HACKER Q&A
📣 yonnadri

Who recovered from bad sleep problems?


It’s now been almost 8 years that I’m not having proper amount of deep sleep, not insomnia, just poor sleep quality. And I‘m tired of trying things that actually don’t work (good habits, healthy life, sleep restriction, medical analysis..). So who actually made it through this and how ?


  👤 softwaredoug Accepted Answer ✓
“Recovered” hmm. But certainly much better compared to a year ago.

First definitely see a doctor. Lots of conditions like sleep apnea or periodic leg movements can prevent deep sleep.

For me, I have found that anxiety was the root cause of not getting enough deep sleep. My life is so full with kids, work, etc that I can feel like I’m in a constant state of vigilance. What’s helped me:

- Journaling before bed, write down all my worries and cares. Feel all the bottled up feels, etc. also any TODOs. Just get it all out of your head

- talking to a loved one a lot about the same. Just getting it all off my chest

- meditation

- taking breaks from everything for solitude and self care

- exercise

- disconnecting from electronics and reading a relaxing paper book an hour before bed

I’d recommend the book The Sleep Solution by Chris Winter.


👤 Memosyne
This advice may not be applicable to you, but have you tried sleeping during the day and working through the night? I used to struggle with headaches and poor sleep until I realized that I simply couldn't be productive during the day. I often like to joke about how I might have some vampire blood in my lineage.