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Ask HN: Sleeping Hacks

4 points by Aaronontheweb ↗ HN
I have a major sleeping problem - I'm so excited about the ideas I'm working on throughout the day that I can't actually fall asleep without working myself to exhaustion, and the issue is that it's nearly impossible for me to get out of bed in the morning the following day. I'd like to break the habit of staying up late and sleeping in.

What are some hacks that other entrepreneurs and engineers use to maintain some sanity in their work routines?

15 comments

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guyzero
Simple discipline.

Turn lights low. Get into bed at 10 PM. Read a boring book until 10:30. Turn off the lights. Get up at 6:30 AM.

There's no magic. You simply have to stop doing stuff.

veb
When I went overseas for two months for an internship, I figured this out the hard way.

But then that got boring, and alcohol was cheap... and fun :-P

Mz
Sleep requires one to be both physically and mentally tired. Playing computer games can be a relatively lazy way to wear out your mind when you are physically too tired to get much done but can't yet sleep. Getting adequate physical activity can help with the other end of the equation. For bright individuals, sleep sometimes doesn't come because of their mental gears continuing to whir, which is what you describe. You need to find a means to get enough of a mental workout. It sounds to me like you really aren't getting that.

Good luck with this.

skeltoac
Do something completely unrelated to hacking. You might call it a hobby. Try oil painting, baking, sculpture, music, whatever. Anything that doesn't involve a computer. Preferably something aesthetic.
zackattack
I agree with this.

In a gross oversimplification: Aesthetic = right brain = non-thinking = goodbye monkey mind.

srean
I hear you. I do not have any answers, just sharing my experiences. What I end up doing is following a cycle thats larger than the 24 hour cycle.

What happens with me is that I cannot get my mind to switch off. It races from one thought to another, and the conversation, if you can call it that, keeps going on. I am tired and have my eyes closed, but my mind is awake. In this mode, I can blank it out for a minute or so. But some stray thought will break in, and that's that.

But what I find surprising is that, I can feel a sudden and clearly demarcated change of state when all that 'talk' stops. Like some sudden exponential decay. Once that happens I know I will fall asleep in some ~10 more mins. It is this sudden and clearly perceptible change that intrigues me. If I can somehow hit that state then I know I will do fine. I dont know if anyone else have had this. However if some distraction/noise kicks me off that 'quiet' state, then the entire process has to start all over again. But this is very different from the case where a thought breaks into my difficultly enforced one minute lull that i spoke about earlier.

I can clearly identify which of the two states I am in. I have always wanted to study my EEG pattern to see if that is also reflected there.

skeltoac
I loved my >24hr cycle. Dating, marrying, and having a kid totally killed it. But while I was single my bedtime would make a full circuit of the clock every week or so, sliding back a little each day. I never had such good sleep in all my life. The waking was good, too. The only time I'd set an alarm was when I had a flight.
da5e
Progressive relaxation and/or self-hypnosis tapes work for me, if only to anchor the state that "it's time to sleep now".
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HackrNwsDesignr
I would suggest measuring the work hours you have in a day, and understand at 9 pm you have to start thinking about going to sleep, and getting tired. It's hard to jump from active to sleep, you'll fail. So learn to push yourself to stop at take it easier gradually. By 10 PM, maybe you start actually winding down more. With practice you can probably get to bed quickly, and take advantage of your work hours during the day. Try practicing this regimen for a while and you'll get into the habit of ending your day, not working til exhaustion. In fact you probably functioned that way before you worked too hard =)
AyKarsi
Do something completly different which empties out your mind. For me that is going for a run, others play the guitar, just try and get away from the computer for a good while before trying to sleep.

And I second the note about discipline. Define your working hours and stick to them. If you can't do it, get yourself a faimily: they'll do it for you :)

JimboOmega
If you have feel a pull to stay up later every day, besides just being young, you might also have some form of Delayed Sleep Phase Syndrome; I found that Rozerem (or some form of melatonin) helped greatly to remind my brain it was night. For some reason, other gimmicks to reduce my eyes exposure to light didn't work.

You may also try to make lifestyle choices that are compatible with you not being coherent before noon.

rsepassi
Make sure no matter what you get up at the same time every day, even if you went to bed really late the night before (or earlier that morning), and go to bed at night when you start feeling drowsy. If you need a kickstart in the beginning of the (re)transition period, drink a cup of coffee when you wake up or sit in front of a light therapy device (http://www.amazon.com/Philips-goLITE-BLU-Therapy-Device/dp/B...) for 15-30 mins. After a few days, your sleep schedule should normalize. If you still have trouble getting drowsy at night, try to get into a pre-sleep ritual (book, warm milk, dim the lights, whatever) 30-60 mins before you want to go to bed. Definitely stop all work 30-60 mins before bedtime. In general, no backlit screens in the 60mins before bedtime, and no caffeine after 3pm.