryptonode wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sounds very similair to Dali's process. Where he would meditate holding a kitchen utensil on top of a pan. And when he would fall asleep it would fall making a sound and wake him up with i inspration for his next painting. http://www.creativitypost.com/authors/profile/33/mmichalko

It sound interesting, but I never have heard it before and I can't find it in the link or in Google. Is it in the book? Is there other source? (Creativity advisors are sometime too creative.)

This is also mentioned in the Coursera course "Learning How to Learn" (https://www.coursera.org/learn/learning-how-to-learn). Though I don't recall/know what their source is. "Dali Sleep Technique" turns up many hits in your favorite web browser, however.

Re: How to Fall Asleep in Two Minutes or Less

#73

Post by odammit » Sun, Mar 25, 2018, 2:56 PM UTC

hh3k0 wrote: post #60

odammit wrote: post #56

Bookmarked in case I ever have trouble sleeping. I have the opposite problem, I can just fall asleep pretty much anywhere and in any position. Just had a triple espresso or four cold brews, no problem. I frequently take “desk naps” throughout the day. I’ll set a timer for 15 minutes and lay my head down on my wrist rest. I fall asleep in less than a minute. Does anyone know if there is a name for that? I generally re…

That could be many things, to be honest. I wonder, though, since you particularly mentioned "desk naps": Does focussing on your work exhaust you to the point of sleepiness?

I usually do it when I can’t figure something out or I’m flip flopping on a solution (software engineer).

I originally started doing it to try to take my mind off the problem to not overthink it. But then I’d find that I’d slept for an hour or so. Thus the timer.

Re: How to Fall Asleep in Two Minutes or Less

#74

Post by zombieprocesses » Sun, Mar 25, 2018, 2:56 PM UTC

This works for me. Half an hour before I go to bed, I have a glass of wine or a shot of whisky while browsing the web or watching youtube/netflix/etc. Boom, it's lights out as soon as my head hits the pillow.

An added benefit is that 8 hours later, I have to pee so bad that it forces me to get out of bed. It's a sleeping aid and an alarm clock all in one.

Re: How to Fall Asleep in Two Minutes or Less

#75

Post by th0ma5 » Sun, Mar 25, 2018, 2:56 PM UTC

cryptonode wrote: post #42

p0ints wrote: post #18

Regarding falling asleep - I've noticed an interesting phenomenon in myself. Usually it takes me around 30 minutes to fall asleep, during which period I seem to gradually mellow, my internal narrative becomes weaker until I finally fall asleep. During the final stages of that process, I sometimes imagine beautiful and quite complex music or art that I like a lot (unfortunately, I'm nowhere skilled enough to try to cr…

Sounds very similair to Dali's process. Where he would meditate holding a kitchen utensil on top of a pan. And when he would fall asleep it would fall making a sound and wake him up with i inspration for his next painting. http://www.creativitypost.com/authors/profile/33/mmichalko

I had heard Edison did this.

Re: How to Fall Asleep in Two Minutes or Less

#76

Post by qwerty456127 » Sun, Mar 25, 2018, 2:58 PM UTC

5hz binaural beats may help some lucky people (used to help me greatly once, stopped working some years later). You can generate them easily with SBaGen, just make sure to avoid joint stereo mode and bitrates below 192 kbits if you compress to MP3 then.

Re: How to Fall Asleep in Two Minutes or Less

#77

Post by odammit » Sun, Mar 25, 2018, 2:59 PM UTC

rsyring wrote: post #62

odammit wrote: post #56

Bookmarked in case I ever have trouble sleeping. I have the opposite problem, I can just fall asleep pretty much anywhere and in any position. Just had a triple espresso or four cold brews, no problem. I frequently take “desk naps” throughout the day. I’ll set a timer for 15 minutes and lay my head down on my wrist rest. I fall asleep in less than a minute. Does anyone know if there is a name for that? I generally re…

My son has narcolepsy. When they tested him using a day time sleep study, it was his ability to fall asleep quickly, in just a couple minutes, that was the primary indicator of his condition. I believe the doctor said an ability to fall asleep and hit a certain deep stage of sleep in less than eight minutes is what they look for. In movies and such narcolepsy is often portrayed as uncontrollably falling asleep mid-ac…

Oh so it could actually be narcolepsy and I’ve just been an ass making a joke about it for years.

I’m not familiar beyond the movie tropes (that I now know are misrepresentations).

Are there complications or other serious things that it can lead to?

Are people with narcolepsy generally deep sleepers?

Re: How to Fall Asleep in Two Minutes or Less

#78

Post by TuringNYC » Sun, Mar 25, 2018, 3:01 PM UTC

drakonka wrote: post #36

TuringNYC wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For me, this exact state is also an ideal one to truly enjoy great music. The music can become surreal and surround me. I've never used drugs, but this is how I imagine hallucinogens to be...

This reminds me of an experience I had once. I was lying in bed, it was about mid-day, listening to music. Suddenly I started to feel pins and needles all over my body and then felt my body disintegrate, as if I was just a "blob" of energy or something hovering in the air. Lastly, I could clearly hear every single instrument and note in the song I was listening to without trying, as if the different layers of the mus…

>> I wish I could make it happen again, but I've never been successful with inducing this.

Same here. But there are some things that help me getting into this state: Dont be hungry, dont be thirsty, ensure to use the restroom beforehand -- basically, get rid of nagging distractions so you can focus on just mental state. Then work on getting to the edge of sleep. It happens to me sometimes on the subway if I'm coming home late or on a bus trip where i've starved myself of sleep beforehand (usually in the winter, cozy in a overcoat.)

Re: How to Fall Asleep in Two Minutes or Less

#79

Post by peterburkimsher » Sun, Mar 25, 2018, 3:08 PM UTC

The relaxation method in the article requires physical comfort, which isn't always available. I used to lie awake for hours when I was younger; now I can fall asleep quickly in all places (bus seats, desk chair, etc). What changed?

I ride a bicycle. That fixed my blood circulation, so I don't get cold feet.

I also read the Bible and pray. It's very easy to fall asleep in church on a hard wooden pew. The same approach works at bedtime.

Sleeping less once a week (CouchSurfing meetup from 9 pm to 1 am on Wednesdays) builds sleep debt. That increases my emotional extremes, but the prayer handles the low points, so I end up happier. It also makes me pretty tired, so I'm able to sleep more easily on Thursday & Friday.

Re: How to Fall Asleep in Two Minutes or Less

#80

Post by whiddershins » Sun, Mar 25, 2018, 3:08 PM UTC

p0ints wrote: post #18

Regarding falling asleep - I've noticed an interesting phenomenon in myself. Usually it takes me around 30 minutes to fall asleep, during which period I seem to gradually mellow, my internal narrative becomes weaker until I finally fall asleep. During the final stages of that process, I sometimes imagine beautiful and quite complex music or art that I like a lot (unfortunately, I'm nowhere skilled enough to try to cr…

There’s this book called “head trip: adventures on the wheel of consciousness” that puts forth the idea that there are many brain states, not just asleep and awake. The one just before falling asleep is a really wild one.

https://www.amazon.com/Head-Trip-Adventures-Wheel-Consciousn...