8 ms·

I sleep between 6 to 7 hrs a day, and find it very hard to go back to sleep if woken up in between. Has anyone successfully changed their sleeping habits? If ye

I sleep between 6 to 7 hrs a day, and find it very hard to go back to sleep if woken up in between. Has anyone successfully changed their sleeping habits? If yes, how?

toomuchtodo 4y ago
Eye mask. iPhone in sleep mode at 7pm local time. In bed lights out no later than 9-10pm. Alarm set for 8am on wfh days, 7am on rare travel days when I have to catch a flight. TLDR actively defend your sleep time. People think it’s wasted time, but it’s the most important work for long term health (including long term brain health). Money doesn’t buy back beating your body into the ground.
- captainkrtek 4y ago
  Same here. I find reading (book, kindle) before bed, drinking water to cool down, and not being on my phone for a couple hours help quite a bit
- wincy 4y ago
  Geez no wonder I have so many problems. I wake up at 8am and don’t go to sleep until 1-2am every night.
- antihero 4y ago
  What time do you end up actually going to sleep and waking up? 10-8 would be 10 hours sleep.
- bergenty 4y ago
  So 10-11 hours a day? That’s a waste of life. I don’t mean you can’t be productive, I just mean you don’t have enough time for existence.
  - toomuchtodo 4y ago
    Respectfully, living well isn’t a waste of life. I live to enjoy my life (which I only get one of), and getting enough sleep to enjoy my day being well rested is a component of that. I’m not always sleeping 10 hours, but I’m never getting less than 8 hours. I let me body decide.
- itsoktocry 4y ago
  >Eye mask. I have a lot of trouble with eye masks, ear plugs. Not necessarily that I can fall asleep with them (I do), but they cause me to wake at some point in the night to remove. Maybe I have to develop the habit.
  - mgkimsal 4y ago
    Pricey, but look in to Bose SleepBuds ][. Life changing for me. My wife got a pair later and hated them for the first 3 nights ("they hurt, can't sleep", etc) then it 'clicked' and she loves hers too. My brother picked up a pair for $100 on craigslist and... he likes his too (but doesn't use them every night apparently).
jamwt 4y ago
Exercise hard in the morning. At 8:30p: Last big glass of water. Put phone on charger in non-bedroom and don’t touch until 7a. Keep the lights low and warm. Do low stimulation activities like reading fiction or watching semi-boring TV or chatting with your family. Lay down when you can’t keep your eyes open anymore. Big change for me. The phone especially is poison for evening tranquillity.
- PuppyTailWags 4y ago
  Helpful to know: Exercising hard in general I think is helpful. I am not a morning person but I sleep extremely well when I go climbing in the gym for ~2 hrs or so in the evenings, after dinner. I pretty much have dinner, go there, warm up and climb, go back, shower and sleep, and that guarantees a deep sleep for me. I also tend to wake up with a clear head and can easily solve stuff I was struggling with the day before.
  - dkersten 4y ago
    I’m also not a morning person, but another reason why hard exercise wouldn’t work for me, in the morning, is that after hard exercise it takes a few hours for my brain to function properly again (someone on HN a few months ago explained its because the body prioritises getting oxygen to the muscles instead of to the brain). At least, I’m unable to work for a while after going to the gym. For this reason, I bow only go to the gym after work. Light exercise like going for a walk is ok though.
    - Swizec 4y ago
      Another benefit of gym/exercise after work: Makes a great barrier between work life and home life. Ensures you don’t bring work home. And if you work from an office “I have gym at X hour” is a super socially acceptable reason to leave on time. Nobody questions a gym schedule. Especially if you have a class.
      - dkersten 4y ago
        Those are some great points!
emptyfile 4y ago
Exercise, earplugs, blackout curtains and going to bed 8-9 hours before I have to wake up even if I'm not sleepy. Also not drinking caffeine later then 10 hours before sleep.
- throw1234651234 4y ago
  All of this stuff is "basic" and if you aren't doing what emptyfile said, you should absolutely expect your sleep quality to be horrible. The other items on the list are: • Consistent sleep / wake up schedule • No meals at least 3 hours before bed • Same story with sugar as caffeine • Proper temperature in room • If you want consistency, sleep in a consistent posture and don't move • Turn off any electronics 30 mins before bed • Limit alcohol and other substances like User23 said Sleep is one of those things that has "obvious" solutions and is one of the easiest things to fix in life assuming no underlying medical problems. The ONLY other thing "this simple" is exercise and rote memorization.
  - AlwaysRock 4y ago
    It should really be no caffeine after 12-2pm. The half life of caffeine can impact ones ability to sleep if consumed after that for most people.
User23 4y ago
Do you drink alcohol? Either don't or severely limit use, because it's well proven to reduce sleep quality.
loeg 4y ago
Black out curtains, keeping a consistent early-ish bed time, melatonin all help me.
- greenonions 4y ago
  Amazed at the impact black out curtains have made for me.
jrumbut 4y ago
A surprisingly important item is limiting the amount of liquid you consume late at night. Also eliminating caffeine, nicotine, and alcohol altogether. For me there was a big difference between "a little caffeine in the morning" and "none at all."
corrral 4y ago
> very hard to go back to sleep if woken up in between Melatonin solves this for me. It takes very little (~0.3mg) to achieve about the largest clinically-observed effect. Makes it easier for me to stay asleep. For getting to sleep earlier (or even just at a normal, but still fairly late time) reliably, I've found two solutions: 1) Approximately no electricity after sundown (or just a little after sundown, in the Winter). No light sources brighter than a few candles (enough to read by). Warm light only. Nothing with a screen except an e-ink reader. You can still: play music; listen to music (if you can be disciplined about it, a couple moments of screen to put on another album is probably fine, if you don't have a screen-free way to do that, or otherwise, find a screen-free way, it can be done cheaply); listen to podcasts or radio (ditto); play board and card games (~10-20 candle power scattered around a room is a tiny fraction of typical nighttime house lighting for a room, but is plenty to do this to); read (aloud!); write; talk. But you must turn off the electricity-powered 24/7 carnival. Entirely. Ultra-bright lighting (once you're used to low-light the amount of light we flood our houses with at night will seem outright insane), computers, video games, Netflix. Zero, zero of that. 2) Weed. [EDIT: I have tried prescription meds for this, too—the ones I tried did work, but not as well, left me feeling like shit in the morning even if I got a solid 8 hours of sleep, and especially left me feeling like shit if I tried to use them late in the evening after I realized I was going to have trouble falling asleep, rather than just taking them every day at a set, earlier time]
- comrh 4y ago
  I've had the same effect from marijuana which I attribute to weed likely reducing REM sleep
- bergenty 4y ago
  Weed if you do it regularly makes you feel very foggy headed the next morning.
- dkersten 4y ago
  Weed helps me get to sleep, but it does not help me get restful sleep. Quite the opposite, in fact: if I smoke weed before bed, I wake up tired the next day.
- 4y ago
imjared 4y ago
I got a white noise machine recently and it has been an absolute game-changer. I live in a pretty dense city and with warmer weather, neighbors have been spending more time hanging out outside. Their noise into the wee hours was keeping me up and preventing me from sleeping or enjoying open windows. I put the white noise machine next to my bed, set the thing on full blast, and have been sleeping through the night peacefully. Probably one of the better $50 spends I've made recently. I'm not sure if your problem is noise or what but I'd wager that a machine like this could be helpful in a plethora of situations. It's just pretty calming. https://yogasleep.com/products/dohmclassic https://yogasleep.com/products/dohmclassic
mywacaday 4y ago
I had two children, before that I was a terrible sleeper, would take me an hour+ to fall asleep. Now I can close my eyes and go to sleep with no issue. I think it was a kind of training when my kids were young and would wake up multiple times per night, when you got back to bed you made sure you went to to sleep ASAP as you could be up again shortly. There is an alleged military technique that works but I think the practice part is a big factor, https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/lifestyle/2018/09/the-secret-military-technique-to-make-you-fall-asleep-in-two-minutes.html https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/lifestyle/2018/09/the-secret-..., bad sleep habits are hard to break and good ones hard to build.
- InitialBP 4y ago
  Definitely recommend the technique noted here as a good exercise. Just _Intentionally_ relaxing the muscles in your face can make such a profound difference when trying to get to sleep. Especially when you don't even realize those muscles are not relaxed by default when laying around in bed.
AlwaysRock 4y ago
Melatonin a half hour before bed has changed my life. That and reading at night instead of watching TV. Oh and this is the weird one... I sleep with one airpod/bluetooth headphone in. I have ADHD and if I'm not tired enough I'll wake up around 2-4 to pee then be awake thinking about work/family/stupid things I did 10 years ago. I don't know how I got started doing this but now I listen to an audiobook at very low volume on a 15 minute sleep timer. I only listen to books I've read a bunch (currently I cycle between Hyperion books, enders game, LOTR, a handful of King novels, Stoner, The Great Gatsby - pretty much any book where I can pick up at any time and know whats going on without being too interested) and fall asleep to that. It prevents my mind from drifting and helps me sleep a lot better. As a bonus I get to reread/listen to classics I enjoy several times a year. I don't know anyone else who does this but I've been doing it for 2-3 years and its changed sleep for me dramatically.
- itsoktocry 4y ago
  >I sleep with one airpod/bluetooth headphone in. I have ADHD and if I'm not tired enough I'll wake up around 2-4 to pee then be awake thinking about work/family/stupid things I did 10 years ago. I don't know how I got started doing this but now I listen to an audiobook at very low volume on a 15 minute sleep timer Wow, this is me, I do the exact same thing. Concentrating on the audio gives me something different to focus on and inevitably puts me back to sleep.
  - bittercynic 4y ago
    Similar here, but with certain youtube channels that feel very peaceful for me: forestyforest hoboshoestring wristwatchrevival clough42 and a few others. I'd be interested in learning about more channels with a similar flavor, or if you're familiar with these and can help me find words for their common thread.
    - W0lf 4y ago
      I think you might also like myselfreliance on YT then
- 4y ago
notahacker 4y ago
Biggest aid to me falling asleep more easily apart from cutting caffeine intake was software dimming the blue light on monitors in the evening
xeromal 4y ago
I've realized I sleep best when there's absolutely no outside light. I mean NO light. If my body detects even a hint of sunlight in the morning, it kicks off those slow wake up processes.
memcg 4y ago
CPAP and retirement.
TuringNYC 4y ago
>> Has anyone successfully changed their sleeping habits? If yes, how? Heavy weight training is like magic for sleep.
cjbgkagh 4y ago
Amitriptyline, melatonin, and blue light blocking glasses. My insomnia is genetic, like most people with insomnia.
PragmaticPulp 4y ago
Start with lifestyle modifications that help entrain your circadian rhythm. People who spend a lot of time indoors, especially if in dimly lit offices, have a very different light exposure pattern than our ancestors who were outdoors all day. You want to push your light exposure to match outdoor light: Very high intensity during the day, minimal light exposure in the evenings as you relax. Going outside for a 10-15 minute walk at lunch is enough to get started. Dimming the lights at home in the evening and limiting phone/TV usage is also huge. Many find that reading a paper book before bed instead of using a phone makes a huge difference. Play with the other inputs to your circadian rhythms: Meal timing and physical activity are huge inputs. Try different dinner times earlier and later and you might be surprised to discover some large effects. Adjust what you eat and how frequently. Some people wake up early because they’ve trained their bodies to run on a constant stream of carbs or sugar, which obviously can’t be sustained while you’re sleeping for many hours. Stress reduction and addressing any mental health issues is also important. Early morning waking isn’t uncommon in depressed patients and often resolves with depression treatment. Even non-depressed people can benefit from stress reduction and relaxation exercises.
wil421 4y ago
Have kids and you will be woken up at all hours. Then you will learn the ability to fall back asleep. You also won’t need to set the morning alarm any longer.
singlespeak 4y ago
A simple but counterintuitive trick which really had a major impact in my case was spending less time in bed. This way, sleep is maximized as a portion of total time in bed. Your mind starts to associate being in bed more strongly with being asleep. For example, if you usually spend 7 hours 30 from the moment you go into bed to the moment you get out of it, you could try 6 hours and 45 minutes: you would probably be sleep-deprived for a few days until your body can't take it anymore and will have to use that smaller time-window more efficiently. You could then adjust time in bed depending on your results. Things that had an impact too, but probably more minor: - Being exposed to direct sunlight ("direct" meaning with no window in between, looking at the sky for example, not at the sun directly!) as early as possible after waking-up - Cold shower in the morning (in the evening, better if the shower is warm/hot) for its thermogenic effect + of course, the usual advice: no screen in the evening, exercise, dinner early, etc.
tluyben2 4y ago
I fall asleep with triggers; for me they are mp3s of comedy tv shows. It needs to be something that I know through and through. I sleep with one earbud in and pass out when max a few minutes into an episode. It stays on when I wake up I sleep again (usually don’t even notice that I woke up; sometimes my wife says I did). I am also a lucid dreamer, I can usually get back to the dream I was already in or stop my dream to get into another one. Although I might dream all of that; I do remember a lot of detail in the morning.

I sleep between 6 to 7 hrs a day, and find it very hard to go back to sleep if woken up in between. Has anyone successfully changed their sleeping habits? If yes, how?

toomuchtodo 4y ago

Eye mask. iPhone in sleep mode at 7pm local time. In bed lights out no later than 9-10pm. Alarm set for 8am on wfh days, 7am on rare travel days when I have to catch a flight. TLDR actively defend your sleep time. People think it’s wasted time, but it’s the most important work for long term health (including long term brain health). Money doesn’t buy back beating your body into the ground.

captainkrtek 4y ago
Same here. I find reading (book, kindle) before bed, drinking water to cool down, and not being on my phone for a couple hours help quite a bit
wincy 4y ago
Geez no wonder I have so many problems. I wake up at 8am and don’t go to sleep until 1-2am every night.
antihero 4y ago
What time do you end up actually going to sleep and waking up? 10-8 would be 10 hours sleep.
bergenty 4y ago
So 10-11 hours a day? That’s a waste of life. I don’t mean you can’t be productive, I just mean you don’t have enough time for existence.
- toomuchtodo 4y ago
  Respectfully, living well isn’t a waste of life. I live to enjoy my life (which I only get one of), and getting enough sleep to enjoy my day being well rested is a component of that. I’m not always sleeping 10 hours, but I’m never getting less than 8 hours. I let me body decide.
itsoktocry 4y ago
>Eye mask. I have a lot of trouble with eye masks, ear plugs. Not necessarily that I can fall asleep with them (I do), but they cause me to wake at some point in the night to remove. Maybe I have to develop the habit.
- mgkimsal 4y ago
  Pricey, but look in to Bose SleepBuds ][. Life changing for me. My wife got a pair later and hated them for the first 3 nights ("they hurt, can't sleep", etc) then it 'clicked' and she loves hers too. My brother picked up a pair for $100 on craigslist and... he likes his too (but doesn't use them every night apparently).

jamwt 4y ago

Exercise hard in the morning. At 8:30p: Last big glass of water. Put phone on charger in non-bedroom and don’t touch until 7a. Keep the lights low and warm. Do low stimulation activities like reading fiction or watching semi-boring TV or chatting with your family. Lay down when you can’t keep your eyes open anymore. Big change for me. The phone especially is poison for evening tranquillity.

PuppyTailWags 4y ago
Helpful to know: Exercising hard in general I think is helpful. I am not a morning person but I sleep extremely well when I go climbing in the gym for ~2 hrs or so in the evenings, after dinner. I pretty much have dinner, go there, warm up and climb, go back, shower and sleep, and that guarantees a deep sleep for me. I also tend to wake up with a clear head and can easily solve stuff I was struggling with the day before.
- dkersten 4y ago
  I’m also not a morning person, but another reason why hard exercise wouldn’t work for me, in the morning, is that after hard exercise it takes a few hours for my brain to function properly again (someone on HN a few months ago explained its because the body prioritises getting oxygen to the muscles instead of to the brain). At least, I’m unable to work for a while after going to the gym. For this reason, I bow only go to the gym after work. Light exercise like going for a walk is ok though.
  - Swizec 4y ago
    Another benefit of gym/exercise after work: Makes a great barrier between work life and home life. Ensures you don’t bring work home. And if you work from an office “I have gym at X hour” is a super socially acceptable reason to leave on time. Nobody questions a gym schedule. Especially if you have a class.
    - dkersten 4y ago
      Those are some great points!

emptyfile 4y ago

Exercise, earplugs, blackout curtains and going to bed 8-9 hours before I have to wake up even if I'm not sleepy. Also not drinking caffeine later then 10 hours before sleep.

throw1234651234 4y ago
All of this stuff is "basic" and if you aren't doing what emptyfile said, you should absolutely expect your sleep quality to be horrible. The other items on the list are: • Consistent sleep / wake up schedule • No meals at least 3 hours before bed • Same story with sugar as caffeine • Proper temperature in room • If you want consistency, sleep in a consistent posture and don't move • Turn off any electronics 30 mins before bed • Limit alcohol and other substances like User23 said Sleep is one of those things that has "obvious" solutions and is one of the easiest things to fix in life assuming no underlying medical problems. The ONLY other thing "this simple" is exercise and rote memorization.
- AlwaysRock 4y ago
  It should really be no caffeine after 12-2pm. The half life of caffeine can impact ones ability to sleep if consumed after that for most people.

User23 4y ago

Do you drink alcohol? Either don't or severely limit use, because it's well proven to reduce sleep quality.

loeg 4y ago

Black out curtains, keeping a consistent early-ish bed time, melatonin all help me.

greenonions 4y ago
Amazed at the impact black out curtains have made for me.

jrumbut 4y ago

A surprisingly important item is limiting the amount of liquid you consume late at night. Also eliminating caffeine, nicotine, and alcohol altogether. For me there was a big difference between "a little caffeine in the morning" and "none at all."

corrral 4y ago

> very hard to go back to sleep if woken up in between Melatonin solves this for me. It takes very little (~0.3mg) to achieve about the largest clinically-observed effect. Makes it easier for me to stay asleep. For getting to sleep earlier (or even just at a normal, but still fairly late time) reliably, I've found two solutions: 1) Approximately no electricity after sundown (or just a little after sundown, in the Winter). No light sources brighter than a few candles (enough to read by). Warm light only. Nothing with a screen except an e-ink reader. You can still: play music; listen to music (if you can be disciplined about it, a couple moments of screen to put on another album is probably fine, if you don't have a screen-free way to do that, or otherwise, find a screen-free way, it can be done cheaply); listen to podcasts or radio (ditto); play board and card games (~10-20 candle power scattered around a room is a tiny fraction of typical nighttime house lighting for a room, but is plenty to do this to); read (aloud!); write; talk. But you must turn off the electricity-powered 24/7 carnival. Entirely. Ultra-bright lighting (once you're used to low-light the amount of light we flood our houses with at night will seem outright insane), computers, video games, Netflix. Zero, zero of that. 2) Weed. [EDIT: I have tried prescription meds for this, too—the ones I tried did work, but not as well, left me feeling like shit in the morning even if I got a solid 8 hours of sleep, and especially left me feeling like shit if I tried to use them late in the evening after I realized I was going to have trouble falling asleep, rather than just taking them every day at a set, earlier time]

comrh 4y ago
I've had the same effect from marijuana which I attribute to weed likely reducing REM sleep
bergenty 4y ago
Weed if you do it regularly makes you feel very foggy headed the next morning.
dkersten 4y ago
Weed helps me get to sleep, but it does not help me get restful sleep. Quite the opposite, in fact: if I smoke weed before bed, I wake up tired the next day.
4y ago

imjared 4y ago

I got a white noise machine recently and it has been an absolute game-changer. I live in a pretty dense city and with warmer weather, neighbors have been spending more time hanging out outside. Their noise into the wee hours was keeping me up and preventing me from sleeping or enjoying open windows. I put the white noise machine next to my bed, set the thing on full blast, and have been sleeping through the night peacefully. Probably one of the better $50 spends I've made recently. I'm not sure if your problem is noise or what but I'd wager that a machine like this could be helpful in a plethora of situations. It's just pretty calming. https://yogasleep.com/products/dohmclassic https://yogasleep.com/products/dohmclassic

mywacaday 4y ago

I had two children, before that I was a terrible sleeper, would take me an hour+ to fall asleep. Now I can close my eyes and go to sleep with no issue. I think it was a kind of training when my kids were young and would wake up multiple times per night, when you got back to bed you made sure you went to to sleep ASAP as you could be up again shortly. There is an alleged military technique that works but I think the practice part is a big factor, https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/lifestyle/2018/09/the-secret-military-technique-to-make-you-fall-asleep-in-two-minutes.html https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/lifestyle/2018/09/the-secret-..., bad sleep habits are hard to break and good ones hard to build.

InitialBP 4y ago
Definitely recommend the technique noted here as a good exercise. Just _Intentionally_ relaxing the muscles in your face can make such a profound difference when trying to get to sleep. Especially when you don't even realize those muscles are not relaxed by default when laying around in bed.

AlwaysRock 4y ago

Melatonin a half hour before bed has changed my life. That and reading at night instead of watching TV. Oh and this is the weird one... I sleep with one airpod/bluetooth headphone in. I have ADHD and if I'm not tired enough I'll wake up around 2-4 to pee then be awake thinking about work/family/stupid things I did 10 years ago. I don't know how I got started doing this but now I listen to an audiobook at very low volume on a 15 minute sleep timer. I only listen to books I've read a bunch (currently I cycle between Hyperion books, enders game, LOTR, a handful of King novels, Stoner, The Great Gatsby - pretty much any book where I can pick up at any time and know whats going on without being too interested) and fall asleep to that. It prevents my mind from drifting and helps me sleep a lot better. As a bonus I get to reread/listen to classics I enjoy several times a year. I don't know anyone else who does this but I've been doing it for 2-3 years and its changed sleep for me dramatically.

itsoktocry 4y ago
>I sleep with one airpod/bluetooth headphone in. I have ADHD and if I'm not tired enough I'll wake up around 2-4 to pee then be awake thinking about work/family/stupid things I did 10 years ago. I don't know how I got started doing this but now I listen to an audiobook at very low volume on a 15 minute sleep timer Wow, this is me, I do the exact same thing. Concentrating on the audio gives me something different to focus on and inevitably puts me back to sleep.
- bittercynic 4y ago
  Similar here, but with certain youtube channels that feel very peaceful for me: forestyforest hoboshoestring wristwatchrevival clough42 and a few others. I'd be interested in learning about more channels with a similar flavor, or if you're familiar with these and can help me find words for their common thread.
  - W0lf 4y ago
    I think you might also like myselfreliance on YT then
4y ago

notahacker 4y ago

Biggest aid to me falling asleep more easily apart from cutting caffeine intake was software dimming the blue light on monitors in the evening

xeromal 4y ago

I've realized I sleep best when there's absolutely no outside light. I mean NO light. If my body detects even a hint of sunlight in the morning, it kicks off those slow wake up processes.

memcg 4y ago

CPAP and retirement.

TuringNYC 4y ago

>> Has anyone successfully changed their sleeping habits? If yes, how? Heavy weight training is like magic for sleep.

cjbgkagh 4y ago

Amitriptyline, melatonin, and blue light blocking glasses. My insomnia is genetic, like most people with insomnia.

PragmaticPulp 4y ago

Start with lifestyle modifications that help entrain your circadian rhythm. People who spend a lot of time indoors, especially if in dimly lit offices, have a very different light exposure pattern than our ancestors who were outdoors all day. You want to push your light exposure to match outdoor light: Very high intensity during the day, minimal light exposure in the evenings as you relax. Going outside for a 10-15 minute walk at lunch is enough to get started. Dimming the lights at home in the evening and limiting phone/TV usage is also huge. Many find that reading a paper book before bed instead of using a phone makes a huge difference. Play with the other inputs to your circadian rhythms: Meal timing and physical activity are huge inputs. Try different dinner times earlier and later and you might be surprised to discover some large effects. Adjust what you eat and how frequently. Some people wake up early because they’ve trained their bodies to run on a constant stream of carbs or sugar, which obviously can’t be sustained while you’re sleeping for many hours. Stress reduction and addressing any mental health issues is also important. Early morning waking isn’t uncommon in depressed patients and often resolves with depression treatment. Even non-depressed people can benefit from stress reduction and relaxation exercises.

wil421 4y ago

Have kids and you will be woken up at all hours. Then you will learn the ability to fall back asleep. You also won’t need to set the morning alarm any longer.

singlespeak 4y ago

A simple but counterintuitive trick which really had a major impact in my case was spending less time in bed. This way, sleep is maximized as a portion of total time in bed. Your mind starts to associate being in bed more strongly with being asleep. For example, if you usually spend 7 hours 30 from the moment you go into bed to the moment you get out of it, you could try 6 hours and 45 minutes: you would probably be sleep-deprived for a few days until your body can't take it anymore and will have to use that smaller time-window more efficiently. You could then adjust time in bed depending on your results. Things that had an impact too, but probably more minor: - Being exposed to direct sunlight ("direct" meaning with no window in between, looking at the sky for example, not at the sun directly!) as early as possible after waking-up - Cold shower in the morning (in the evening, better if the shower is warm/hot) for its thermogenic effect + of course, the usual advice: no screen in the evening, exercise, dinner early, etc.

tluyben2 4y ago

I fall asleep with triggers; for me they are mp3s of comedy tv shows. It needs to be something that I know through and through. I sleep with one earbud in and pass out when max a few minutes into an episode. It stays on when I wake up I sleep again (usually don’t even notice that I woke up; sometimes my wife says I did). I am also a lucid dreamer, I can usually get back to the dream I was already in or stop my dream to get into another one. Although I might dream all of that; I do remember a lot of detail in the morning.