3 ms·
I've been having success over the last month at dramatically improving my sleep, and I'll say that bi-phasic or letting go of the anxiety of being awake in the
by linsomniac 5y ago
I've been having success over the last month at dramatically improving my sleep, and I'll say that bi-phasic or letting go of the anxiety of being awake in the middle of the night, is my last go-to related to sleep, behind a bunch of other things.
What has really worked for me, and YMMV, as measured by a good 10-15 points a night as measured by my fitbit (admittedly a crude tool, but backed up by just feeling less fatigued during the day) is:
- Getting up consistently and early, and not snoozing the alarm. For me, that time is 5:30, which gives me time to work out.
- Going to bed 8 hours before that. Yes, 9:30.
- I take a 5mg melatonin and benadryl before bed.
- I start my bedtime routine around 9-9:30. This includes putting away the laptop and phone, and reading a book, magazine, or kindle.
- I stop drinking around 5pm. Fluids later in the evening were waking me up 3-5 times during the night to pee. Hydrating well earlier in the day reduces this to 1.
I started off doing that "Algorithmic Solution to Insomnia" [1] that was posted over the holidays, but I really didn't end up needing to do the adjusting bedtime thing. I had a rough week or week and a half when I was getting started, but the 3 weeks since then have been great, including:
- Waking up before my alarm. Twice last week I woke up 1 minute before my alarm.
- Feeling like I slept well.
- Not feeling tired during the day.
- My fitbit sleep analysis has gone from 63-77 points per night to consistently 79-89.
Honestly, there's a lot to that whole "have a bedtime routine" part of good sleep hygiene!
[1] https://ilya.sukhar.com/blog/an-algorithmic-solution-to-insomnia.html https://ilya.sukhar.com/blog/an-algorithmic-solution-to-inso...
- drewg123 5y agoYou may want to re-think regular use of benadryl. There is a study linking the use of anticholinergic drugs like benadryl to dementia: https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/common-anticholinergic-drugs-like-benadryl-linked-increased-dementia-risk-201501287667 https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/common-anticholinergic-d... The scary part is that: dementia risk increased along with the cumulative dose. Taking an anticholinergic for the equivalent of three years or more was associated with a 54% higher dementia risk than taking the same dose for three months or less
- melissalobos 5y agoIt looks like baseline dementia risk is about ~8%[1], so a 4% percent increase in the absolute risk of getting dementia which I would consider to be pretty severe. [1] https://n.neurology.org/content/95/5/e519 https://n.neurology.org/content/95/5/e519
- linsomniac 5y agoThanks to you and @melissalobos for that information. The antihistamine was something I have been experimenting with for the last week, so far I wouldn't say it has made an impact, but it seemed fairly innocuous, based largely on this SciShow and my wife's understanding. https://youtu.be/3wNin31IdmU https://youtu.be/3wNin31IdmU I had my nurse-wife review your link and her opinion was that it was legit and worth stopping the benadryl as a sleep aid. Near as I can tell, it hasn't measurably aided either falling or staying asleep.