A military technique for falling asleep in two minutes • Hacker News Board

Re: A military technique for falling asleep in two minutes

#201

Post by kaycebasques » Tue, Sep 04, 2018, 3:57 PM UTC

fzeroracer wrote: post #76

Usually when I suffer from an inability to sleep it's because my mind ends up focusing too hard on things that ground me to reality. Existential dread, worrying about work, thinking about technical problems etc. So often my technique to fall asleep has been to focus my mind on the fantastical. Stimulate my imagination a bit, like what if I was a dwarf in a fantasy universe. This tends to focus my thoughts inwards and…

Beautiful! Thanks for sharing. It's cool to see so many others saying that they do the same thing.

I do this from time to time as an act of rebellion against the part of me that takes life too seriously. The speech that I give myself goes something like this: "You have this amazing mind that is capable of creating entire worlds. But you've been spending all of your time and energy worrying about stuff. Let's have some fun for a while and practice strengthening our imagination."

Re: A military technique for falling asleep in two minutes

#202

Post by mladenkovacevic » Tue, Sep 04, 2018, 4:08 PM UTC

fzeroracer wrote: post #76

Usually when I suffer from an inability to sleep it's because my mind ends up focusing too hard on things that ground me to reality. Existential dread, worrying about work, thinking about technical problems etc. So often my technique to fall asleep has been to focus my mind on the fantastical. Stimulate my imagination a bit, like what if I was a dwarf in a fantasy universe. This tends to focus my thoughts inwards and…

Yes I find that immediately before my brain falls asleep, my thoughts turn very abstract or even surreal.. like they don't make much sense.

It's hard to remember of an example right now because this all happens in some layer of subconsciousness and evaporates as soon as you fall asleep/wake up but it's something like "oh I'm just here smelling this colour and it kind of tastes like cinnamon."

Actually probably even more abstract than that, but that's the best I could do on short notice while fully awake.

Re: A military technique for falling asleep in two minutes

#203

Post by krylon » Tue, Sep 04, 2018, 4:10 PM UTC

glhaynes wrote: post #31

krylon wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have been listening to podcasts while falling asleep for years now, it has worked very well for me. It is just a little annoying to find one with a very consistent volume, so I can set the volume on my laptop to that goldilocks zone where I can understand everything without having to focus too much, while it is still quiet enough to let me sleep.(Astronomycast.com works wonders for me.)

I've had good success with the Sleep With Me podcast for this. https://www.sleepwithmepodcast.com

Thank you, I am going to give that a try! As if I could resist a virtual/fictitious candlelight dinner with Captain Picard! :)

Re: A military technique for falling asleep in two minutes

#204

Post by mladenkovacevic » Tue, Sep 04, 2018, 4:11 PM UTC

shrimp_emoji wrote: post #200

bokononon wrote: post #143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I also do this. Time-travel to Ancient Rome, winning the lottery, pandemic survival, going to Mars. I find I just start the scenario, and the imagination takes its own turns. It's like daydreaming and it's an enjoyable way of falling asleep quickly.

I just do abstract absurdism, like: what if a space ship was propelled by teddy bears? Bright lances of ionized teddy bears cleaving the sky in twain from distant torchships pulling out of parking orbit. Power armor visor stress test. Hammer. .50 cal. RPG. Someone just spilled neutronium. It eats through to the Earth's core. An algorithm iterates over all the atoms in the Universe, replacing every other with its anti…

Yes yes, this happens to me as well, but I don't make an effort to conjure these thoughts... they come on their own as I drift to sleep. Perhaps if your brain is too active at bed time, it needs a little boost to get it into sleep-mode, in which case intentionally creating these thoughts helps.

Re: A military technique for falling asleep in two minutes

#205

Post by tricky » Tue, Sep 04, 2018, 4:13 PM UTC

vorpalhex wrote: post #174

nstricevic wrote: post #136

I nap for 20 minutes every day at work (at my previous company, for 4 years or so and now since I'm working remotely). Here are my steps for taking a nap: 1. Find a good place to nap. Use the same place every day. I used to nap under my desk on a lazy bag at my last job. 2. Quickly find a comfortable position. Quickly fix everything that bothers you (like watch on your wrist or anything else that's making you uncomfo…

> a pillow isolates my left ear, while my right biceps isolates my right ear from sounds Have you experimented with any kind of ear plugs? I have really good hearing which makes falling asleep stressful if the house isn't otherwise quiet, even with white noise. I'd love to find a good set of ear plugs or ear muffs or something that can be worn to sleep. Like a sleep mask, but for your ears.

You might be able to use normal, foam earplugs. If you sleep on your side, only use one plug for the ear that's not on the pillow. You'll need to get used to having them in your ears, though. I wore them as much as possible (even during the day) for a few weeks until they didn't bother me. Now I sleep like a champ. The only downside is I cannot sleep w/o them.

Re: A military technique for falling asleep in two minutes

#206

Post by mladenkovacevic » Tue, Sep 04, 2018, 4:13 PM UTC

dingaling wrote: post #128

qualitative wrote: post #125

Okay, so what's the secret military method for curing hiccups?

Drink a mouthful of vinegar, in one go. The reflex defibrilates the diaphragm. I used to a sachet of vinegar in my daypack for that reason and it had 100% success with colleagues.

That's quite drastic. If you don't like the taste of pure vinegar here's my method. I inhale all the way, then while holding my breath drink a glass of water. Doesn't that work for everyone?

Re: A military technique for falling asleep in two minutes

#207

Post by elif » Tue, Sep 04, 2018, 4:38 PM UTC

mywacaday wrote: post #119

I'm not convinced its a military trick rather something forced by necessity. I used to be a terrible sleeper, it usually took an hour to fall asleep and would regularly wake for multiple 30-40 min periods during the night and wake up exhausted. We're now on baby no.2 and I can fall asleep in a few minutes any time from 6pm on. Just close my eyes and expect sleep and it comes. 10 minute power naps are great. The abili…

I have similar sleep powers after a thru hike (14-16 hours of exercise daily for months at a time, filthy, sometimes soaked, sleeping on inch of foam).

My SO will accidentally wake me up regularly, even have word with me, and then i'll be gone again in 10 seconds.

I can also stay up for way too long without feeling much discomfort.

Re: A military technique for falling asleep in two minutes

#208

Post by takinola » Tue, Sep 04, 2018, 4:43 PM UTC

fzeroracer wrote: post #76

Usually when I suffer from an inability to sleep it's because my mind ends up focusing too hard on things that ground me to reality. Existential dread, worrying about work, thinking about technical problems etc. So often my technique to fall asleep has been to focus my mind on the fantastical. Stimulate my imagination a bit, like what if I was a dwarf in a fantasy universe. This tends to focus my thoughts inwards and…

I am fascinated that so many people do this. I always thought I had discovered a little cheat code to sleep. I try to solve impossible technical problems (eg designing a perpetual motion machine, walk on water, space propulsion system to put humanity in Alpha Centauri.) I figure that if I don't fall asleep, I may just make some major breakthrough so it's worth it!

The other approach I take is to listen to a podcast that has an even emotional flow (99% invisible is a great one).

The common thread in all these approaches is that they help me stop thinking about the real issues in my life. It's easy to run a groove in your mind thinking about some very real problem you're dealing with and that makes it hard to fall asleep.

Re: A military technique for falling asleep in two minutes

#209

Post by swaggyBoatswain » Tue, Sep 04, 2018, 5:13 PM UTC

Personal hobby projects &/or learning things before I go to sleep. I find it hard to sleep unless I meet this quota everyday.

Second, sometimes I'll read math and/or nonfiction books. Those are never too exciting like fiction, so I end up falling asleep fairly consistently

Third, not doing work or using phone in bed.

Fourth - associating different postures with different conditional training. When I'm sitting or standing I'm almost always doing something productive. I sleep on my left side, so this is the cue to tell my brain to go to bed. I strictly enforce these disciplines, and will have never have my phone out when in this sleeping position

Fifth, using flux to have warmer color temps / less blue light on monitors before going to bed

Sixth, bedjet and bodypillow do wonders on aiding in sleep

Seventh, working out every 3 days or less helps me fall asleep. When I hit an awful sleep cycle, I do a 40 minute run that day to reset my body fatigue.

Re: A military technique for falling asleep in two minutes

#210

Post by laegooose » Tue, Sep 04, 2018, 5:31 PM UTC

ruminasean wrote: post #6

I've tried pretty much everything in the course of my lifelong insomnia, and still my nighttime mind racing is still consistent enough that it's literally my username across all my online apps ("rumination" plus my name). I've had some success with lavender drops right before bed, but I'll give this a shot too, because why not?

I had the same problem for years and technique that helped me is "to put day to rest". 30 minutes before sleep I write on paper all good and bad stuff that happened today, and everything that worries me right now. Last part is HUGE sometimes. Then, I write down when I will take care of every worry. It can be "tomorrow", "next week", "next month", "this year". It can't be "today".

Additionally, I don't work or talk or message 1 hour before bedtime.

Additionally, I implemented all advice from CBT-I. It took few months to develop a habit, and I'm feeling better every day now.