Is there anything one can do for shortening the amount of time needed to fall asleep, and making it more robust? Currently I will be unable to fall asleep if I’ve overslept on the previous day or engaged with something too stimulating before going to bed. This is still true even though I’ve followed a strict schedule for a fairly long time. It’s pretty annoying.
Something I already do is sleep with white noise, partially to make it less likely that I’ll wake up from unexpected sounds.
Avoid light at night, especially blue light. Light inhibits natural melatonin production, which interferes with your circadian rhythms.
If you can’t darken your room completely, you can use a sleep mask instead. Get the kind with cups (like opaque swim goggles) instead of the kind that puts pressure on your eyes.
Use f.lux on your personal devices to reduce blue light after sunset or use one of the similar built-in features of your OS. Windows 10 has the new “Night Light” setting, macOS and iOS have “night shift” mode. Newer Samsung phones have a “blue light filter” setting. These options vary in quality and may have configurable intensity. More intense is more effective and it’s surprising how much you get used to it.
Falling asleep is a common failure mode of certain types of meditation practice. You can use this to your advantage when suffering from insomnia in bed. Even beginners fail to meditate this way accidentally, so it’s not particularly difficult to do on purpose. Focus your attention on the sensation of breathing or on the ringing in your ears. When you notice you are lost in thought, refocus your attention. But when you notice the dreaming arise without directed effort, dive in and let them take you. It works for me anyway. If not, at least you got your meditation in today.
[...]
Track your sleep quality.
You can get smartphone apps that purport to do this using the phone’s sensors. Some fitness trackers or smartwatches also have this function built in or available as an app. Accuracy varies.
You may have sleep apnea. Talk to your doctor about doing a sleep study to diagnose possible issues and treatments. Some people do much better on a CPAP, but there are many other treatment options.
Avoid eating late at night. This can cause indigestion, which can keep you awake.
if you suffer from heartburn, sleep on your left side to contain it better, because your esophagus attaches to your stomach on the right side (unless you’re one of those rare people with backwards internal organs).
Exercise regularly. I’m not sure why this helps, but it seems to. Perhaps mental fatigue doesn’t always line up with physical fatigue unless you actually make some effort physically during the day.
Meta: I found a downvote on this comment even though I didn’t remember downvoting it, so if you were wondering why someone downvoted you, it was an accident.
The meditation one in particular sounds interesting. I’ll try it. flux is something I’ve already experimented with, and I do exercise regularly.
I’ve had the opposite experience with eating – if I eat a lot right before going to bed, it seems to help. But I guess it’s not too surprising if that one differs from person to person.
Well, the disclaimer here is that I wrote that without giving it conscious thought, so I have to examine why I believe it retroactively. I notice that I’m pretty confident.
I think the biggest reason is just that it feels that way. The second is that I sometimes intent to go to bed, notice that I’m hungry, then eat something and go back to bed, and I seem to sleep better than average on those cases.
I’ve only tried to use it deliberately once. It was recently; I failed to fall asleep for about an hour, at which point I usually give up and just stay awake longer. Instead I got up, deliberately ate too much and went back to bed. It actually worked.
As far as I understand eating before sleep raises your pulse as more blood has to flow through your intestines and thus usually leads to less deep sleep.
It might damage your sleep in a way that leads you to be less rested the next morning even through you don’t notice that you had trouble entering sleep.
It might be useful to be more clear about what kind of food to eat when you find that eating something is good.
Personally, I can eat a bit of soup before going to bed without producing much spike in heart-rate.
People say reading something boring does it, but for me it’s about cognitive overhead. Something that’ll make some part of the brain go “I’m too tired for this shit actually, if you wanna read this we’ve got to sleep a bit first, you do want to read this ergo we are going to sleep now”
I’ve already been convinced by gwern that melatonin is worth taking, but it’s prescription-only where I live. Still, you’ve given me a better sounding reason why I need it. I’m definitely going to ask for it the next time I see a doctor.
When I was living in Germany, where it was also prescription only, I found some place that just shipped it to me online anyways. There was some risk of a fine, but not a huge one even in the worst-case. I don’t remember what site it was though.
I’ve gotten my hands on melatonin now, inspired by your comment. I’ve found a site that actually shipped it from Poland, which I believe isn’t even illegal and definitely won’t get me into trouble. The cost is still minimal. So far, it seems to help. Thanks again.
I did. It’s hard to quantify how much, but I’m falling asleep in < 20 min more reliably and am less tired during the day. I also remember dreams much more frequently, which is a welcome change.
Is there anything one can do for shortening the amount of time needed to fall asleep, and making it more robust? Currently I will be unable to fall asleep if I’ve overslept on the previous day or engaged with something too stimulating before going to bed. This is still true even though I’ve followed a strict schedule for a fairly long time. It’s pretty annoying.
Something I already do is sleep with white noise, partially to make it less likely that I’ll wake up from unexpected sounds.
Copied from my answer here.
Take melatonin at the appropriate time and dose. It’s cheap and legal in the U.S., but most products have way too much. https://slatestarcodex.com/2018/07/10/melatonin-much-more-than-you-wanted-to-know/ most insomnia drugs are not much more effective than this.
Avoid light at night, especially blue light. Light inhibits natural melatonin production, which interferes with your circadian rhythms.
If you can’t darken your room completely, you can use a sleep mask instead. Get the kind with cups (like opaque swim goggles) instead of the kind that puts pressure on your eyes.
Use f.lux on your personal devices to reduce blue light after sunset or use one of the similar built-in features of your OS. Windows 10 has the new “Night Light” setting, macOS and iOS have “night shift” mode. Newer Samsung phones have a “blue light filter” setting. These options vary in quality and may have configurable intensity. More intense is more effective and it’s surprising how much you get used to it.
Falling asleep is a common failure mode of certain types of meditation practice. You can use this to your advantage when suffering from insomnia in bed. Even beginners fail to meditate this way accidentally, so it’s not particularly difficult to do on purpose. Focus your attention on the sensation of breathing or on the ringing in your ears. When you notice you are lost in thought, refocus your attention. But when you notice the dreaming arise without directed effort, dive in and let them take you. It works for me anyway. If not, at least you got your meditation in today. [...]
Track your sleep quality.
You can get smartphone apps that purport to do this using the phone’s sensors. Some fitness trackers or smartwatches also have this function built in or available as an app. Accuracy varies.
You may have sleep apnea. Talk to your doctor about doing a sleep study to diagnose possible issues and treatments. Some people do much better on a CPAP, but there are many other treatment options.
Avoid eating late at night. This can cause indigestion, which can keep you awake.
if you suffer from heartburn, sleep on your left side to contain it better, because your esophagus attaches to your stomach on the right side (unless you’re one of those rare people with backwards internal organs).
Exercise regularly. I’m not sure why this helps, but it seems to. Perhaps mental fatigue doesn’t always line up with physical fatigue unless you actually make some effort physically during the day.
Meta: I found a downvote on this comment even though I didn’t remember downvoting it, so if you were wondering why someone downvoted you, it was an accident.
Thanks!
The meditation one in particular sounds interesting. I’ll try it. flux is something I’ve already experimented with, and I do exercise regularly.
I’ve had the opposite experience with eating – if I eat a lot right before going to bed, it seems to help. But I guess it’s not too surprising if that one differs from person to person.
What metric do you use to determine it works to eat right before bed?
Well, the disclaimer here is that I wrote that without giving it conscious thought, so I have to examine why I believe it retroactively. I notice that I’m pretty confident.
I think the biggest reason is just that it feels that way. The second is that I sometimes intent to go to bed, notice that I’m hungry, then eat something and go back to bed, and I seem to sleep better than average on those cases.
I’ve only tried to use it deliberately once. It was recently; I failed to fall asleep for about an hour, at which point I usually give up and just stay awake longer. Instead I got up, deliberately ate too much and went back to bed. It actually worked.
As far as I understand eating before sleep raises your pulse as more blood has to flow through your intestines and thus usually leads to less deep sleep.
It might damage your sleep in a way that leads you to be less rested the next morning even through you don’t notice that you had trouble entering sleep.
It might be useful to be more clear about what kind of food to eat when you find that eating something is good.
Personally, I can eat a bit of soup before going to bed without producing much spike in heart-rate.
Usually bread and/or cereal.
Your point that it might make sleep less effective even if it reduces falling asleep time is well taken.
Did you try the meditation one? I’m curious to know how it worked for you.
Only made some fairly halfhearted attempts at that one; it didn’t really lead to anything.
People say reading something boring does it, but for me it’s about cognitive overhead. Something that’ll make some part of the brain go “I’m too tired for this shit actually, if you wanna read this we’ve got to sleep a bit first, you do want to read this ergo we are going to sleep now”
0.3 mg melatonin an hour before I want to be asleep works, my only trouble is actually planning in advance.
:(
I’ve already been convinced by gwern that melatonin is worth taking, but it’s prescription-only where I live. Still, you’ve given me a better sounding reason why I need it. I’m definitely going to ask for it the next time I see a doctor.
When I was living in Germany, where it was also prescription only, I found some place that just shipped it to me online anyways. There was some risk of a fine, but not a huge one even in the worst-case. I don’t remember what site it was though.
I’ve gotten my hands on melatonin now, inspired by your comment. I’ve found a site that actually shipped it from Poland, which I believe isn’t even illegal and definitely won’t get me into trouble. The cost is still minimal. So far, it seems to help. Thanks again.
Great, glad to hear that!
Thanks. That is very useful to know.
Curious to know if you got better; care to update?
I did. It’s hard to quantify how much, but I’m falling asleep in < 20 min more reliably and am less tired during the day. I also remember dreams much more frequently, which is a welcome change.
Try reading something boring. It works for me.