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I tried to hack my insomnia

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Re: I tried to hack my insomnia

#61

Post by forgotmypw »

klyrs wrote: post #31
forgotmypw wrote: post #28

Insomnia is a fake idea invented to promote the industrial work cycle. If you go to sleep when you're so tired, as opposed to when the societal clock says you should, you won't have any trouble sleeping.

> If you go to sleep when you're so tired, as opposed to when the societal clock says you should, you won't have any trouble sleeping. Great PMA, but you're absolutely wrong. I did that last night, got tired and went to bed around 10pm. And then I woke up at 1am. Now that it's approaching 6, I'm getting tired. But this happens to me occasionally and I know from past experience that my two options are: 1) Go back to b…

>I did that last night, got tired and went to bed around 10pm. And then I woke up at 1am. Now that it's approaching 6, I'm getting tired. But this happens to me occasionally and I know from past experience that my two options are:

>1) Go back to bed at around 7, wake up at 8 or 9, and feel awful all day

This is exactly what I'm talking about. Faced with this scenario, I would get up at 1AM, go back to bed around 7 or 8, and sleep into the afternoon. Wake up feeling great.

Re: I tried to hack my insomnia

#62

Post by GlenTheMachine »

anonuser123456 wrote: post #52
klyrs wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If you go to sleep when you're so tired, as opposed to when the societal clock says you should, you won't have any trouble sleeping. Great PMA, but you're absolutely wrong. I did that last night, got tired and went to bed around 10pm. And then I woke up at 1am. Now that it's approaching 6, I'm getting tired. But this happens to me occasionally and I know from past experience that my two options are: 1) Go back to b…

This happens to me. It's a nasty feedback loop where lack of sleep makes me hyper and too alert to sleep. I suspect the cause is high cortisol levels. Remeron/mirtazapine works really well for me as a reset to baseline. Talk to your Physician about it.

This is the one thing that finally, after four years, successfully treated my insomnia.

Re: I tried to hack my insomnia

#63

Post by Eric_WVGG »

Eric_WVGG wrote: post #59

I picked up very serious sleep problems (and seemingly permanent bags under my eyes) right around puberty and lived with it for about twenty years. Tried most of the "hacks" on this page (yes, including exercise) to no avail. It all unexpectedly went away when I moved into my current apartment. I have huge, unblocked, east-facing windows, and every morning I’m bathed in sunlight. No more sleeping in; I’m wide awake,…

“Huh, so maybe one of those seasonal-affect-disorder lamps would blah blah…” I’ve never been willing to try one as every one on the market is so ungodly ugly. There’s an opportunity out there for either a SAD bulb that could be added-on to a normal lamp, or an entire SAD lamp designed by an actual interior designer/artist.

Re: I tried to hack my insomnia

#64

Post by tanin »

Eric_WVGG wrote: post #59

I picked up very serious sleep problems (and seemingly permanent bags under my eyes) right around puberty and lived with it for about twenty years. Tried most of the "hacks" on this page (yes, including exercise) to no avail. It all unexpectedly went away when I moved into my current apartment. I have huge, unblocked, east-facing windows, and every morning I’m bathed in sunlight. No more sleeping in; I’m wide awake,…

I unscientifically believe that we shouldn't use an alarm clock or any kind of trigger to wake up.

My rational is: if your body has enough sleep, it'll wake up on its own.

On the flip side: it's actually very hard to sleep when your body doesn't need sleep.

On another flip side: it's easy to stay awake even though your body needs sleep.

With this, we should all sleep in a completely dark (blocked) room with no sound and etc. The "big unblocked east window in the bedroom" (unless the curtain blocks the light effectively) is a no for me.

I've read "why we sleep", and I get this conflict where:

1. The author believes in the no-trigger-to-wake-up as well.

2. Somehow I also get the impression that the author also believes that we should use sunlight as a trigger for waking up. We'd feel fresher. But wouldn't that cut off our sleep?

Re: I tried to hack my insomnia

#65

Post by 01100011 »

om3n wrote: post #21

I'm in a particularly stressful time in my life (just moved, intense new job) where I've been struggling to sleep. There will be some nights where I simply don't sleep at all; just lay awake in bed all night. Of course I'm aware of all the health/safety/productivity issues associated with no sleep, and the anxiety of not sleeping just furthers my inability to fall asleep. This is what I've been attempting to do to he…

Counterpoint: I started having the worst insomnia ever after I started lifting. I feel like my adrenaline level is higher now. I love lifting, and it has a lot of benefits, but for me, better sleep is not one of them. I also noticed it made my restless leg syndrome worse. Stretching and getting back on magnesium seems to have helped that, but my sleep quality and duration is still shit.

Re: I tried to hack my insomnia

#66

Post by climb_stealth »

magashna wrote: post #35
renaudg wrote: post #4

I've been using the Dreem headband for a year and a half and there are enough factual errors about it in this piece to make me distrust the rest of it. Firstly, it doesn't require leaving your smartphone on all night as she writes. Once started, it's autonomous (it even reportedly shuts down its onboard WiFi/BT, probably for power saving reasons but also to alleviate any fears about having an RF emitter so close to y…

I use sleep for android which has my sleep/wake times, heart rate, and I use the mic to record sleep talking. Doesn't really bother my privacy. If they want my insane ramblings from when I'm asleep that's fine with me. I sleep talk a lot and none of it makes any sense but it's good for a laugh. One of my favorites was talking about "the most beautiful sweater" for about 30 seconds

What is the app called you are using? Is it Sleep as Android? Thanks!

Re: I tried to hack my insomnia

#67

Post by 01100011 »

sharadov wrote: post #44
om3n wrote: post #21

I'm in a particularly stressful time in my life (just moved, intense new job) where I've been struggling to sleep. There will be some nights where I simply don't sleep at all; just lay awake in bed all night. Of course I'm aware of all the health/safety/productivity issues associated with no sleep, and the anxiety of not sleeping just furthers my inability to fall asleep. This is what I've been attempting to do to he…

I am not sure where you live and if you are open to trying it, but weed helps ( specifically an indica heavy blend).

Indicas give me hangovers. I've found sativas work better in the long run, but you have to wait for the euphoria and energy to wear off and that can sometimes take a while.

Re: I tried to hack my insomnia

#68

Post by Ftuuky »

aug_aug wrote: post #60
aivosha wrote: post #57

vitamin D deficiency. https://youtu.be/74F22bjBmqE

also magnesium supplements - I had some nervous system/restless leg issues and finally diagnosed as deficient in it, cured insomnia that was ongoing for months - just wanted to throw this out there

Thanks for the heads up. I do have restless legs and insomnia, let's try that magnesium. Is there a recommended dosage?

Re: I tried to hack my insomnia

#69

Post by quanticle »

tanin wrote: post #64
Eric_WVGG wrote: post #59

I picked up very serious sleep problems (and seemingly permanent bags under my eyes) right around puberty and lived with it for about twenty years. Tried most of the "hacks" on this page (yes, including exercise) to no avail. It all unexpectedly went away when I moved into my current apartment. I have huge, unblocked, east-facing windows, and every morning I’m bathed in sunlight. No more sleeping in; I’m wide awake,…

I unscientifically believe that we shouldn't use an alarm clock or any kind of trigger to wake up. My rational is: if your body has enough sleep, it'll wake up on its own. On the flip side: it's actually very hard to sleep when your body doesn't need sleep. On another flip side: it's easy to stay awake even though your body needs sleep. With this, we should all sleep in a completely dark (blocked) room with no sound…

The problem with that idea is that it completely misses the fact that most of us have to get up at a specific time in order to get to work or school or whatever else we have to do.

I tried the no-trigger approach for a while, when I was between jobs and didn't have anything to do otherwise. What I found out is that my natural schedule, without manual intervention, has me going to bed at approximately 2am and waking up at around 10:30-11am. When I regained employment, it was a pretty rough transition to go back to waking up at 7am again. After going through that experience, I'd caution people about buying into the no-trigger method. Yes, your brain will naturally get you the amount of sleep that you need. However, there is no guarantee that your natural sleep cycle will mesh with the other obligations you have in your life.

Re: I tried to hack my insomnia

#70

Post by agentwiggles »

kleborp wrote: post #50
koheripbal wrote: post #6

During a stressful part of my life recently I struggled with getting to sleep. I just couldn't stop thinking about shit that was going on. until one night I fell asleep on the couch in front of the TV, and it occurred to me that I could just modify this behaviour to bed. So I put a handful of old Star Trek episodes on my phone. Each night I put me earphones on (so as not to disturb my wife), turn on an episode of Sta…

I cannot fall asleep unless I have Zero Punctuation playing in the background. On Youtube they have started uploading hours-long compilation videos of his, and there are quite a few comments from other people saying it helps them sleep as well. A strange phenomenon.

When I was a kid, probably from ages 13-18 or so, I always fell asleep to a Harry Potter audiobook. I owned a copy of Half Blood Prince on CD (more accurately on 20 CDs) and I wouldn't bother changing out the disc (at least not that often), it was just some background noise to help me fall asleep.
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