Ask HN: What helped you sleep better?

I need very little sleep ( 4-5 hours daily).

I have more time now and I do sports more because of that. I noticed it makes me sleep 1 hour more to recover.

And yes, my mood is better too.

Ps. Because of sports, i almost don't drink anything but water/milk.

Audiobook (the less exciting the better) with a 30 minute timer and sleepbuds (flat earphones, so you can lie on them comfortably regardless of your head position).

Also recommended: try and stick to a regular sleep and wake time, the earlier the better.

I find Valerian and chamomile tea help. Also turning off & moving my phone into another room to stop me checking it helps. I signal to my brain that it's time to sleep. I get racing thoughts, but that usually subsides after about an hour. If the thoughts are overly intrusive, I take notes, since they could be useful ideas to execute on in the morning.

Getting sun every day. It's remarkable how much a difference it makes in causing me to feel tired at night.

Avoiding stress for about 3 years.

For me it was the coffee. I had to quit. I was surprised how hard it was! Currently I'm at 1 tablespoon (I think 100mg) mixed in decaf with my french press. In addition to that my doctor suggested Ashwagandha and Holy Basil. I also use a weighted blanket. I'm a fan of a big pillow under my legs. Regular sleep schedule. Elon Musk suggested tilting your bed and not eating 4 hours before going to bed, that might help as well.

But I'm 90% sure cutting the caffine was the magic bullet.

Eating 3 meals a day: Oatmeal for breakfast, something warm for lunch, then bread in the evening. Going outside for a run before I shower and sleep. Quitting caffeine and getting off the internet in the evenings too. Quitting my high stress job and getting one where I don't have to worry as much.

Exercise and some meditation practice.

Stopping the tracking of my sleep cycles helped as well as yoga in the morning

Blackout curtains. I and I imagine, most people, are sensitive to light. Blackout curtains prevent light from reaching your eyes, resulting in your getting more sleep.

Eyemasks are also effective, but (1) you have to tolerate having something on your face and (2) they can get dislodged while you are sleeping, rendering them ineffective.

Trying to have a regular sleep schedule isn't enough, I find. Routine is so important that this needs to be more of a priority.

If you can get your routine down well enough, your body will get into a natural rhythm.

I haven't even used an alarm clock in I don't know how many years. Now that I have a routine my body just knows when to wake up and when to sleep.

Honarable mentions: Audiobooks, Sleep Masks / Blackout Curtains

Benadryl

CPAP

Not sharing a mattress with my partner. We have two queen mattresses next to each other. Keeping the temp at 65F. No eating after 6. No slow digesting stuff for dinner.

Got very bad sleep and tried lots of stuff for many years with varying results.

Ditching alcohol is definitely a good idea. At least don't drink too much and too soon before sleep (e.g. lunch is ok)

Eat lightly in the evening, avoiding fatty/hard to digest stuff (meat, cheese...). Preferably long before sleep.

For me, caffeine has an adverse effect even at very low doses in the morning. Looks like the effect lasts several days. I need to stop caffeine for 1-2 weeks before I notice a real improvement. This means I often give up and start having coffee again.

Exercise is also weird: running generally makes me sleep badly, probably because too intense on a cardio level. Biking seems better but I don't like/do it much. Swimming works wonders for me (but needs to be intense enough to feel tired)

Watching TV before bed not a good idea. Avoid thrillers/violent stuff and reduce the brightness of your screen. The default settings are often very bright.

Tried a lot of supplements but not sure anything really helped. Maybe magnesium did, for a while. Some plant based supplements were awful for me (ashwaganda, etcholtzia, rhodiola, and others) I now avoid them all. Herbal tea makes me wanna pee in the middle of the night.

Honestly, for me, I’ve learned my sleep problem is really an anxiety problem, so working on that gets me the most bang for the buck, by far (through therapy and being mindful, decreasing stress).

Keeping the temperature of the bedroom cold made a big difference for me.

I’ve been listening to audiobooks and podcasts for years and that helped better than not, but turning the radiator off and ensuring the bedroom was cold meant the vast majority of nights meant I went from listening at least an hour a night to often falling asleep within 15mins or less.

I had read Why We Sleep by Matthew Walker and I highly recommend it. Changed my attitude completely - it’s now higher priority.

I started taking a Zyrtec every night and set up an air purifier. I think allergies were preventing me from getting a good night's rest and since doing these two things I've had a noticeable improvement in my sleep quality.

I use a low-dose of melatonin 1mg and I break it in half. I also have been trying melatonin skin cream which seems to do the trick also.

Not taking naps (even <30 min naps) and strenuous exercise.

Also taking a shower before going to bed, no screen time, light reading before bed, and not drinking water ~2 hours before bed.

I occasionally suffer from bad sleep and wonky sleep schedule. I have tried melatonin and it has helped sometimes but I don't want to rely on something like that for achieving better sleep.

The best results I have achieved when seeking better sleep is good nutrition, not eating too close to bed, and exercise. Simple as that but thankfully I'm otherwise healthy person. On top of that, I every once in a while do yoga nidra if I happen to not be able to sleep with quite good results at least personally.

Black out blinds, velcro ones not expensive.

Cold room, the book "why we sleep" recommends 17 to 17.5 degrees Celsius. Wear socks if feet get cold.

Stopped all caffeine intake.

Mediation in bed before sleep (though for some people they find it harder to sleep after meditation).

Out of all of these it's blackout blinds and cold room that helps me the most.

Melatonin. Started with 5mg and now on 10mg.

I used to read a LOT of politics/news before sleep. No more of that!

Standing floor fan from Amazon for white noise.

No caffeine after 12pm.