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I was considering trying a sleep tracker again last year and before that happened solved my sleep problems. The amount of things I tried back in my 20s when it
by AJ007 3y ago
I was considering trying a sleep tracker again last year and before that happened solved my sleep problems. The amount of things I tried back in my 20s when it all was trivially simple: I just need to get an adequate amount of strength training and cardio exercise during the day and I sleep straight through the night.
I was a hardcore flu.x/nightshift user. I left most lights off once the sun set. Now I'm a lot less convinced that lighting stuff matters for sleeping (but I would still follow it given the the whole cancer-light link thing.)
Of course, all of the common sense stuff still applies: staying up all night, sleeping erratic schedules, drinking a gallon of water before going to bed, drinking a bunch of caffeine late at night, medications, stimulants, cocaine, trying to sleep in a room that's 90F+, having sleep apnea, someone drilling a jackhammer outside your bedroom window etc. If you do a combination of those things there is probably zero you can do to sleep consistently and well.
I really wish I had understood this decades ago. Getting older it hits me how trivially simple solutions to certain problems are despite most running around in circles trying to solve them the entirety of their lives. To be fair, for sleeping poorly, I got an incredible amount of work done sitting in front of a PC 12 hours a day. That's a number you probably can't hit if you are getting adequate exercise, quality food, and consistent deep sleep.
- sublinear 3y ago> Getting older it hits me how trivially simple solutions to certain problems are despite most running around in circles trying to solve them the entirety of their lives. Oh, but you can't (can?) sell a self help book that way. It would only be a few pages long and everyone in the media would shit all over the author if it ever got traction. Hordes of bots on Reddit would be having fake conversations in threads that cry "science!" in an attempt to protect book sales based on TED talks and trending morning show style topics.
- vosper 3y ago> I just need to get an adequate amount of strength training and cardio exercise during the day and I sleep straight through the night. Same here. Plus drinking much less, I rarely drink these days, and when I do it’s not more than 2 beers or glasses of wine. But mostly it’s the exercise. If I didn’t go for a nice long walk, at minimum, then I know I’m gonna sleep like crap.
- ukuina 3y agoIs there a maximum time-of-effect there? i.e, if you work out in the morning, does it have less of an impact on sleep quality than working out in the evening?
- vosper 3y agoFor walking, no - it doesn't matter when I do it. Though I would avoid going for more than a light stroll within an hour of bedtime. For resistance training or cycling I'd try to avoid finishing within two hours of bedtime - those two make it harder for me to fall asleep. I have found that a cool or cold shower before bed really helps. If I am warmed up from exercise (or just sitting in a warm room) I find it much harder to go to sleep. But not too cold for too long - that can be stimulating; not what I want!