I've had a lifelong struggle with insomnia. Last year, I worked with a sleep therapist to help get things under control. I still have bad nights, and jet lag st

I've had a lifelong struggle with insomnia. Last year, I worked with a sleep therapist to help get things under control. I still have bad nights, and jet lag still messes me up. But I don't take nearly as much sick leave for insomnia as I used to. I had tried individual "sleep hygiene" things over the years with little success. She helped me realize that I was running a system that lent itself to bad sleep. Single changes were unlikely to help. For me in particular, keeping a regular routine, getting sunlight exposure, and minimizing caffeine were important. It's amazing how much impact a few fundamentals have. Normally, I would fall asleep anytime from 12 to 3 and wake up between 8 and 9. I committed to falling asleep at 11:00, waking up at 7:00 every day and immediately going for a walk. Ordinarily I would have resisted these measures, but I had been in a bout with insomnia for months at that point. I was willing to try anything. Over time, this helped set a regular rhythm. I was also overcaffeinating myself. She gave me some helpful guidelines for determining when I've had too much coffee. This amounted to taking the half-life of caffeine, measuring how much will still be in your bloodstream at bedtime, and asking yourself, "Would you drink that much coffee at that time?" I also would use caffeine to fix bad nights of sleep. She suggested replacing extra caffeine with midday walks. This helped quite a bit. I don't have problems falling asleep (just staying asleep), but she recommended wearing orange safety glasses that block blue light. I would feel sleepier before bedtime when I did this. I didn't keep this measure going, but I still have them in case I ever have trouble falling asleep. I also wear a sleep mask, which is the single-best change I've made. This came with some sacrifices. I went on a beach vacation with some friends last year, and I went to bed at 11 while they all stayed up until 1. This created a weird dynamic. But I had just started to overcome my severe insomnia bout, so I didn't want to throw it all away. Now, I find myself continuing to stick with the schedule because I know that I get results. This means that I leave a lot of events earlier than other people. But it feels easier to say "no" now that I'm in my 30s. It also had some benefits. I now have an hour and a half before work that I use for side projects. It turns out that despite my mental model of being a night owl, I'm actually very productive in the morning. I've maintained a regular writing schedule and have managed to do some side project work. Previously, I had struggled to fit time in for these things.