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Less Coffee, Better Sleep

marginalia.nu

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Re: Less Coffee, Better Sleep

#61

Post by Schiendelman »

mostlyk wrote: post #32

I want to get better sleep but can not maintain a proper schedule due to university, 2 days a week it's waking up at 8 AM and otherwise 10 AM/11 AM. I usually have coffee at Morning and a light coffee at 5 PM, it generally helps to do more work because I feel like I want to sit and work. Otherwise I'd dopamine max or play a sport. Any tips on improving sleep? (It's simply not possible to follow a strict schedule due…

As the others have commented, wake up at the same time every day. It's really important. It will help. It will take weeks or months to help, don't decide it's not working after a few days.

Re: Less Coffee, Better Sleep

#62

Post by esseph »

toasty228 wrote: post #55
maccard wrote: post #21

I’ve always struggled with sleep. A few things that helped me (in order of importance) - go to bed and get up at the same time every day. Getting up is more important than going to bed. - no phone in bed, and limit stimulating activities (intense video games, programming, planning the vacation etc) to 90 minutes before bed. I read during that time but TV, cleaning, music, whatever works. - a bad nights sleep will hap…

A 30-60min walk around the block before bed does wonders too

Very much depends on the person.

If I went for an hour walk late at night I'm going to be up for hours and hours and hours.

Re: Less Coffee, Better Sleep

#63

Post by esseph »

foft wrote: post #11

Cutting coffee to just the morning definitely helped me. My problem now is that if I think of anything vaguely interesting in the evening then my brain refuses to stop thinking about it. That and restless legs. Evening if my main time for hobby projects so having them lead to disrupted sleep is really annoying. Any tips?

> That and restless legs.

Magnesium glycinate

Re: Less Coffee, Better Sleep

#64

Post by PyWoody »

maccard wrote: post #21

I’ve always struggled with sleep. A few things that helped me (in order of importance) - go to bed and get up at the same time every day. Getting up is more important than going to bed. - no phone in bed, and limit stimulating activities (intense video games, programming, planning the vacation etc) to 90 minutes before bed. I read during that time but TV, cleaning, music, whatever works. - a bad nights sleep will hap…

  - a bad nights sleep will happen, often a few nights in a row. Be ok with that (easier said than done, I did CBT for this). Instead of lying in bed restless get up and watch TV, or read.
This is the hardest one for me. I'm currently working on about 20 minutes of sleep and I know tonight will probably be the same. I'll lie in bed knowing I should get up and do something to shake the cobwebs out but I'm stuck in a purgatory between exhaustion and restlessness.

Do you have any advice for getting over the initial hump?

Re: Less Coffee, Better Sleep

#65

Post by CapsAdmin »

Schiendelman wrote: post #60
CapsAdmin wrote: post #28

Whenever I stop drinking coffee for a few days or even months, I find that it becomes harder to wake up. I seem to sleep a lot heavier, but in the morning it's difficult to open my eyes as they feel heavy. It doesn't matter if I have 1 cup in the morning or drink coffee all day. As long as I have it in my system from the previous day, it's very easy to wake up the next day.

Do you track exactly how much sleep you actually get? Like with a device, not with a journal. That sounds like you may be aren't getting enough sleep, consistently.

I've tracked it for a few years with whatever the latest samsung watch is, and it usually says it's good to excellent.

My total sleep time is about 6 hours. deep sleep is about 1 hour and 30 min. rem sleep is about 1 hour and 20 min.

I usually go to bed around 11pm and wake up at 6 am (give or take, I'm married)

It does however warn me about bad sleep if I've been drinking, have a fever, traveling across timezones, or staying up very late for some reason. One of these things may happen every 2 months or so.

I feel mentally good, I'm in shape and in general good health according to yearly checkups. I've been drinking coffee for about 18 years now.

Re: Less Coffee, Better Sleep

#66

Post by DougN7 »

PyWoody wrote: post #64
maccard wrote: post #21

I’ve always struggled with sleep. A few things that helped me (in order of importance) - go to bed and get up at the same time every day. Getting up is more important than going to bed. - no phone in bed, and limit stimulating activities (intense video games, programming, planning the vacation etc) to 90 minutes before bed. I read during that time but TV, cleaning, music, whatever works. - a bad nights sleep will hap…

- a bad nights sleep will happen, often a few nights in a row. Be ok with that (easier said than done, I did CBT for this). Instead of lying in bed restless get up and watch TV, or read. This is the hardest one for me. I'm currently working on about 20 minutes of sleep and I know tonight will probably be the same. I'll lie in bed knowing I should get up and do something to shake the cobwebs out but I'm stuck in a pur…

Not the above poster but lookup “sleep hygiene”. A lot of the recommendations are solid and have helped me too, especially about fixing a regular sleep schedule.

Re: Less Coffee, Better Sleep

#67

Post by voxgen »

majorbugger wrote: post #2

For many people this might make a massive difference. But people are not equally sensitive to caffeine.

Fully agree. I can drink coffee until 6pm and soft drinks until 9pm without impact to my sleep. There's little point in me moderating my caffeine intake.

Light, sleep time regularity, and exercise make a much more noticeable difference. That's where I should spend effort if I want to improve my sleep.

Re: Less Coffee, Better Sleep

#68

Post by Schiendelman »

CapsAdmin wrote: post #65
Schiendelman wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you track exactly how much sleep you actually get? Like with a device, not with a journal. That sounds like you may be aren't getting enough sleep, consistently.

I've tracked it for a few years with whatever the latest samsung watch is, and it usually says it's good to excellent. My total sleep time is about 6 hours. deep sleep is about 1 hour and 30 min. rem sleep is about 1 hour and 20 min. I usually go to bed around 11pm and wake up at 6 am (give or take, I'm married) It does however warn me about bad sleep if I've been drinking, have a fever, traveling across timezones, o…

You have good habits. I think six hours may be leaving you with sleep deprivation, though. Despite a lot of pop science about different people needing different amounts of sleep, it seems pretty likely that the overnight chemistry just takes a certain amount of time.

Re: Less Coffee, Better Sleep

#69

Post by chedabob »

fredski42 wrote: post #37
chedabob wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I always aim to stop doing anything with high cognitive load at least half an hour before getting ready for bed. Not necessarily no screen time, but coding stops, and the remaining time is spent gaming or watching TV, or I go to bed early and read.

Reading a dead tree book or using an ereader? I read before sleeping on my iPhone. I just bought an ereader to hopefully avoid this and sleep better.

E-reader. Went for the latest Kindle Paperwhite as it can adjust the colour temperature as well.

Re: Less Coffee, Better Sleep

#70

Post by maccard »

tigerlily wrote: post #30
maccard wrote: post #21

I’ve always struggled with sleep. A few things that helped me (in order of importance) - go to bed and get up at the same time every day. Getting up is more important than going to bed. - no phone in bed, and limit stimulating activities (intense video games, programming, planning the vacation etc) to 90 minutes before bed. I read during that time but TV, cleaning, music, whatever works. - a bad nights sleep will hap…

Huh, this'll probably do more than just improve sleep.

I won’t claim to have any qualifications but generally the more I look after myself the better I sleep. The better I sleep the more I can look after myself.
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