5 ms·

Oh my God. This could change my life. One lifelong problem I've got is sleeping. I have great trouble falling asleep, and my sleeping patterns are very uncommo

by mmwako 15y ago

Oh my God. This could change my life. One lifelong problem I've got is sleeping. I have great trouble falling asleep, and my sleeping patterns are very uncommon: some days I sleep 12 hours, some 5, but I'm usually very tired because of this. However, I used to think I had a "gift" of being really creative and having my best ideas just before sleep, just waking up, and during insomnia episodes. However, I've discovered that many suffer from this phenomena (anyone here?). This article could explain a lot!

charlieflowers 15y ago
I only found out recently (well into my adult life) that I am hyper-sensitive to caffeine. One cup of coffee in the morning will keep me up till 3 am at night. This tricked me into thinking that I'm an extreme night owl, and it kept me from ever getting really good sleep. Now, I've quit caffeinated beverages entirely, and I get tired around 11:30 pm every night, and I sleep fantastically well. I wake up naturally around 9:30 every morning and feel great. All that is to say ... consider caffeine and other "drugs". You might be surprised how much they're affecting you.
- mmwako 15y ago
  Thanks Charlie! How did you find out that you were hyper-sensitive? In my case, I don't drink colas, but I love that hot coffee in the morning...
  - onemoreact 15y ago
    Ideally, you should keep a sleep journal for 30 days before you try to change anything about your sleep habits. As to the actual experiment don't drink any tea/coffee/colas for 30 days and see how it effects your sleep patterns. PS: And I do mean zero for the full 30 days if you have any caffeine you have to start over.
    - bryanlarsen 15y ago
      Caffeine has really nasty withdrawal symptoms for most people. I highly recommend slowly cutting out caffeine rather than going cold turkey.
    - shrub 15y ago
      This could be a solution for me. Drinking tea is part of the culture of my family, so I started drinking it at a very young age (as soon as I could hold a cup?) with 3/4 milk and 1/4 tea. As I got older, the amount of tea increased until there was no milk left. These days, whoever I visit, it seems I can always count on being offered a cup of tea. When I started having all sorts of issues sleeping at a young age, it just didn't occur to me or anyone that it could be the copious amounts of tea. Doctors ran tests on my blood numerous times and didn't find anything. They asked me all sorts of questions (even if I was pregnant at the tender age of 15, which shocked young innocent me), but caffeine never came up. Strangely, sending me to bed earlier resulted in tossing and turning even longer into the wee hours of the morning. Sleeping pills just resulted in feeling strangely dazed, but still not sleeping. These days I have stopped drinking tea/caffeine after a certain hour in hopes of getting more sleep, but I still drink a cup of coffee in the morning and I still have troubles getting to sleep (takes a couple of hours no matter hour exhausted I feel). Maybe it's time to cut out the caffeine completely.
  - mortenjorck 15y ago
    For me, it was gradual. I had had random bouts of insomnia for awhile, and realized those correlated with days I had caffeine after 4 PM or so. So I cut back to noon, which improved it, then cut back to the morning, which was even better, and then just cut out caffeine entirely. I've never slept better.
- roqetman 15y ago
  Similar here, but I've found that as long as I don't drink caffeine after 3pm, I sleep well. Any later than that and I wake at 3am or so. Made such a difference when I discovered this... I lost a serious amount of grumpiness.
  - RyanMcGreal 15y ago
    For me it's around noon, but then again I go to bed at 9pm and get up at 4:30.
  - mmwako 15y ago
    Nice to see I'm not alone :) it's impressive to see how different are our sleeping habits. I have to hack myself one of these days.
  - downx3 15y ago
    I must be seriously broken. I can even enjoy a cup of coffee at the bedside and still sleep. Not that I do that often. Falling asleep for me is easy. I pretty much always wake up about four hours later. Then sometimes I remain wide awake for another few hours. After which I'm ready for sleep again. The second bout is pretty glorious. This does mean however, that I need to pretty much put 11 hours aside each night, if I want to play to my bodily demands. My other half rather annoyingly insists everyone should wake when they rise. Which just isn't good for my mental health - or my programming for that matter!
    - adavies42 15y ago
      i'm basically immune to caffeine, afaict. i frequently come home late, drink a diet coke or whatever, and head straight to bed. i've gone back and forth between drinking a six pack of diet mountain dew a day and nothing and never noticed a difference. i can slam two bottles of Bawls (160mg) or eat 3 Fooshes (http://www.thinkgeek.com/caffeine/candy/6e27 http://www.thinkgeek.com/caffeine/candy/6e27, >300mg total) and still take (and want) a nap. if i gave myself anything close the amount of sleep i appear to be capable of taking, i'd never be up to get anything done....
- dan00 15y ago
  For me it's TV. Especially bad for me is watching before going to bed. TV keeps me awake, stimulates me. After watching I've problems falling asleep, and the sleep itself isn't recreative. I don't feel really awake after such a night.
pilsetnieks 15y ago
I cannot say anything about the sleeping patterns but are you sure that those creative bursts aren't happening just because it is quiet, no distractions, etc.?
- mmwako 15y ago
  Don't think so, because these come during the day in the most unexpected moments (with or without distraction). My theory is that all creativity comes from the subconscious mind, and during nighttime it's the subconscious that takes over. Just before sleeping, a gate opens where rational consciousness and unconsciousness "coexist" and that's when new ideas can be retained. It's like that guy that tried near-death experiences so he could write good ideas down.
- downx3 15y ago
  It's pretty blissful when the sound of the traffic evaporates. Always the best time for coding for me.
Florin_Andrei 15y ago
You're definitely not alone. Extraordinary insight and creativity, rich, vivid, inspired and out-of-the-box thinking, are typical for "twilight" states, when you're floating between waking state and sleep; not fully awaken to the outside world, but not fully unconscious either. The only problem is replicating and maintaining these states. It is sometimes possible to remain fully aware in what is essentially a full-on dream state. This is the best of both worlds, combining the rationality and critical thinking of the waking state, with the unbound creativity of the dream. It's like opening up the firehose of new ideas, while remaining in control. I am fairly certain that at least some of the unusual claims made by people who practice meditation a lot (such as having access to a higher "wisdom", etc.) are based on gaining a measure of control over these states. For this reason, I think it's worth exploring some of the traditional meditation systems, seen as empirical "brain hacking" techniques. I'd love to see more research done in this field; some of Sam Harris' work is relevant.
- mmwako 15y ago
  Thanks for the insight. As a matter of fact, I do meditate :) From my experience (nothing scientific), to replicate these states, what you need is to shut down your rational mind. You see, everyone has in there mind a small voice going "hey, I like this lamp" or "mmm I forgot to do something". This voice is your rational, conscious part of your "self". However, it's not your entire "self". Meditation aims at quieting this "voice" (it's really hard, and I'm not there yet). Once its quiet, you've got "space" for actual inspiration to come in, and once this happens it's amazing, and can happen in many levels. That's why meditation is a mystical experience. Mystical means that it is not possible to communicate via ideas, just by personal experience. If you get good at it you can actually control you emotional states and LISTEN to them, bringing you a lot of wellbeing in many ways. (ok, I'm waaay off topic, sorry).
  - lobotryas 15y ago
    That sounds pretty interesting. Any suggestion on books or ofher resources for peope new to meditation? How did you get started with meditation?
cop359 15y ago
"I had a "gift" of being really creative and having my best ideas just before sleep, just waking up, and during insomnia episodes." This is called Hypnogogia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypnogogia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypnogogia The only way I can definitely replicate it is to stay up all night. The next day I will feel a lot more creative, but at the same time a lot less coordinated, frequently tired and not able to concentrate on doing something complicated. Also it's super easy to forget things, so you need to write down all your ideas. I dunno if you often for instance stay up very very late with friends talking about things, but I think there is a similar effect at some point.
- kylebrown 15y ago
  I remember reading about a famous inventor (can't remember who, sorry) who purposefully induced this state by holding something in his hand which would make a noise when let go. While falling asleep, the object (say, a metal ball) would drop (into say, a metal bowl), making enough noise to wake him up just as he was falling asleep. If an idea came he would write it down, if not he would repeat the process.
  - epikur 15y ago
    Salvador Dali: http://www.arthurmag.com/2010/06/25/diy-magic-dropping-the-spoon-by-anthony-alvarado/ http://www.arthurmag.com/2010/06/25/diy-magic-dropping-the-s... The comments on that mention Thomas Edison also doing something similar.
kellishaver 15y ago
This happens to me, too, but I'd gladly trade all the good ideas in the world for a decent amount of sleep! Starting from about age 12, but definitely getting worse as I get older, sleep is something I just can't seem to get right, no matter how I approach it. I've tried getting eight hours of sleep, and it doesn't work. I do pretty good on six hours, but only for a while. Over the course of a few weeks, six becomes four, which becomes three, which is then two, and suddenly it's 3 days later and I'm still awake. When it gets to the point that I find myself getting less than four hours of sleep a night, the only way I can force my body to sleep more, despite being very physically tired, is with medication. Of course, most sleep aids can't be taken for long periods of time, so that only helps for a short while. Sometimes I don't get tired until 4am, and other times it's all I can do to stay awake at 6pm, regardless of whether I got up at 6:30 in the morning, or noon. I've tried enforcing a rigid schedule, meditation, exercise, various sleep aids, antidepressants (Pazil, Zoloft), just "going with it", and as of late, melatonin supplements at the recommendation of my doctor. They helped for a few weeks, but then that, too, stopped being effective. The closest I get to a normal sleep schedule is that about half the time, I can go to sleep around 4am and get up at 10am - but that's not really a very practical solution and there are 3-4 days a week where it's just not at all possible from a logistics standpoint.

by mmwako 15y ago

charlieflowers 15y ago

I only found out recently (well into my adult life) that I am hyper-sensitive to caffeine. One cup of coffee in the morning will keep me up till 3 am at night. This tricked me into thinking that I'm an extreme night owl, and it kept me from ever getting really good sleep. Now, I've quit caffeinated beverages entirely, and I get tired around 11:30 pm every night, and I sleep fantastically well. I wake up naturally around 9:30 every morning and feel great. All that is to say ... consider caffeine and other "drugs". You might be surprised how much they're affecting you.

mmwako 15y ago
Thanks Charlie! How did you find out that you were hyper-sensitive? In my case, I don't drink colas, but I love that hot coffee in the morning...
- onemoreact 15y ago
  Ideally, you should keep a sleep journal for 30 days before you try to change anything about your sleep habits. As to the actual experiment don't drink any tea/coffee/colas for 30 days and see how it effects your sleep patterns. PS: And I do mean zero for the full 30 days if you have any caffeine you have to start over.
  - bryanlarsen 15y ago
    Caffeine has really nasty withdrawal symptoms for most people. I highly recommend slowly cutting out caffeine rather than going cold turkey.
  - shrub 15y ago
    This could be a solution for me. Drinking tea is part of the culture of my family, so I started drinking it at a very young age (as soon as I could hold a cup?) with 3/4 milk and 1/4 tea. As I got older, the amount of tea increased until there was no milk left. These days, whoever I visit, it seems I can always count on being offered a cup of tea. When I started having all sorts of issues sleeping at a young age, it just didn't occur to me or anyone that it could be the copious amounts of tea. Doctors ran tests on my blood numerous times and didn't find anything. They asked me all sorts of questions (even if I was pregnant at the tender age of 15, which shocked young innocent me), but caffeine never came up. Strangely, sending me to bed earlier resulted in tossing and turning even longer into the wee hours of the morning. Sleeping pills just resulted in feeling strangely dazed, but still not sleeping. These days I have stopped drinking tea/caffeine after a certain hour in hopes of getting more sleep, but I still drink a cup of coffee in the morning and I still have troubles getting to sleep (takes a couple of hours no matter hour exhausted I feel). Maybe it's time to cut out the caffeine completely.
- mortenjorck 15y ago
  For me, it was gradual. I had had random bouts of insomnia for awhile, and realized those correlated with days I had caffeine after 4 PM or so. So I cut back to noon, which improved it, then cut back to the morning, which was even better, and then just cut out caffeine entirely. I've never slept better.
roqetman 15y ago
Similar here, but I've found that as long as I don't drink caffeine after 3pm, I sleep well. Any later than that and I wake at 3am or so. Made such a difference when I discovered this... I lost a serious amount of grumpiness.
- RyanMcGreal 15y ago
  For me it's around noon, but then again I go to bed at 9pm and get up at 4:30.
- mmwako 15y ago
  Nice to see I'm not alone :) it's impressive to see how different are our sleeping habits. I have to hack myself one of these days.
- downx3 15y ago
  I must be seriously broken. I can even enjoy a cup of coffee at the bedside and still sleep. Not that I do that often. Falling asleep for me is easy. I pretty much always wake up about four hours later. Then sometimes I remain wide awake for another few hours. After which I'm ready for sleep again. The second bout is pretty glorious. This does mean however, that I need to pretty much put 11 hours aside each night, if I want to play to my bodily demands. My other half rather annoyingly insists everyone should wake when they rise. Which just isn't good for my mental health - or my programming for that matter!
  - adavies42 15y ago
    i'm basically immune to caffeine, afaict. i frequently come home late, drink a diet coke or whatever, and head straight to bed. i've gone back and forth between drinking a six pack of diet mountain dew a day and nothing and never noticed a difference. i can slam two bottles of Bawls (160mg) or eat 3 Fooshes (http://www.thinkgeek.com/caffeine/candy/6e27 http://www.thinkgeek.com/caffeine/candy/6e27, >300mg total) and still take (and want) a nap. if i gave myself anything close the amount of sleep i appear to be capable of taking, i'd never be up to get anything done....
dan00 15y ago
For me it's TV. Especially bad for me is watching before going to bed. TV keeps me awake, stimulates me. After watching I've problems falling asleep, and the sleep itself isn't recreative. I don't feel really awake after such a night.

pilsetnieks 15y ago

I cannot say anything about the sleeping patterns but are you sure that those creative bursts aren't happening just because it is quiet, no distractions, etc.?

mmwako 15y ago
Don't think so, because these come during the day in the most unexpected moments (with or without distraction). My theory is that all creativity comes from the subconscious mind, and during nighttime it's the subconscious that takes over. Just before sleeping, a gate opens where rational consciousness and unconsciousness "coexist" and that's when new ideas can be retained. It's like that guy that tried near-death experiences so he could write good ideas down.
downx3 15y ago
It's pretty blissful when the sound of the traffic evaporates. Always the best time for coding for me.

Florin_Andrei 15y ago

You're definitely not alone. Extraordinary insight and creativity, rich, vivid, inspired and out-of-the-box thinking, are typical for "twilight" states, when you're floating between waking state and sleep; not fully awaken to the outside world, but not fully unconscious either. The only problem is replicating and maintaining these states. It is sometimes possible to remain fully aware in what is essentially a full-on dream state. This is the best of both worlds, combining the rationality and critical thinking of the waking state, with the unbound creativity of the dream. It's like opening up the firehose of new ideas, while remaining in control. I am fairly certain that at least some of the unusual claims made by people who practice meditation a lot (such as having access to a higher "wisdom", etc.) are based on gaining a measure of control over these states. For this reason, I think it's worth exploring some of the traditional meditation systems, seen as empirical "brain hacking" techniques. I'd love to see more research done in this field; some of Sam Harris' work is relevant.

mmwako 15y ago
Thanks for the insight. As a matter of fact, I do meditate :) From my experience (nothing scientific), to replicate these states, what you need is to shut down your rational mind. You see, everyone has in there mind a small voice going "hey, I like this lamp" or "mmm I forgot to do something". This voice is your rational, conscious part of your "self". However, it's not your entire "self". Meditation aims at quieting this "voice" (it's really hard, and I'm not there yet). Once its quiet, you've got "space" for actual inspiration to come in, and once this happens it's amazing, and can happen in many levels. That's why meditation is a mystical experience. Mystical means that it is not possible to communicate via ideas, just by personal experience. If you get good at it you can actually control you emotional states and LISTEN to them, bringing you a lot of wellbeing in many ways. (ok, I'm waaay off topic, sorry).
- lobotryas 15y ago
  That sounds pretty interesting. Any suggestion on books or ofher resources for peope new to meditation? How did you get started with meditation?

cop359 15y ago

"I had a "gift" of being really creative and having my best ideas just before sleep, just waking up, and during insomnia episodes." This is called Hypnogogia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypnogogia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypnogogia The only way I can definitely replicate it is to stay up all night. The next day I will feel a lot more creative, but at the same time a lot less coordinated, frequently tired and not able to concentrate on doing something complicated. Also it's super easy to forget things, so you need to write down all your ideas. I dunno if you often for instance stay up very very late with friends talking about things, but I think there is a similar effect at some point.

kylebrown 15y ago
I remember reading about a famous inventor (can't remember who, sorry) who purposefully induced this state by holding something in his hand which would make a noise when let go. While falling asleep, the object (say, a metal ball) would drop (into say, a metal bowl), making enough noise to wake him up just as he was falling asleep. If an idea came he would write it down, if not he would repeat the process.
- epikur 15y ago
  Salvador Dali: http://www.arthurmag.com/2010/06/25/diy-magic-dropping-the-spoon-by-anthony-alvarado/ http://www.arthurmag.com/2010/06/25/diy-magic-dropping-the-s... The comments on that mention Thomas Edison also doing something similar.

kellishaver 15y ago

This happens to me, too, but I'd gladly trade all the good ideas in the world for a decent amount of sleep! Starting from about age 12, but definitely getting worse as I get older, sleep is something I just can't seem to get right, no matter how I approach it. I've tried getting eight hours of sleep, and it doesn't work. I do pretty good on six hours, but only for a while. Over the course of a few weeks, six becomes four, which becomes three, which is then two, and suddenly it's 3 days later and I'm still awake. When it gets to the point that I find myself getting less than four hours of sleep a night, the only way I can force my body to sleep more, despite being very physically tired, is with medication. Of course, most sleep aids can't be taken for long periods of time, so that only helps for a short while. Sometimes I don't get tired until 4am, and other times it's all I can do to stay awake at 6pm, regardless of whether I got up at 6:30 in the morning, or noon. I've tried enforcing a rigid schedule, meditation, exercise, various sleep aids, antidepressants (Pazil, Zoloft), just "going with it", and as of late, melatonin supplements at the recommendation of my doctor. They helped for a few weeks, but then that, too, stopped being effective. The closest I get to a normal sleep schedule is that about half the time, I can go to sleep around 4am and get up at 10am - but that's not really a very practical solution and there are 3-4 days a week where it's just not at all possible from a logistics standpoint.