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Improving sleep

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Re: Improving sleep

#61

Post by jonifico »

In addition to what you mention:

- If you have sleep apnea that might explain why you wake up in the middle of the night, and there are treatments you could try.

- Wearing ear plugs (the ones that look like a screw) has helped me a lot, but I have to cut them to be able to sleep with them, since they do protrude from the ear and are uncomfortable.

- There's a simple trick to fall sleep again in the middle of the night: Set a specific time in the morning to write down the thoughts that worried you the most, with possible solutions. When you wake up in the night, think that you will attend your thoughts only the morning at the time you have specified, with some time you will see how you can fall sleep easier. (This is part of the solutions to attend the rumination thoughts)

- I highly recommend you watching this podcast with Matthew Walker, which is one of the most important scientist in this matter: https://youtu.be/gbQFSMayJxk

- As I have suffered insomnia for 20 years, but have improved a lot in the latest years, this thread is based in my own research: https://twitter.com/JuanPabloSarmi/status/168856844920991744...

Re: Improving sleep

#62

Post by formvoltron »

also: Huberman says get light in your eyes in the morning and evening. This anchors your circadian rhythm.

And if you take melatonin you only need 300 micro grams. Life extension brand sells these.

Re: Improving sleep

#63

Post by bookaway »

FirmwareBurner wrote: post #39
bookaway wrote: post #22

I don't use any of them, but I've heard firsthand from some like the author complaining about inaccurate data from devices like the Apple Watch and Oura, some getting rid of them due to this. Since the OP continues to use them, am I to understand there is no better alternative that is comparable on the comfort/ease-of-use/cost-effectiveness axis with these devices? The idea of making health decisions based on bad dat…

There's a Youtube channel from a Dutch researcher doing scientific tests on sleep and fitness tracking performance of wearables[1]. Ardently Apple devices and Oura are at the top in terms accuracy of what wearables can do, but if you want proper accuracy then you need to invest in dedicated sleep monitoring equipment as a watch on your wrist will never come close to electrodes on your head. [1] https://www.youtube.co…

Thanks, will check it out.

Just yesterday, someone was complaining about having gone a hike and his watch registering 10k distance, while the watches of the two others registered 6k. Was wondering how common a problem that was before I came across this article.

Re: Improving sleep

#64

Post by formvoltron »

Dowwie wrote: post #37
FirmwareBurner wrote: post #4

Biggest improvement to sleep quality I had was giving up caffeine, which isn't mentioned in this article. I'm inclined to bet, most people in the west who self report suffering form poor sleep, can narrow it down to caffeine over-consumption, since it leads you slowly to this march of death burning the candle at both ends where you drink coffee to compensate for poor sleep and you sleep poorly because of too much caf…

Coffee leads to dehydration. Drink several liters of water during the day and some people may be able to continue with morning coffee consumption.

> Coffee leads to dehydration. Drink several liters of water during the day and some people may be able to continue with morning coffee consumption.

This is a myth. Coffee has water in it. Just drink enough water from all sources.

Re: Improving sleep

#65

Post by totallywrong »

Tenoke wrote: post #10
bjornasm wrote: post #8

I think the biggest detriment to the quality of sleep is to start trying to improve sleep. It should not be a performance with self monitoring and evaluation.

The everpresent bad advice to get 8-9 or more hours of sleep definitely ruined my sleep experience for years when I'd keep trying and fail to do so.

Yeah as I get older my sleep cycle has naturally shorten. I wake up early most of the time, but come the weekend and that might be 2 or 3 hours later. Your body knows what you need, no need to force more bed time if you're getting proper rest.

Re: Improving sleep

#66

Post by raddan »

ansc wrote: post #45
currymj wrote: post #16

there is interesting historical research, which pops up from time to time, showing that people in many cultures before the advent of electric lighting commonly slept in two phases -- about 4 hours, a couple hours awake, and about 4 hours. i think it gets too strong when people claim that this is "natural" or "better" or something. but the historical evidence suggests it's at least "okay", and if you sometimes wake up…

Do you have a source? It sounds interesting and I always want this to be true, but with the natural circadian rhythm slightly longer than 24h and just the fact that most cultures adopt mono/biphasic (”siesta based”) sleep it seems surprising.

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/01/medieval-s...

Re: Improving sleep

#67

Post by vincelt »

FirmwareBurner wrote: post #39
bookaway wrote: post #22

I don't use any of them, but I've heard firsthand from some like the author complaining about inaccurate data from devices like the Apple Watch and Oura, some getting rid of them due to this. Since the OP continues to use them, am I to understand there is no better alternative that is comparable on the comfort/ease-of-use/cost-effectiveness axis with these devices? The idea of making health decisions based on bad dat…

There's a Youtube channel from a Dutch researcher doing scientific tests on sleep and fitness tracking performance of wearables[1]. Ardently Apple devices and Oura are at the top in terms accuracy of what wearables can do, but if you want proper accuracy then you need to invest in dedicated sleep monitoring equipment as a watch on your wrist will never come close to electrodes on your head. [1] https://www.youtube.co…

I love his channel and comparisons but at the end of the day the tests are on a population of 1 and I guess accuracy can highly fluctuate between persons.

Also in some videos I remember he was using the Dreem headband as comparison standard.

I bought the Dreem 2 when it came out as it seemed like finally an accurate sleep tracker but the software and recording were very dubious: every night that didn't fit in a perfect sleeping pattern it failed to give any useful data. I ended up sending it back and wouldn't trust much the results after that.

Re: Improving sleep

#68

Post by mattgreenrocks »

mberning wrote: post #50

They mention getting tested for sleep apnea and the difficulty of doing the study. It need not be difficult. I did an at home sleep study and got my results in a few days. It was easy and made a huge improvement on my sleep. Instead of getting up multiple times a night to pee, eat, or whatever, I generally stay asleep the whole time. On a side note, you can kind of do your own sleep study with a wellue/viatom o2 ring…

Those devices look pretty nifty! I wish I could rent one though.

Re: Improving sleep

#69

Post by vincelt »

nomilk wrote: post #2

How do you sleep with Airpods Pro's in? (wouldn't it be uncomfy, especially if sleeping on one's side?)

Sleeping on the side or front, there is a sweet spot I manage to find with soft pillows where it's not uncomfortable. The most annoying is the loud sound they emit when they're low on battery, though I think they finally added an accessibility setting to turn it down.

I try not getting used falling asleep with them on, but will wear them in the middle of the night as soon as the first noises wake me up.

Before I'd use a Bose QC35 but that was terrible on my neck and ears.

Re: Improving sleep

#70

Post by dherikb »

I will share what the changes that I did in my life to have a better sleep:

- 7-8 hours of sleep;

- Try to go to the bed at the same time everyday (for me around 22:00);

- Go to the gym (weightlifting) 4 times a week;

- Not have dinner after 19:30;

- Not drink anything with caffeine;

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