Get better sleep – Anecdata and sleep tech

Sleep is about more than just measuring the time you were asleep. The amount of time spent in N3/4 (Deep Sleep) and REM sleep is very important.

The author is using sleep cycle on his phone, which is not a good method of tracking sleep cycles. He says "their ability to wake me in “non-deep” sleep pretty spot on" - you're not in deep sleep in the morning anyway, or very unlikely. So any "app" has a good chance of waking you from REM or N1/2.

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I used one of our early prototypes to win the Sleep World Championships (https://soundmind.co/blog/neurohacking-the-world-sleep-champ...).

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Echoing this, the GP comment was very familiar. I suffer from insomnia related to a mood disorder, and had tried the app approach. What worked best was some time with a psychologist using CBT & DBT methods. Note that DBT likely is only useful in certain circumstances, but CBT strategies will be useful to nearly everyone, and especially align with the type of person who reads this site.

I'd always poo-poohed counseling, but finding a good counselor who could offer more than a sympathetic ear was key. There are definitely great counselors, and a PhD isn't required, but I would recommend seeking out a psychologist. Especially if you are motivated and want to be involved with your therapy, a psychologist has the training and background to be exceedingly helpful. Note that this will cost more, but in my experience it is worth it.

Also note that you don't need to be crazy or suffering from any mental disorder for them to be helpful. Think of it as the same as employing a business strategy consultant. They are there to help you develop more beneficial strategies for thinking and reacting to your daily life, and sleep is just one factor. It sounds trite, but developing different ways of thinking and reacting to problems is huge. Unfortunately, there aren't one-size solutions, so what worked for me likely isn't helpful advice. But for the average reader of this site, seeking out a psychologist vs a regular counselor is money well spent.

I track sleep simply to note the amount, not quality. I tried a number of sleep trackers - Android apps, smartwatches - all of the "automated" solutions felt having spotty precision. Not talking about minutes, but hours, when I was staring at my phone or been awake without moving. The only precise auto trackers seem to be bulky headbands.

The most comfortable method I found is simply manual button pushing. I track my phone usage, and log time between screen-on time (+-10m to account for time to actually fall asleep). When I can't sleep for longer times, or get up for toilet, I quickly press the power button (phone lights up for a few sec accounting to screen time). I know this probably just _feels_ more precise and needs to have a phone around (generally not that good for sleep), but it still seems to be closer to what I experienced. It baffles me that all the gyro/heartrate based smartwatch platforms don't account for screen time this way.

No way! Tools like meditation, working out, micro-dosing, sleep hacking, running, mindfulness, etc can only be beneficial, just like a hammer can only hit nails and never fingers. /s

I've never tried the apps that claim to track your sleep, so I will not comment on those. But recently I was about to buy a consumer fitness band until I read a couple of technical reviews that show how they are all essentially worthless except for the Apple watch. Here is reviewed an iOS app but since the Apple watch is not mentioned, I don't know how precise his measurings are. IMHO the phone alone is not enough to track your sleep cycles meaningfully.

Anecdotally I've noticed that when I smoke weed I don't remember what I dreamt, every single time. I suspect it alters my sleep cycle in some way.