11–20 of 21 posts
I've been an insomniac my whole life, so I suspect something like this is coming for me. This is why I'm building a sleep headband to monitor, adjust, and train for better sleep performance. If you're interested, check out https://soundmind.co
I’m 60 and fucked
This study was on people in their 60’s - 80’s, in case anyone else panicked after reading the title. I am literally in the middle of dealing with some of the worst sleep in my life, but am in my late 20’s. The idea that these problems could eventually result in Alzheimer’s is terrifying to me because my mind is literally who I am. Just a few years ago all these problems seemed so far into the future that they were ir…
This realization you mention is extremely odd and bizarre, yet so true. Another thing I've come to understand is how many things I do today will, over time and through cumulative effects, have long lasting, some irreversible, effects on my body. Obvious, yet surprising and strange when finally experienced and grasped.
It's sorta funny how the bill for something something I did over 20 years ago didn't come due until recently.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
This realization you mention is extremely odd and bizarre, yet so true. Another thing I've come to understand is how many things I do today will, over time and through cumulative effects, have long lasting, some irreversible, effects on my body. Obvious, yet surprising and strange when finally experienced and grasped.
For me at 40 it's cursing 16yo me for putting that motorbike through that fence and screwing me knee, 17yo me for lifting with a shoulder injury and 19yo me for playing football on wet astro-turf. It's sorta funny how the bill for something something I did over 20 years ago didn't come due until recently.
The biggie: no brain work of the problem solving variety less than 2-3 hours before bed time. This was the #1 thing! No coding, no reading coding books, no thinking about code. CODE IS THE WORST. It puts me in rumination mode, and you can't stop. I can do music practice, exercise, read books (that don't make me think about solving a problem), clean the house whatever. But I structure my day so that no computer work happens for those critical hours.
Little to no screens for the same period. Read on paper. If you need screens, redshift away all the blue light. NO social media at night. Getting worked up over bullshit does not help.
No caffeine less than 8 hours before bed. And much less caffeine over all. I have 2-3 coffees over the day, but they are 4 ounces.
Little alcohol in general. Half a glass of wine with dinner, and I'm good.
Running! Get running. Seriously, it's good for everything. If you can't run, find some similar cardio, but every athlete will tell you running is king. There's a reason even chess champs and pistol shooters run tons.
Try to get regular on your times. I shoot for 8 to 9 hours a night, and bed time is almost always between 10 and 11. I never use a reader in bed. But I will say that the above to me are more important than regular, in that I could handle 2-3 hours of jet lag fine last year with regular travelling if the others were all in order. I saved melatonin for travelling.
Over all though, I can't stress how much changing what kind of thinking and work I allow myself in the last 3 hours of the day changed EVERYTHING. Bigger than all the rest put together. Just structure your day so that you are winding down your brain. We can't just turn off like a light switch.
I've been a sleep fanatic for my whole life, as I do a bunch of things that are just a waste of time if overtired (practicing for playing music at a professional level etc).
Hope that helps some folks. iain