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Why Can’t I Sleep?

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Re: Why Can’t I Sleep?

#261

Post by yufeng66 »

wruza wrote: post #149

Ironically, I fixed my moderate chronic insomnia succesfully by going to a doctor with a completely unrelated( citation needed ) set of symptoms. My CBT therapist wanted me to fall asleep during the appointment to perform another technique, but obviously I could not. He said to not worry and explained a routine which I’m happy to share to those who didn’t try yet: - lay, relax, comfort^ - do not move further - do not…

I practice something similar to fall sleep. I play a bit ping pong and the body and wrist need to be very relaxed do to a short push. I just lay down in the bed and do the short push mentally. That way my body is relaxed automatically and I fall sleep in no time.

Re: Why Can’t I Sleep?

#262

Post by david-gpu »

SketchySeaBeast wrote: post #239
david-gpu wrote: post #215

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sleep paralysis is only frightening when you fight it. Instead, you can simply direct your attention inwards and daydream about something pleasant. Think of it as taking a little break from your everyday reality. Nothing bad is going to happen -- everything you experience in that state is a smoke scroll drawn from your imagination.

Whenever I have sleep paralysis it's not just the not moving, it's being half awake and KNOWING that there is someone in the house and I need to wake up my wife but I can't even move my hand enough or make a noise to do it. It's very hard to rationalize at those moment.

Direct your attention inwards. Repeat to yourself that everything is fine. Distract yourself with something silly like trying to visualize popcorn or s'mores. It can be done.

Re: Why Can’t I Sleep?

#263

Post by hotsauceror »

kristiandupont wrote: post #224
wruza wrote: post #149

Ironically, I fixed my moderate chronic insomnia succesfully by going to a doctor with a completely unrelated( citation needed ) set of symptoms. My CBT therapist wanted me to fall asleep during the appointment to perform another technique, but obviously I could not. He said to not worry and explained a routine which I’m happy to share to those who didn’t try yet: - lay, relax, comfort^ - do not move further - do not…

I perform an "optimized" version of this: I ask myself: "where's the tension?". Often, I realize quickly that I am flexing somewhere, and I just need to let go. [link redacted]

I think people carry a LOT more resting tension then they're ever aware of. Sitting at my keyboard, doing my thing for an hour or two, the building's not on fire just ordinary coding... If I stop and ask "am I tense, what do I feel right now?", in many, many cases I find my shoulders are almost clenched.

Keeping my feet flat on the ground, continually checking my shoulder tension, adjusting my ergo so that I don't continually feel an urge to lean forward, and having a chair with fantastic lumbar support have made a huge difference.

Re: Why Can’t I Sleep?

#264

Post by david-gpu »

lliamander wrote: post #226
david-gpu wrote: post #215

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sleep paralysis is only frightening when you fight it. Instead, you can simply direct your attention inwards and daydream about something pleasant. Think of it as taking a little break from your everyday reality. Nothing bad is going to happen -- everything you experience in that state is a smoke scroll drawn from your imagination.

> Sleep paralysis is only frightening when you fight it. But it's also really frustrating when you have an itch or if your in an awkward position where breathing is more difficult.

When I want to wake up, I direct my attention outward and take a deep breath. That will fully wake you up. Don't panic. If you do, remind yourself that you are safely laying on your bed and try again with an open curious mind.

Re: Why Can’t I Sleep?

#265

Post by emerged »

rootusrootus wrote: post #151
anonuser123456 wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is a genetic mutation that a small minority carry that allows them to sleep less (6.2 hrs average). You simply may be one of those people. Sleep duration is just a single metric; apnea, REM+NREM3 duration etc. all matter. You may be getting as much REM+NREM3 in 6.5 as someone gets in 8... and if you don't have apnea, you might get WAY more actual sleep than most people. I went through a period where I believed…

> just _stop_caring_ I agree with this. Worrying about the quality of my sleep caused me more sleep problems than it solved. I quit tracking my sleep, I go to bed when I'm tired and get out of bed when I wake up. E.g. I don't try to keep sleeping just because it's 4AM. My sleep quality has steadily improved as a result. Just roll with it.

I’ve done this at times and it always wound up putting me out of phase with normal hours. That quickly causes all sorts of scheduling catastrophes.

I have however found that being a bit short on sleep one night and making it up another works perfectly fine if your weekly average comes out ok. Another thing all the sleep articles claims isn’t possible.

Re: Why Can’t I Sleep?

#266

Post by lliamander »

david-gpu wrote: post #264
lliamander wrote: post #226

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Sleep paralysis is only frightening when you fight it. But it's also really frustrating when you have an itch or if your in an awkward position where breathing is more difficult.

When I want to wake up, I direct my attention outward and take a deep breath. That will fully wake you up. Don't panic. If you do, remind yourself that you are safely laying on your bed and try again with an open curious mind.

I have tried different tactics with no success, but fortunately I haven't had sleep paralysis in a long time.

Re: Why Can’t I Sleep?

#267

Post by SketchySeaBeast »

david-gpu wrote: post #262
SketchySeaBeast wrote: post #239

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Whenever I have sleep paralysis it's not just the not moving, it's being half awake and KNOWING that there is someone in the house and I need to wake up my wife but I can't even move my hand enough or make a noise to do it. It's very hard to rationalize at those moment.

Direct your attention inwards. Repeat to yourself that everything is fine. Distract yourself with something silly like trying to visualize popcorn or s'mores. It can be done.

Thankfully it doesn't happen THAT often (I'd avoid sleeping entirely otherwise), but next time if I can fight through the panic and realize what's going on I'll give it a shot. I'm so fuzzy when it occurs I struggle with rationality, which make sense given I'm literally half asleep.

Re: Why Can’t I Sleep?

#268

Post by makison »

godshatter wrote: post #156
makison wrote: post #129

I have found Huberman podcast incredibly helpful - in detail explanation(too much sometimes) of how brain works. There are 4 episodes(1.5h each) dedicated just to sleep. The whole podcast is great. https://youtu.be/nm1TxQj9IsQ

I just came across the Huberman podcast a few days ago after seeing him in an interview with (I think) Rich Roll. Fascinating stuff, it's already been helpful to me in a couple of different ways.

Yup, everything makes sense then .. until someone asks you to repeat it. Helped me a lot as well.

Re: Why Can’t I Sleep?

#269

Post by msrenee »

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…

Yep. Narcoleptic here. Sort of the opposite problem where I sleep 9 hours and wake up exhausted and continue to struggle until I fall asleep again. I mention that I'm tired and I get the whole maybe you're sleeping too much, don't look at screens before bed, try melatonin, maybe some caffeine will wake you up, get some exercise. I try not to take it out on anyone because they mean well, but if it's on the first page of Google when you look up exhausted after 8 hours of sleep, I promise you, I've tried it.

I did all the lifestyle changes. Then I got diagnosed. The drugs work. Nothing else besides low carb eating did before that.

Re: Why Can’t I Sleep?

#270

Post by cafard »

Jiocus wrote: post #256

I've read about this pattern often attributed to the military . For example, The Independent describes it[1] as, 1. Relax the muscles in your face, including tongue, jaw and the muscles around the eyes 2. Drop your shoulders as far down as they’ll go, followed by your upper and lower arm, one side at a time 3. Breathe out, relaxing your chest followed by your legs, starting from the thighs and working down 4. You sho…

Tried the canoe thing in the lake when I was a kid many many years ago. I recall the night before report cards were due, and there was a patch on the canoe that was clearly a report card (at my grade school they were about 11" by 14" folded in two).

These days I generally sleep soundly--the main difficulty is in getting to bed in time to get eight hours in before daylight.

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