What has been the biggest contributor in improving your sleep?

You'll see the usual answers here such as

- better mattress and pillows

- sleep tracker

- supplements or substances like melatonin or cannabis (or lack thereof such as alcohol and caffeine)

- lack of screen use at night

- red light filters

- CPAP machines or mouthpieces

- napping (or not napping)

- diet and exercise

which are all well and good. But the number one biggest contributor for me has been to just fucking sleep at the same time every night.

I used to wildly swing my sleep times either by staying up doing work or having fun watching movies and playing games, then I'd be very tired the next day and sleeping early, only to wake up early again. Sometimes I'd just stay up all night as my sleep time was wholly shifted a full 12 hours.

Once I started sleeping (or even just getting into bed) at the same time every night, everything fixed itself.

I really like Piotr Wozniak’s writing on sleep: https://www.supermemo.com/en/archives1990-2015/articles/slee...

He would suggest free running sleep or alternatively biphasic sleep (a siesta about 7 hours after rising).

To add to others and clarify a couple things I know:

1. Magnesium L-threonate really improves sleep quality for me. Other types don’t work as well, including sucrosomial magnesium.

2. Melatonin’s benefits peak around 300mcg in most people, almost all off the shelf supplements are too large. Taking too much can hurt sleep architecture, cause nightmares, cause depression.

3. Circadian rhythm is slightly longer than 24 hours. Employing zeitgebers (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeitgeber) to entrain a more regular rhythm helps: exercise, social interaction, and (for me) a light lamp or time outdoors (since I get seasonal affective disorder in the winter).

4. I occasionally use supplements like Lemon balm or Magnolia bark if I’m particularly stressed before sleep, since they encourage some level of relaxation without negatively affecting sleep architecture. I think a lot of people equate sleep quality with low sleep latency, but both alcohol and marijuana, despite moving you to sleep quicker, negatively affect sleep architecture.

I think I have a pretty great sleep routine, as I haven’t awakened to an alarm in like 10 years.

Stop drinking coffee after 12 noon.

When I feel hungry after dinner, drink water. Late hunger is often the brains cry for food to keep you awake. Usually within 30 minutes I am sleepy.

Going to bed early, so I do not have to use the alarm to wake up. So I write stuff down that I need to do, and if I am up early I do those things, verses pushing to stay up and do them.

Number one by far - less stress. Going from college to having a high paying job reduced my stress quite a bit. As well as then getting a significant other. I've since gained weight and look relatively normal in comparison to my skeleton-like appearance in the past along with my constant lack of sleep.

Outside of that - removing caffeine has had a substantial effect as well. I used to drink caffeinated diet soda even up to bed time before. It didn't always keep me awake or have much effect but removing it made it clear that it improved my sleep to some degree. But more importantly - it made it easier for me to get out of bed in the morning. When I get up in the morning - it doesn't take me an hour to just boot up. I'm usually more "awake" immediately and I think I can attribute that to little to no caffeine intake.

I do think things like good diet and exercise and other such stuff does help too. But less stress and no caffeine have been very noticeable improvements. I avoid caffeinated drinks now as much as possible. It does mean getting that caffeine free soda is pretty difficult but it can be done!

reading Why we sleep, by Matthew Walker. After reading this book I decided to put sleep quality above everything and it helped me take the adequate measures. What worked for me was : lowering my caffeine intake (no more than 2 coffee), no caffeine in the afternoon, no screen in the evening, no work 2 or 3 hours prior to go to bed, increasing exercise and sunlight exposition in the day. Oh and good earplugs !

8pm bedtime + this stuff:

https://www.cibdol.com/cbd-supplements/meladol

I originally got it from Zamnesia in the Netherlands, but they stopped selling it under their own brand in 2019 or so, but it was clear this was the same product.

It cured my night terrors and broken sleep, which was enough to get me settled enough over 6 months to establish a 8pm / 5am bed routine. I still take it today, even with better sleep patterns, and it’s part of a ritual before bed.

Downsides: tastes like ditch water might, consider it an acquired taste.

A mouthpiece for stopping the snoring. The mouthpiece holds the tongue down and makes sure there is good airflow. The difference in sleep quality is quite significant and it makes a huge difference to my day.

For reference, my mouthpiece cost me around 750 Euros (In 2016) and it was bought in the Netherlands from https://www.snurken.org/

Joe Rogan was talking about it in one of his podcasts too.

Ignore me as I have CFS like symptoms I am trying to get diagnosed so I don’t recommend it as a option for most people, but muscle relaxants and SNRIs especially sure do the trick from insomniac to sleep like baby.

Lots of downsides to these drugs. DYOR.

Apart from that give up alcohol. Wear an eye mask. Stop eating 6pm.

In my experience caffeine is less of a problem.

None of this necessarily applies to you as you have a different body to me.

Make drastic life changes if necessary to fix two things:

- Noise level at night - Cool 65-72 degree room - Weighted blanket

Noise level at night is absolutely critical. If you aren't sure, get an app to measure at night. If you live by a road and your windows aren't absolutely sound proof, you are definitely getting poor sleep from the noise.

If your room isn't silent at night, make long term plans and move.

I bought a smart watch that tracks my sleep. I then focused on having all nights green, which usually meant I was really well rested. The tips from the app, reminders and all of it combined helped.

It's the ScanWatch from Withings - they have cheaper models too, and probably any other smart watch will work although I am not sure their app is compatible.

Question, what do I do when my wife of 3 months shifts, pries with legs, pulls the blanket and takes so much time off my rest?

Learn peripheral vision. Here is my article for the same - https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/state-our-eyes-nitin-sareen

Buying a good mattress. For years I bought cheap mattresses out of misplaced frugality, but my gf talked me into buying a good quality memory foam mattress which cured not only lingering back pain issues, I now sleep like a baby.

The Wim Hof breathing exercise. While some of the stuff by him is too close for comfort to wellness bullshit, it did work for me. Take a look at his website and third-party testimonials.

Waking early. It's easier to wake up at 4 and force myself out of bed than it is to try to sleep before 12. Once you wake up early enough, falling asleep before 12 is natural.

On the days that it does feel improved, it probably is due to exercise and consistent sleep timings.

Distraction from pointless things that constantly linger in my head and cause stress also helps.

Stopped drinking alcohol from 2-3 drinks a day to 2-3 drinks a month. Something about alcohol causing my airways to block? Not sure exactly why but has made a big difference.

No stress from work (like on a 2 week vacation). No stress from a flawed justice system (prior to the injustices I've recently been subjected to).

So now I sleep terribly.

Personally i had a terrible sleep quality back then, i started sleeping at 12PM then my sleep quality increased instantly.

Sleep when tired. Get up when ready. With occasional exceptions. Glass of water before. Night pot.

Wearing earplugs helped me improving my sleep. Took me some time to get used to them though.

Quality work, exercise, food, sex, and occassional alcohol.

Keep things simple and lindy.

For people who sleep during the day, blackout curtains and ear plugs.

Lots of walking.

Improving my nutritional status.

Physical activity.

Mouth taping

To sleep

Drinking beer before going to bed. Sleep like a baby.