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I’ve struggled for a long time to have a good sleep routine but over the last few months I’ve found some things that actually work for me, to the point where p

I’ve struggled for a long time to have a good sleep routine but over the last few months I’ve found some things that actually work for me, to the point where people now think of me as one of the early people at work. I don’t know if this will specifically help deep sleep but my hunch is that for me it has. What’s worked for me: - A good memory foam pillow and a new mattress - Using light as well as sound for my alarm clock. I have my smart lights gradually turn on in my room over a 15-minute period in the morning and have an alarm set on my watch. - Counterintuitively, having a TV in my room. So my night routine now is that I’ll retire to my room, get ready for the next day (put clothes out, go over my reminders/notes if I feel like it, etc), then lay in bed and watch a video or two, then dim my lights to a setting I only use for the last part of the night (bedside lamp only at minimum brightness). It’s turned out to be a surprisingly-good sleep hygiene cue for me. I’ll usually then wind down with some more videos but I’ll inevitably start feeling drowsy and then it’s lights-out and the TV gets switched off. I also switched showering from the morning to the evening and I also make sure to change out of my work clothes when I get home. This means that in the morning I have very little to think about. I have to just plant my feet on the floor and get moving. Since everything’s already prepared I can do this pretty mindlessly. I don’t drink a coffee until I get into the office. After a few days of forcing myself to get up like this consistently, it actually started feeling weird not getting up when I first wake up with the morning lights on. I love travelling in to work before the crowds and having quiet time in the office to get work done. Another awesome benefit is that I can relax the routine a bit on the weekend and yet still get up at a reasonable time to have the whole day to do stuff, while at the same time still feeling like I ‘slept in’. I always considered myself a ‘night owl’ but this experience has made me reconsider. If I don’t have a good routine my sleep pattern will drift later and later and I’ll feel crap all day, whereas keeping this routine I’m getting up earlier and my energy levels feel way more consistent throughout the day, so I don’t know, maybe I’m an early bird that had poor sleep or something.

olyjohn 3y ago
Yeah a lot of people say take the TV out of the bedroom. But I'll be damned if putting a show on doesn't put me out. I know people say the light is bad, screens are bad blah blah blah. But TBH I think it's the content that is keeping people up, doomscrolling on phones, reading news, etc. I think as long as you turn off the lights when you pass out, that's all you need to do. Don't sit there and binge watch until 2am, either. And then I look back at my dad. He'd watch TV and fall asleep in his chair every night. The man slept like a log every night. He never used an alarm, he just woke up when he needed to, but wasn't late for work or anything like that. Never seen anybody with better sleep hygiene. But he also had a very physical job.
- Fr0styMatt88 3y ago
  One subtle thing I only realised while writing that comment is that I don’t ever have the TV as the only source of light in the room before going to sleep. The bedside lamp is always the thing that gets turned off. I wonder if psychologically that makes me associate the lamp as the thing that anchors my sleep and not the TV.
- Clubber 3y ago
  I put some historical show on YouTube on the phone on my headboard and I'm usually out in 5 minutes. I actually like history too, it's not boring to me.
inconceivable 3y ago
if your TV still has a sleep timer try using it. listening to boring/monotonous stuff at low volume helps me fall asleep too. they used to be a physical button on the remote but now it's usually in a menu somewhere. i just checked my sony, it's in the first level of the main menu (gear icon button).

olyjohn 3y ago

Yeah a lot of people say take the TV out of the bedroom. But I'll be damned if putting a show on doesn't put me out. I know people say the light is bad, screens are bad blah blah blah. But TBH I think it's the content that is keeping people up, doomscrolling on phones, reading news, etc. I think as long as you turn off the lights when you pass out, that's all you need to do. Don't sit there and binge watch until 2am, either. And then I look back at my dad. He'd watch TV and fall asleep in his chair every night. The man slept like a log every night. He never used an alarm, he just woke up when he needed to, but wasn't late for work or anything like that. Never seen anybody with better sleep hygiene. But he also had a very physical job.

Fr0styMatt88 3y ago
One subtle thing I only realised while writing that comment is that I don’t ever have the TV as the only source of light in the room before going to sleep. The bedside lamp is always the thing that gets turned off. I wonder if psychologically that makes me associate the lamp as the thing that anchors my sleep and not the TV.
Clubber 3y ago
I put some historical show on YouTube on the phone on my headboard and I'm usually out in 5 minutes. I actually like history too, it's not boring to me.

inconceivable 3y ago

if your TV still has a sleep timer try using it. listening to boring/monotonous stuff at low volume helps me fall asleep too. they used to be a physical button on the remote but now it's usually in a menu somewhere. i just checked my sony, it's in the first level of the main menu (gear icon button).