Try sleeping in a place away from sources of RF/EMF.
Tent in the woods, log cabin, car even (not a Tesla though).
Why Can’t We Fall Asleep?
91–100 of 113 posts
Re: Why Can’t We Fall Asleep?
#92I'm surprised the article mentions the blue light problem and devices but does not talk about flux, it's a little app that shifts the color temperature of your display to match what you're supposed to see at your location given the time of day. So, after sunset your screen basically turns orange. Although it's a bit annoying and takes some getting used to, I've tried it on and off and whenever I'm using it I fall asl…
F.lux is available on jailbroken iPhones. https://justgetflux.com/ios.html
Re: Why Can’t We Fall Asleep?
#93I had a severe case of not being able to sleep if my mind was busy after dinner time e.g. coding, debugging, mentally solving a problem. Adjusting light temperature, using flux software etc. helped marginally, but never attacked the root of the problem. What really helped was meditation i.e. being able to take my mind away from everything & focus on /dev/null. It is like a magic button. I can fall asleep whenever I c…
Same experience here. For me it was two realizations: 1. Focusing awareness via meditation techniques is a great sleep aid. 2. When your mind is buzzing, it's because it thinks it needs to work through problems or solidify memories before it shuts down for the night. Sometimes it's right, and rather than fighting that: a. Give your mind other time to garbage collect than the moments before sleep; b. Don't feed your m…
> b. Don't feed your mind new problems in the last hour or two before bed.
This has always been the key problem, for me and I suspect for many others.
I need to be asleep by midnight or 1am if I want any chance of feeling okay the next day. That means I need to stop working around 10pm or earlier, to give my mind ample time to just fucking let go of whatever I was concentrating on. I can leave the laptop open, browse reddit, follow Twitter links, or watch TV. But the IDE and email have to close.
It sucks, it's hard, but I discovered sleep is pretty damn valuable, and most of the time what I'm working on isn't actually due at 7am the next morning.
Re: Why Can’t We Fall Asleep?
#94I had a severe case of not being able to sleep if my mind was busy after dinner time e.g. coding, debugging, mentally solving a problem. Adjusting light temperature, using flux software etc. helped marginally, but never attacked the root of the problem. What really helped was meditation i.e. being able to take my mind away from everything & focus on /dev/null. It is like a magic button. I can fall asleep whenever I c…
The magic button to wake up for me was having a schedule. I goto bed and wake up at the same time every day (even the weekends). It took me months, but forcing myself to physically get out of bed every morning did the trick. Now I wake up without an alarm clock.
Ugh. I love all these solutions and you're totally right, but...kids.
Re: Why Can’t We Fall Asleep?
#95I have not read the article (yet). I used to have trouble falling asleep, to the point where I was concerned enough to go to a doctor about it, but I never followed up after the first visit. Instead I not very intentionally made some adjustments on my own which resolved my situation: 1. No lights/noise. Get rid of all blinky things, particularly blue and green lights. Faint red lights are tolerable. Black electrical…
I used to take hours to fall asleep. Some things that helped a lot: 1. Twilight on android and on my laptop 2. Thicker curtains. 3. "Meditating" in bed with my eyes closed. My version of meditation is laying in bed with my eyes closed and actively trying to shut off all thoughts; at first it seems it's not working because I'm suddenly aware of everything around me and I feel more awake. But after 5-10 minutes I no lo…
Hah, that sounds very much like something I used to do when I was younger. I would focus on one muscle at a time intentionally making each relax as much as possible. Start at the top of my head and work my way down to my toes. Once I was fully relaxed I would focus on clearing my mind, emptying it of thoughts. See nothing, hear nothing (except maybe my breathing/heart beat).
I haven't had to do that in years. I really don't have trouble falling asleep anymore (much to my wife's dismay).
Re: Why Can’t We Fall Asleep?
#96I had a severe case of not being able to sleep if my mind was busy after dinner time e.g. coding, debugging, mentally solving a problem. Adjusting light temperature, using flux software etc. helped marginally, but never attacked the root of the problem. What really helped was meditation i.e. being able to take my mind away from everything & focus on /dev/null. It is like a magic button. I can fall asleep whenever I c…
What book?
1. "Mindfulness in Plain English" - Bhante Henepola Gunaratana. Really liked it & easy to follow.
2. "Peace Is Every Step: The Path of Mindfulness in Everyday Life" - Thich Nhat Hanh. Also good, but found it a bit repetitive. Maybe because I'd already gone through the first one.
Edit: My advice is to read the book so that you enjoy it. After a little bit of practice, you'll find that when you want to sleep, just meditate a little bit. The mind will feel lighter and you will automatically drift to sleep. Don't force yourself to shut off your mind, let it happen gradually. Observe yourself when you drift away. In short, cherish the process, don't take it as an exercise.
Re: Why Can’t We Fall Asleep?
#97But it may be that the most important aspect of sleep hygiene has to do with light I'm not convinced. The most important thing for sleep is your eating habits - if you want to wake up early eat very early dinners. If you want to wake up at 8 am, your last meal of the day should be at 6 pm ( 14 hours before that ). This works so well, that it overrides the effects of alcohol and caffeine and often even how tired you a…
Apparently you can use a similar trick to overcome jetlag by fasting. One of those articles might have more information about the 'food clock' overriding other timers. Though personally, I find the biggest difference in being able to sleep comes from avoiding screens and reading a book (or eink) instead.
Would it be safe to assume that reading from a Kindle Paperwhite with the backlight on is closer to being a screen than a book? I read mine very regularly at night and wonder if it's more effective to keep a lamp on and read with the backlight off (as opposed to reading in the dark with the backlight on and heavily dimmed).
Re: Why Can’t We Fall Asleep?
#98Earlier quoted context omitted.
Most likely he's referring to this book: B. Stahl & E. Goldstein, A Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Workbook
I'm curious why you say that. Where did you get that reference from? Looking through chdir's comment history, the only reference to a book regarding meditation and stress is Mindfulness in Plain English by Bhante Gunaratana. I'm interested in the book chdir's referring to as well.
You're probably right. The book I mentioned is the one I see most frequently recommended as a how-to guide to mindfulness. I have not read Mindfulness in Plain English, but judging by the title it sounds like a similar approach.
Re: Why Can’t We Fall Asleep?
#99Earlier quoted context omitted.
Apparently you can use a similar trick to overcome jetlag by fasting. One of those articles might have more information about the 'food clock' overriding other timers. Though personally, I find the biggest difference in being able to sleep comes from avoiding screens and reading a book (or eink) instead.
Would it be safe to assume that reading from a Kindle Paperwhite with the backlight on is closer to being a screen than a book? I read mine very regularly at night and wonder if it's more effective to keep a lamp on and read with the backlight off (as opposed to reading in the dark with the backlight on and heavily dimmed).
I'm honestly not sure -and I'm still using an original nook, so don't even have first hand anecdotal evidence.
I believe the issue is the frequency of light -computer screens tend to be on the bluer/whiter end of the spectrum -in fact if you look at apps like f-lux they try and help by changing your screen to be much more red; I'd also say that a monitor/tv is putting out substantially more light than your kindle. I'm also now wondering about the difference between looking directly at a lightsource (or reading from a backlit source) compared to indirect lighting; but once again I have neither the knowledge or references.
edit: (as I can't edit my original comment) I've just realised that I never mentioned suffering with extreme acid reflux so being hungry/empty stomach isn't really an option for me -and certainly stops me sleeping, which might well have a bearing on my anecdotal observations in the OP.
Re: Why Can’t We Fall Asleep?
#100Earlier quoted context omitted.
Try getting the Uvex S1933X glasses. They work for everything in your view (obviously) without messing around with software, and probably works better too. I have them, and they're amazing. I have pretty cool LED lighting in my apartment and can make my whole living room any color I want at night. If I set in to pure blue and put on the glasses, it's like being in pitch blackness (except a couple of items glow bright…
> I have pretty cool LED lighting in my apartment and can make my whole living room any color I want at night. This sounds very cool, any chance you could post a picture of your living room with some different colors?
It's summer in Norway here so it doesn't really get dark before my bedtime tonight, but here are some really short videos from a party a couple of months ago:
https://goo.gl/photos/PKyzv8HkCyVJSdzv7
Normally I have it set to a static color or a very slow and smooth fade, not the crazyness seen in the vids.
Here's blue, which is totally dark with the Uvex glasses: https://goo.gl/photos/SCrU1PhbDmCuPi22A