15 points by rookie123 4 days ago
Hello fellow HN guys, My work mostly ends around 9 to 10:00 PM. I have this hangover of spending a few hours after dinner so it ends up me being able to sleep around 12:00PM-1:00 AM which is very late. What can I do to get to sleep early?
Thanks!
My mother taught me something similar as a child. She called it “jellyfish” and the challenge was to be completely relaxed in every muscle. Later I added a simple mental exercise (visualizing each letter of the alphabet sequentially). As an adult I sleep on demand; anywhere, anytime. I know it isn’t this “easy” for everyone (not really easy, it took a lot of practice).
So, I work until 10 or so and just head to bed. I’m almost always out in less than 10 minutes.
Yes, something like that. Become aware of every single part of the body step by step, but remember that the goal is to relax and fall asleep. So there is no pressure to work for 60 minutes and try to stay awake to complete all body parts.
You can do this in the morning when you wake up as well. It's a great way to start your day.
As people have pointed out, your work schedule is a problem.
More importantly I think the key to managing sleep is managing the night before. It's WAY too easy to be randomly distracted by Netflix, Insta, TikTok, dating apps, messenger, whatever else that keep your mind racing until the point where you're expected to put your device down and just fall asleep.
You gotta get proactive about managing this. For me, I go to bed at 9:30 to fall asleep at 10:30. I use an app called Jomo that bans me from using any apps that could distract me unless I enter a long random code, which is enough to dissuade me in 90% of cases. I also have room mates who stay up late and watch TV, so I set an alarm at 9:30 that acts as a circuit breaker otherwise I stay up chatting to them all night.
If you're working until 9 pm either 1. You need to sleep in and start work around 12:00. Now staying up until 1 doesn't matter 2. Stop working until 9pm
Fixing my sleep schedule is a still a WIP but some things that have helped so far: - an app/site blocker on all devices with scheduling that is non-trivial to bypass (I block literally everything including my IDE so I don't get sucked into a side project instead of sleeping) - placing my phone/charger in another room - refraining from caffeine 6 hrs before bed and screens 1 hr before - black out blinds and electrical tape over any lights
But like others have mentioned, your work schedule makes this problem particularly tough.
I find that energy drinks help me sleep better. If I have some strong in the morning despite not at all needing one, I'll be more tired and ready to sleep that evening.
It probably has not-healthy side effects so I'd not recommend this day-to-day for anyone, try to avoid this myself as well.
Coffee and energy drinks saturate the receptors in your brain that trigger tiredness, such that you don't feel tired.
You brain, in response, build more of those. That's why coffee is less efficient over time, and why you feel more tired without coffee when you are used to drink some'
I'm sure this is what's happening long-term, but would this have any effect within a single day?
Set your alarm clock for an earlier time so that you want to go to bed earlier in the evening. And avoid putting off your evening sleep with random entertainment. Plan your time around work (both morning and evening), make sure your sleep hygiene is good (cold and dark room).
1. Don't overthink this
2. Focus on sleep quality not only the duration
3. Do power naps during the day
Especially when it includes a meal, two hours of chilling after work and before bed is something that you should ideally have
and when it doesn’t work, propiomazine, trazodone, or when these don’t work, alimemazine to really put you in bed
Find time to exercise. Kick caffeine easy to say, harder to do but totally worth it.
tire your body and mind.
more intellectual stuff, more physical stuff.
ironically you want better quality of sleep, not quantity.
After I go to bed and read a few pages, I do a mindfull excercise where I focus on every single muscle from my toes to my hands for about five seconds. This helps me get to sleep faster.
How do you usually structure your day to get to bed earlier, I can't answer that one.