Ask HN: What helped you sleep better? What habits, gadgets or lack of helped you sleep better? As I heal from my chronic mental problems (CPTSD) I notice more and more how sleep affects my emotional stability, anxiety levels and productivity. I ditched alcohol, try to have a regular sleep schedule and lowered my caffeine intake especially in the second part of the day. |
Zero caffeinated drinks. See a sleep doctor at least once a year.
Night routine: Ear plugs. Night eye mask. Mouth guard. zzzquil If I do not feel sleepy by designates sleep time. I budget 9h for sleep.
Also taking a shower before going to bed, no screen time, light reading before bed, and not drinking water ~2 hours before bed.
Exercise, cutting caffeine to basically 0, f.lux to control blue light at night, eye mask, ear plugs.
Things that didn't work for me:
* not eating late
* meditation
I used to read a LOT of politics/news before sleep. No more of that!
Standing floor fan from Amazon for white noise.
No caffeine after 12pm.
But I'm 90% sure cutting the caffine was the magic bullet.
When I'm going to the gym regularly / having sufficient physical activity, I noticed that I slept better as well. Not from exhaustion, but simply a more restful sleep.
As I age... cutting coffee and sugars earlier in the day. As others have said, alcohol can keep you up all night burning through those sugars.
Regularity in sleep matters too. We stayed up too late last night watching movies and even though I was exhausted, I didn't sleep restfully. Better to go to sleep at a regular time and awaken at a normal time too. If your schedule is flexible, there's a lot to be said for letting your body awaken when it is ready rather than by alarm clock.
Unless you have something clearly medical going on, I'm not personally keen on the various supplements or drugs.
One other thought - now that I have my cpap, I don't find myself needing to nap in the afternoons quite so much. That said, I think there is a lot to be said for siesta and for understanding the seasons. It's darn hot where I am right now, and the smart thing to do is basically get up early with the sun and work while it is still cool, then nap in the afternoons while it is so hot. Seasons definitely have an impact on sleep.
edit: I also think there's something to be said for eating in moderation. Big meals might temporarily make you want to fall asleep, but then you've got all that energy to burn and you wake up in the middle of the night. Or, it gives you heartburn, etc and wakes you up. Or you find yourself having to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night.
1) Consistent exercise
2) Eating reasonably healthy
3) Avoid blue light after dark as much as possible
4) No eating after 8pm (water and herbal tea are fine).
5) No problem solving after 8pm
6) No caffeine after 3pm. (I usually have a couple of cups of tea in the morning)
Basically I feel like my body needs to be physically tired and well fed to need sleep, and then it needs to be warned in advance that the day is over and we're winding down: stop eating, stop working, use lights that don't mimic daylight (including screen if possible) but instead mimic candle/firelight.
I’ve been listening to audiobooks and podcasts for years and that helped better than not, but turning the radiator off and ensuring the bedroom was cold meant the vast majority of nights meant I went from listening at least an hour a night to often falling asleep within 15mins or less.
I had read Why We Sleep by Matthew Walker and I highly recommend it. Changed my attitude completely - it’s now higher priority.
Ditching alcohol is definitely a good idea. At least don't drink too much and too soon before sleep (e.g. lunch is ok)
Eat lightly in the evening, avoiding fatty/hard to digest stuff (meat, cheese...). Preferably long before sleep.
For me, caffeine has an adverse effect even at very low doses in the morning. Looks like the effect lasts several days. I need to stop caffeine for 1-2 weeks before I notice a real improvement. This means I often give up and start having coffee again.
Exercise is also weird: running generally makes me sleep badly, probably because too intense on a cardio level. Biking seems better but I don't like/do it much. Swimming works wonders for me (but needs to be intense enough to feel tired)
Watching TV before bed not a good idea. Avoid thrillers/violent stuff and reduce the brightness of your screen. The default settings are often very bright.
Tried a lot of supplements but not sure anything really helped. Maybe magnesium did, for a while. Some plant based supplements were awful for me (ashwaganda, etcholtzia, rhodiola, and others) I now avoid them all. Herbal tea makes me wanna pee in the middle of the night.
If you can get your routine down well enough, your body will get into a natural rhythm.
I haven't even used an alarm clock in I don't know how many years. Now that I have a routine my body just knows when to wake up and when to sleep.
Honarable mentions: Audiobooks, Sleep Masks / Blackout Curtains
1. I cut my caffeine intake to zero.
2. I forced myself to sleep at about the same time each night. (most important)
3. I stopped using alarms. I wake up when I need to.
4. I wear a sleeping mask which helps me get an hour more of sleep. Otherwise I'd be awake at the first lights of dawn.
Best things for me were: 1) Exercise but not too close to bed time 2) Sleep meditations on the Insight Timer app 3) Making sure I don't get too hot in the night. 4) Very dark room 5) Headphones/ear plugs to block out sensitivity to every little noise 6) No coffee or alcohol 7) Only relaxing books/shows before bed
Second, totally dark room and a dawn simulating alarm clock to wake up gently.
I also found out that there are scents that help getting asleep, but still have to try them.
Cold room, the book "why we sleep" recommends 17 to 17.5 degrees Celsius. Wear socks if feet get cold.
Stopped all caffeine intake.
Mediation in bed before sleep (though for some people they find it harder to sleep after meditation).
Out of all of these it's blackout blinds and cold room that helps me the most.
Also recommended: try and stick to a regular sleep and wake time, the earlier the better.
The best results I have achieved when seeking better sleep is good nutrition, not eating too close to bed, and exercise. Simple as that but thankfully I'm otherwise healthy person. On top of that, I every once in a while do yoga nidra if I happen to not be able to sleep with quite good results at least personally.
Did all the sleep hygiene stuff and supplements, even a bit of self-taught CBT. It's not useless - it most definitely makes a difference. But when push comes to shove, only drugs really help. The question becomes: what can I safely take for many years, which works well enough. I'm currently ok with microdoses of mirtazapine (under 1mg). And I'm testing doxepin (~5mg). To note, my main issue is terminal/maintenance insomnia, not falling asleep.
- magnesium helps some people but I already take a lot of it and am replete so I can’t tell the difference
- sufficient physical activity (i.e. 10k steps or equivalent)
- well-designed sleep mask that leaves room around the eyes
Eyemasks are also effective, but (1) you have to tolerate having something on your face and (2) they can get dislodged while you are sleeping, rendering them ineffective.
I have more time now and I do sports more because of that. I noticed it makes me sleep 1 hour more to recover.
And yes, my mood is better too.
Ps. Because of sports, i almost don't drink anything but water/milk.