So just set an alarm for 11pm, and when you hear it, immediately stop what you're doing, save any open documents, turn the TV or computer off. The next 30 minutes are for brushing teeth, settling into bed, and preparing for the following morning only. By then you should be settling into a good night's sleep.
Notes: I don't drink coffee, green tea once in a while, and minimal late-night stimuli (lights mostly off, no music, ...).
I would imagine that any windows or external lighting is going to have a far greater effect than F.lux. I tried F.lux a while ago when it was recommended in a previous HN post but for me the only difference it seemed to have, was to make my computer monitor more difficult to read by making it too dim.
If you sleep set hours, you’ll sometimes go to bed
when you aren’t sleepy enough. If it’s taking you
more than five minutes to fall asleep each night,
you aren’t sleepy enough. You’re wasting time lying
in bed awake and not being asleep. Another problem
is that you’re assuming you need the same number of
hours of sleep every night, which is a false
assumption. Your sleep needs vary from day to day.
...
The solution was to go to bed when I’m sleepy
(and only when I’m sleepy) and get up with
an alarm clock at a fixed time (7 days per week).
[1]: http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2005/05/how-to-become-an-ea...
This advice only works for some people.
I've also never been a morning person, but when I keep to a strict go-to-bed time, I feel refreshed and awake in the morning even if its early. I guess part of this is that when I'm careful when I go to bed, I also time that I 1) get a plenty of sleep and 2) get up on a 90-minute boundary.
Unfortunately I have a habit of ignoring my go-to-bed alarm :-(
Use time-boxing as a scheduling mechanism. If you find you have more work to do than time to do it, start lopping off items from your to-do list, and/or identifying how you can accomplish a sufficient effort in the time available.
That is likely to be a far more useful life lesson than whatever subject it is you're studying at the moment.
You also have to learn how to schedule downtime. People cannot run 100% 24/7/365, and attempting to do this is at best very painful, and at worst, literally, suicidal.
If you want a little more unorthodox advice I'd offer, "don't buy the textbook unless either (a) it is a workbook which must be submitted for the grade or (b) you were really so powerfully impressed that you want this book as a lifelong reference." Ask the professor to ask the library to put the textbook on reserve in the library -- so that nobody in the course can take it out, but rather you share it at the library. If this leaves you muttering about Kant's categorical imperative, remember that if someone else is using it, you can form an impromptu study group and make a new friend. :D. For that matter, student societies should have copies of the texts, and a study lounge at the department might also have them. If nothing else works, copy homework problems from a friend taking the same course and look up the same material in alternative texts in the library (or on the Internet) -- but that's almost never necessary.
Don't expect life to get easier. More rewarding, IMO, but not easier.
http://www.juggleware.com/blog/2012/01/sol-sun-clock-for-iph...
I'm not sure what the equivalent on Android might be; if anyone knows, hopefully they'll weigh in.
Trying to micromanage everything from your sleep schedule to your work schedule to your calorie intake to your fat intake to your social media intake to your exposure to cell phone radiation results in being even more stressed out than you would be if you weren't attempting to keep track of eighty different pseudoscientific lifestyle prescriptions.
Go to sleep. Wake up. Eat food. Do those things, and try to enjoy life while you have it... burning it trying to "optimize" everything is a painful waste of time.
I've been having an increasing issue with sleep (not being able to fall asleep, then waking up early and not being able to fall back asleep). I've tried to combat it by being more aware of my habits and patterns, but that's resulting in sleep anxiety. Compounded with the effects of sleep deprivation and I'm easily losing sleep worrying about my sleep habits.
Sample set of 1, though.
AFAIK, worry is the main reason for poor sleep. And encountering posts like this at HN and in newspapers all the time may add to the problem.
For example, I had almost gotten back my sleep a couple of months back. And then, every newspaper (and HN) was full of this new research saying that lack of sleep alters genes. I didn't even have to read the articles, the headlines were enough: "Too little sleep is bad for you, it alters genes! My, oh my!". Thanks! Welcome back, sleep problems.
But on what grounds can they conclude that altered genes is bad for your health? The research sure says that things is happening in your body, and that some processes related to e.g. the immune system has been altered. But how bad is it really? Will you die earlier?
There are many things altering your genes. If I look at a picture of a cute kitten, I am pretty sure you can see that in my genes. Also, meditation dramatically alters you genes. (There are stories about monks who hardly need to sleep at all, because they get the rest they need through meditation.)
So, are there big problems with sleeping too little, are there really reasons to worry? I don't know. But like in in many other fields (e.g. nutrition), results of early studies have been stated as "facts", while later studies show that things are a bit more complicated. Antioxidants comes to mind.
There are research suggesting that too little sleep causes heart disease. (Note the word "suggests".) But, if there is a link, is the reason lack of sleep? Or does other factors add to it or cause it, e.g. eating more junk food, that you get more easily annoyed (increasing blood pressure), etc.?
I am not suggesting that you should sleep less, and I believe sleep is important. But I am unsure about how much you should worry if you sleep poorly.
In general, I believe more and more in eating balanced, exercising moderately (walking is good!), and most importantly, taking a break when my body tells me it's time to rest (listening to your body is underrated, and we learn from early childhood to suppress what it tells us). And, very important, stop reading health news. Because adding to almost any problem, is how media (and others) report findings to sell more of their products. They skew reality, and you probably end up worrying more than you should.
If you are actually worrying about it, that is bad. If you are thinking about it a little here and there, and trying to improve what you are doing, that is good. It's all about the balance, which is sort of your point too.
But the entire point of life optimization isn't to sit around thinking about all of this, it's to build healthy habits that allow our "autopilot" to pilot us down previously consciously decided paths.
You should be unconsciously a better person after reinforcing new healthy habits, quite identical to your final phrase of "wake up, eat," etc.
If you're burning out with optimization, you are literally doing it wrong.
And if they're not, people are going to waste a lot of time trying to learn new habits, then find out that they are no better off or perhaps worse, except now they're stuck with new, bad habits to unlearn.
My argument is less with optimization than with spending too much time and effort attempting it without actually gaining anything, or having a reasonable expectation of the same.
The more you have to "work" to lead a healthy life the less likely it is that you'll stay consistent. Find what works for you and incorporate it into your routine.
Also, your ears are very adaptable: plugging your ears with earbuds will decrease the sound pressure by about 10 dB, which isn't really all that much. As a hearing loss, it would not require treatment. Your ears will adapt and you will still hear most startling sounds. In fact, your ears will have to "concentrate" more, which is known to lead to fatigue.
I wear ear plugs at night, but no mask. I suffer from "night terrors" however, and when they strike I am very disoriented. The earplugs make that worse, and I imagine a mask would be a bad idea too.
I use these earplugs because we go through a lot. http://www.amazon.com/SparkPlugs-Disposable-Earplugs-Nascar-...
They are large, but still comfortable.
Between the eye mask, limiting eating large meals later at night, and cutting back on caffeine, I've reduced my night terrors by about 90% in the past 2 years. YMMV.
Also, I'm not entirely sure where I heard/read it, but I thought it's actually good to wake up with (natural) light, which brings you into a more natural cycle or something. I think I also heard it could help with jet lag, releasing melatonin or something of that sort.
However if you're sleeping at home you want your body to sleep for as long as it needs to, uninterrupted. That means no sunlight, no noise and no alarms. If you get into a consistent schedule you're body will wake up at around the same time everyday. However if you have sleep debt that you need to make up, you also want to give your body the chance to sleep a little extra.
However, perfect consistency is hard to maintain. Even if one avoids the late parties and whatnot, eventually emergencies get in the way or illness comes along and increases the amount of sleep required.
My question is, when consistency must falter, what piece is most important? Going to bed at the same time, getting up at the same time, getting the same amount of sleep, or getting at least some particular amount of sleep? The article here claims it is not the last.
Samsung Android devices like the Note and the Galaxy S3 have AMOLED. On the Play Store, there is a free app called Galactic Night that will let you run the device in red only. Add on another free app called Screen Filter, and suddenly you have a device with perfect lighting that allows you to keep your night vision and let your eyes rest while you drift off to sleep. CyanogenMod used to have this feature; not sure if it still does.
Backlit LCD screens (even ones that use Flux or Red profiles) won't work because even the black pixels are backlit. I've tried using a jailbroken iPad with Color Profiles and it's just not the same.
Finally, you can use an e-reader but I recommend a light source you can add a red gel to. This will have the same effect.
Source: I've been reading on a screen before bed since the days of the Palm III. Also, I used to develop film in a real darkroom.
She settled in on the soft silicone variety, like these http://www.amazon.com/Macks-Pillow-Silicone-Earplugs-Value/d... but she gets the pharmacy or grocery store brand. They let in enough noise that you're not completely isolated, but dampen enough that you're able to sleep through usual noise like spouse snoring, dogs waking up to stretch/scratch/re-position, baby gurgling over the monitor, etc.
Edit: And they're much much more comfortable than the foam varieties tried.
Edit: My source is a knowledgeable person on the subject, feel free to contradict or doubt the truthfulness of the answer - makes sense to me at least.
Source: I read a book on it once about a year or so ago. The name of the book was [Buzz: The Science and Lore of Alcohol and Caffeine](http://www.amazon.com/Buzz-Science-Lore-Alcohol-Caffeine/dp/...).
Cold water is like shock to your system. It wakes your body up.
Your body needs to work on warming the water first.
Although water itself should be good, warm/hand temperature water should be best.
I lift 5 times a week, with another day of cardio and I'm in my mid 30's. My life is pretty good.
> Don't do that, bud.
Based on what information? Many popular lifting schedules call for 5 days on and 2 off per week. I think your projecting your own personal experiences here.
Do you go to a gym or have a home gym? What kind of program are you following?
I'm thinking of half hour max early morning, rotating between major body parts.
I'm also a big fan of flux which lowers the amount of blue light emitted by your monitor: http://stereopsis.com/flux/
Its one page from my first django project which has been abandoned for a while. Its basically a curated affiliate link site (similar to what refer.ly has become)
The beauty of Medium is that I can have people help me proofread my posts before I publish them :).
This is just speculation, but perhaps you sleep better on your side, so that you don't remember your dreams as easily? E.g. if you wake up several times a night, you will remember more dreams than if you don't wake up during the night.
I also like to think the act of putting on my sleeping cap is also a nice subconscious cue that it's sleep time.
Take a moment to thank your parents, everyone, if only because you ruined about a year of their sleep (at least).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EEG
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_consumer_brain–co...
Check out this post for more information: http://dustincurtis.com/sleep.html
However even if you're wearing earplugs you'll be able to hear an alarm, they don't block off noise that much.
For example, if I wear my earplugs in the library, it'll completely muffle the sound of people whispering around me, but I'll still be able to hear the oblivious jock talking at full volume to his buddy at the table across from me.
you should not forget that people are very different. so don't try to impose all these rules on everyone just because it works for you.
I didn't mean to impose anything on anyone, just trying to share some of the things I've learnt :).
The Zeo is the most accurate (since it picks up brainwaves), however it's also slightly uncomfortable and buggy. I personally use the Jawbone UP which works good enough. All of the apps that say they do that aren't the most accurate since they rely on the movement of your mattress. However I know some people who swear by them.
You have sophisticated systems in you to govern consumption of sleep and food. Just don't screw things up with drugs, digital stimulation, social isolation, or junk food. It's all the same issue.
Wants to be hyper-rational and metric-aware about his sleep but didn't know anything about caffeine?
Okay.
http://www.mayoclinic.com/print/caffeine/AN01211/METHOD=prin...
Espresso, restaurant-style 1 oz. (30 mL) 40-75 mg
Generic brewed 8 oz. (240 mL) 95-200 mg
The brewed coffee thus has between 11.9 mg and 25 mg of caffeine per oz.
If you added a shot of espresso (let's assume the weakest one at 40 mg of caffeine) to an 8 oz of very strong coffee (at 200 mg of caffeine), you'd still be increasing the concentration to ~26.7 mg/oz.
And that's stretching the limits of these calculations; a 200 mg 8 oz coffee is crazy strong, amounting to two and a half cans of Red Bull.
Can I just halve the time required if tea has half the caffeine (let's say)?
If you're in the US, the Stash decaf range is IMO the best of the common supermarket brands (the normal American teas like Lipton and Tetley are pretty terrible in their decaf versions). If there's a gourmet store around, they may have the English brands such as Typhoo or PG Tips in decaf, which are pretty great. If you're in the UK then any advice on tea from the likes of me should just be ignored out of hand... :)