Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Why Can’t I Sleep?

ucsf.edu

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

101–110 of 288 posts

Re: Why Can’t I Sleep?

#101

Post by Majestic121 »

DixieDev wrote: post #98
bloqs wrote: post #91

I have yet to meet someone who complains about insomnia who actually accurately follows all of the advice. Notably usually absent or poorly followed: - waking up early, at the exact same time, every day. - as SOON as you get up, you need to eat a heavy breakfast of fats and protiens with as few carbs as possible. Some people think they are special snowflakes who "have never been able to eat in the morning", you need…

I don't know anyone without insomnia who does all that.

If they have insomnia they don't need to pay specific attention to those points

Re: Why Can’t I Sleep?

#102

Post by joncrane »

rapsey wrote: post #42
sarsway wrote: post #31

Always the same old advise. Sleep hygiene, exercise, caffeine. Anyone with chronic insomnia can tell you none of that really works. For me it's always been impossible to fall into a regular day/night routine, it's actually whenever I try to force it I'm starting to rapidly feel worse. So the solution has been to just flow with it, I sleep when I can, stay awake otherwise. It's fine and I feel good, the real problem t…

My insomnia was a result of a magnesium deficiency (also vitamin d)

Does timing of the dose matter? Meaning do you take the supplements right before bed, in the morning, etc?

Re: Why Can’t I Sleep?

#104

Post by enominezerum »

Over here I have the opposite. I can't stand waking up and will sleep for half the day if I can. Always have been like this. Morning are the worst.

Though, I would attribute this to my mom being a major nightowl and me being one as well. 2nd and 3rd shifts have been the highlight of my life, but those roles are so hard to come by that I just accept a WFH job where I skirt the system and work later while still handling the morning meetings as needed.

Re: Why Can’t I Sleep?

#105

Post by AnIdiotOnTheNet »

DixieDev wrote: post #98
bloqs wrote: post #91

I have yet to meet someone who complains about insomnia who actually accurately follows all of the advice. Notably usually absent or poorly followed: - waking up early, at the exact same time, every day. - as SOON as you get up, you need to eat a heavy breakfast of fats and protiens with as few carbs as possible. Some people think they are special snowflakes who "have never been able to eat in the morning", you need…

I don't know anyone without insomnia who does all that.

You probably also don't know any life-long skinny people who count calories.

Re: Why Can’t I Sleep?

#106

Post by Gene_Parmesan »

unishark wrote: post #36

> ...extreme night owls (who might naturally sleep, for example, from 2 to 10 a.m.)... Uh what's the next adjective after "extreme"? This reminds me of companies with so-called "flex time" where you have the option to come in as late as 9 if you want to.

Well, technically it's a disorder at that point - delayed sleep phase disorder, which I have secondary to ADHD.

Circadian rhythm is genetically determined and all long term studies of delayed sleep phase show it's essentially impossible to change. However it's one of those things that's a disorder only because it goes against what our societies expect.

I used to think I had insomnia for years, because I would try to sleep at "normal" times and struggled. When a sleep doctor suggested I change my sleep patterns to match my genetics, my perceived insomnia immediately disappeared. Now I just have to deal having with a sleep pattern that everyone else identifies as belonging to disaffected teenagers.

FWIW, a recent study found a physical cause for this - something about a genetic mutation that causes our sleep-signaling hormones to be created without the tails they usually have to navigate to the correct spots in the brain. So once again, the people claiming "It's just willpower" are proven wrong. Funny how the more we learn about the brain, the more we realize that willpower as a concept fully within our control doesn't necessarily exist.

Re: Why Can’t I Sleep?

#107

Post by foobiekr »

criddell wrote: post #92
sammorrowdrums wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I really wanted to love this book, and I was if anything biased heavily towards believing it. I read it cover to cover in less than a week. Sadly, I found that book made my sleep worse. (A quick Google will show I'm not alone). Also there is a lot of debate around the quality of the research underpinning the book, this is the most prominent article: https://guzey.com/books/why-we-sleep/ Also I really do not love his…

Walker responded to some of his critics here: https://sleepdiplomat.wordpress.com/2019/12/19/why-we-sleep-...

If anything the poor reasoning (almost all of which is weak correlations) on display on that page makes the criticism even more justified.

Re: Why Can’t I Sleep?

#108

Post by Cistro »

sudeepj wrote: post #14
Clampower wrote: post #4

Since about three weeks ago I cannot sleep. It’s very strange. I know the feeling of anxiety and how it leads to not sleeping, it’s something I’ve had in the past at very stressful jobs. I’ve learned techniques to deal with this, like breathing and mindfulness. But right now this feels different. I’m tired, I’m lying in bed, and I don’t have any stressful thoughts. Yet somehow I just don’t fall asleep. It feels like…

One thing which has helped me is to listen to a podcast or any audio of your favorite topic while lying down. Initially your mind will try to remain attentive but after 20 min or so it becomes harder. After a while you will feel so sleepy that you would want to stop the audio.

I use an Android app for this called "Simple sleep timer"; I set it to Fade out and close the youtube app after 30 minutes.

I've listened to the episodes of the same production for almost 3 years now; The Ricky Gervais show / podcast. Hilarious and lighthearted, always takes my mind off of anything else.

Re: Why Can’t I Sleep?

#109

Post by specialist »

I'm now sleeping pretty good, after decades of struggle.

TLDR: After trying everything, most of my insomnia was resolved thru surgery, done for unrelated reasons. So I encourage every one to keep looking, experimenting.

Here's my anecdata for what actually helps me sleep.

Most of my anxiety (insomnia) was due to pinched nerves in my spine. Resolved with surgery. This possibility was never considered, mentioned. None of my care providers quite believe me. Previously, I tried everything, eg meditation, therapy, drugs. None of it helped.

I no longer consume alcohol. Not a big deal for me.

I no longer consume caffeine. I'm told my genes (ADORA2A) makes me hypersensitive. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17329997/ I love coffee, so this change was super hard.

I wake with the sun. No curtains in my bedroom. It's awesome.

I go to bed around 7:30p. Usually asleep by 9:00p.

As a nudge, I have a 5:00a alarm play soft music. I allow myself to sleep in.

I got a very active dog. At 1yo, he required at least 8 mi/day (my steps, he does much more).

I still do much of the mindfulness, breathing, stretching, and PT exercises. I like it.

Like u/rapsey, I supplement with magnesium orotate. I have chronic cramping, clinching, spasms. (Think MS or ALS.) I found the other variants upset my tummy. I also take methocarbanol; one side effect is sleepiness.

Re: Why Can’t I Sleep?

#110

Post by banannaise »

AnIdiotOnTheNet wrote: post #105
DixieDev wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know anyone without insomnia who does all that.

You probably also don't know any life-long skinny people who count calories.

The point is that the "insomnia advice" is treated as "do literally all of these things, some of which are fairly oppressive lifestyle restrictions, or we will ignore your complaints of insomnia."

There's no recognition that there is variation between people and maybe we should make things easier for a diverse set of needs rather than forcing people to do a bunch of labor to comply with someone else's lifestyle.

Post reply on HN