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The Stages of Insomnia

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Re: The Stages of Insomnia

#51

Post by mabcat »

climb_stealth wrote: post #42
kabdib wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is precisely what I do. Pretty much anything that sends my mind off into a cool direction works well. Some narrators are better than others (Stefan Rudnicki has a great voice, and William Dufris does a wonderful job of voicing characters). I searched high and low for headphones that I can sleep in. I can't sleep on my back, so big cans are right out. I hate earbuds and things that poke into my ear canal, and hea…

Please do mention the actual product! I like to listen to music in bed sometimes but having to lie on my back stops me from really enjoying it. There is no issue with recommending products on HN AFAIK. I have come across some great products after recommendations on here in the past.

I find that Airpods Non-Pro will stay in when I'm on my side and when I roll over. I'm a terrible sleeper and change position a fair bit, but there's no problem falling asleep with them in. I often wake up with them both still in.

Re: The Stages of Insomnia

#52

Post by biolurker1 »

forgotmypw17 wrote: post #43

I think insomnia is a way of blaming a human for not being on the industrial day cycle. I don't think there is anything wrong with staying up late through the night and sleeping into the day. If I am not falling asleep, I get up and work on something, rather than allowing myself to become attached to the idea of going to sleep at a certain time. When I feel so tired that I have no choice but to pass out, that is when…

What if some people due to stress can do this for 24h cutting in half effectively their sleep to an average of 4h which is thought to be very bad for health?

Re: The Stages of Insomnia

#53

Post by Expez »

anm89 wrote: post #49

I've started to listen to hours long super dry economics podcasts every night and it works better than anything I've ever done to knock me out and as a side effect I've learned a ton. The problem is it usually also eventually wakes me back up but I usually am able to quickly fall back to sleep.

Get one of the apps with a sleep timer :)

Re: The Stages of Insomnia

#54

Post by Cthulhu_ »

vinni2 wrote: post #36

Most of the comments here seem to focus on one type of insomnia — falling asleep. Most of the time I can easily fall asleep but I often wake up in the middle of the night or very early in the morning for no reason and I can’t go back to sleep.

My girlfriend's son had that, but then he was diagnosed with ADHD.

Re: The Stages of Insomnia

#55

Post by trabant00 »

mettamage wrote: post #50
vinni2 wrote: post #36

Most of the comments here seem to focus on one type of insomnia — falling asleep. Most of the time I can easily fall asleep but I often wake up in the middle of the night or very early in the morning for no reason and I can’t go back to sleep.

I've had this too, but nowadays I go to sleep fine. I've made and seen a few adjustments: - Use a sleep mask and earplugs, or do the poor man's version like I do (pillow on the top of your head). - Get into a situation where you can't feel stressed. I'm in that situation right now. I feel too underpaid to be stressed. In that sense, being underpaid is much more of a good thing than a bad thing, since my performance i…

> I feel too underpaid to be stressed. In that sense, being underpaid is much more of a good thing than a bad thing, since my performance is good enough

Being underpaid allows me to switch jobs very easy so that I don't have to compromise on my values. I now see the ones being overpaid as being in a trap.

Re: The Stages of Insomnia

#56

Post by forgotmypw17 »

biolurker1 wrote: post #52
forgotmypw17 wrote: post #43

I think insomnia is a way of blaming a human for not being on the industrial day cycle. I don't think there is anything wrong with staying up late through the night and sleeping into the day. If I am not falling asleep, I get up and work on something, rather than allowing myself to become attached to the idea of going to sleep at a certain time. When I feel so tired that I have no choice but to pass out, that is when…

What if some people due to stress can do this for 24h cutting in half effectively their sleep to an average of 4h which is thought to be very bad for health?

Well, stress is indeed bad for health.

And so is undersleeping.

My strategy is two-fold: 1. Don't sleep when you don't want to. 2. Sleep as much as you want when you do.

Your scenario seems to skip the second part, which is also important.

Re: The Stages of Insomnia

#57

Post by raducu »

vinni2 wrote: post #36

Most of the comments here seem to focus on one type of insomnia — falling asleep. Most of the time I can easily fall asleep but I often wake up in the middle of the night or very early in the morning for no reason and I can’t go back to sleep.

I've been this way since teenage years -- very light sleep, once I wake up its hard to go back to sleep, and I've had long periods where I could not fall asleep for hours.

It was all related to stress and anxiety and perhaps lower natural melatonin production.

300 mcg of melatonin helps tremendously with falling asleep, and after a week or so of usage, I find I no longer need it, I can fall asleep naturally until the next bout of anxiety/anger/depression.

I know antihistamines help me stay asleep, but I try to stay away from them.

What I've found works great for staying asleep is reducing stress and anxiety, no stimulants (after having COVID-19 I quit all stimulants because I haven't had my heart checked yet).

Re: The Stages of Insomnia

#58

Post by raducu »

scrooched_moose wrote: post #48
vinni2 wrote: post #36

Most of the comments here seem to focus on one type of insomnia — falling asleep. Most of the time I can easily fall asleep but I often wake up in the middle of the night or very early in the morning for no reason and I can’t go back to sleep.

Mine is similar. Can easily fall into a light sleep which lasts about 30 minutes, then I wake up. I've never been able to figure out of it's something environmental pulling me out, or just me. Those 30 minutes are just enough of a power nap I'm up until 4:00am. At this point I know trying to go back to sleep is futile so I just get up and go do something productive.

Try 300-450 mcg of melatonin -- I get 5 hours of good sleep this way.

I hope I can find some slow release, 300mcg melatonin to take after my melatonin drops to extend this great sleep to 8 hours.

Re: The Stages of Insomnia

#59

Post by bookofjoe »

ineedasername wrote: post #34

This is why I listen to audiobooks when trying to fall asleep. If I can't fall asleep, I'd rather someone read me a bedtime story than have my own thoughts bouncing around the inside of my head all night.

Regarding audiobooks: John le Carré reading his own work is sublime — he does all the voices and accents and they are wonderful.

Re: The Stages of Insomnia

#60

Post by mckirk »

dimeatree wrote: post #22

As with others I have been suffering from frequent attacks of insomnia over my life, while anecdotal I have found my stack that has been working for me for the past 4 months. - Supplement L-Tryptophan - 350 mg Magnesium Carbonate before bed - 3 mg melatonin (bioavailability is claimed to be between 10~15% - was on 10 mg but I found I was waking up too frequently) - 10 minute meditation with calm app - Timed air con.…

It might be worth it to experiment with a lower dose of Melatonin -- 3mg is still way above the .3-1mg dose usually seen as 'most effective'. (See https://slatestarcodex.com/2018/07/10/melatonin-much-more-th...)
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