2011-09-05 17:52:40 +02:00
|
|
|
|
---
|
|
|
|
|
title: Ways to Improve Your Sleep
|
|
|
|
|
date: 2010-05-27
|
|
|
|
|
techne: :done
|
|
|
|
|
episteme: :broken
|
|
|
|
|
---
|
2010-05-03 08:46:39 +02:00
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Some stuff that I found that actually works.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
f.lux
|
|
|
|
|
=====
|
|
|
|
|
|
2011-09-05 17:52:40 +02:00
|
|
|
|
[f.lux][] controls the level of blue your monitor shows and tones it down during
|
2010-05-03 08:46:39 +02:00
|
|
|
|
the night to allow you to get tired naturally (and not stay up all night,
|
2011-09-05 17:52:40 +02:00
|
|
|
|
playing ケロロRPG like _some_ people). There's quite a bit of research to
|
|
|
|
|
back it up and I achieved some really good results with it.
|
2010-05-03 08:46:39 +02:00
|
|
|
|
|
2011-09-05 17:52:40 +02:00
|
|
|
|
(While [f.lux] has a Linux version, it's just an ugly binary. Use [Redshift][]
|
2010-05-03 08:46:39 +02:00
|
|
|
|
instead. All good distros have it in their repository (i.e., Gentoo).)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Easy Exercise
|
|
|
|
|
=============
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
> When you stress a leg muscle a lot, presumably one or more chemicals are
|
|
|
|
|
> released that both (a) cause the muscle to grow (the well-known effect of
|
|
|
|
|
> exercise) and (b) cause you to sleep more deeply at night (the effect that
|
|
|
|
|
> interests me). In contrast to [normal exercise], there’s no need for the
|
|
|
|
|
> concept of fitness here because you don’t slowly go up and down in a measure
|
|
|
|
|
> of effectiveness (i.e., become more or less fit). Rather each day you are high
|
|
|
|
|
> or low on this measure, and the next day you start fresh. In contrast to
|
|
|
|
|
> [normal exercise], where the benefits accrue slowly (over weeks and months),
|
|
|
|
|
> the benefits are obvious the next morning (you feel better-rested) and the
|
|
|
|
|
> next day (you’re less tired). (...) The benefits are so large relative to the
|
2011-09-05 17:52:40 +02:00
|
|
|
|
> cost that there’s no motivation problem. Deciding to do it is about as hard
|
|
|
|
|
> as deciding to pick up a $10 bill. Deciding to do conventional exercise is a
|
|
|
|
|
> lot harder.
|
2010-05-03 08:46:39 +02:00
|
|
|
|
>
|
2011-09-05 17:52:40 +02:00
|
|
|
|
> Seth Roberts, [Why Did I Sleep So Well?][]
|
2010-05-03 08:46:39 +02:00
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Basically, putting a ltitle bit of stress on muscles causes good sleep. The
|
|
|
|
|
easiest form of doing this is by standing on one leg, while pulling the other
|
|
|
|
|
one behind you, until it starts to feel painful. This takes about a few minutes,
|
|
|
|
|
10 at most, and takes so little motivation you can easily do it every day. Yes,
|
|
|
|
|
it works. It's very awesome. Conventional exercise works, too, but why bother?
|
|
|
|
|
Why run half an hour or more, when you can just stand a bit while cooking or
|
|
|
|
|
watching TV?
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Waking up gently
|
|
|
|
|
================
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
I found that alarms that woke me up instantly always screwed with my mental
|
|
|
|
|
alertness in the morning, leading to brain fog and turning off the alarm as an
|
|
|
|
|
angry reflex. Using something that slowly fades into awareness, like slow music,
|
|
|
|
|
works way better. I also got good results by using TV shows. Waking up to
|
|
|
|
|
something engaging and interesting is always good.
|
|
|
|
|
|
2010-05-27 18:17:52 +02:00
|
|
|
|
Unfortunately, I haven't yet tried a strong, gradual light sources, although I
|
|
|
|
|
do have my 3 TFTs set up to turn on each morning, so I suspect that it would
|
|
|
|
|
help as well. Regardless, all artificial light sources pale in comparison to the
|
|
|
|
|
sun, even on a very cloudy day. You aren't able to consciously tell how bright
|
|
|
|
|
something really is (because most of human vision is processed as relative to
|
|
|
|
|
its surrounding, not in absolutes), so it's easy to get this wrong, but during
|
2011-09-05 17:52:40 +02:00
|
|
|
|
my [polyphasic][Polyphasic Sleep] experiment I found standing outside for even
|
|
|
|
|
just 5 minutes to be a great help in waking up.
|
2010-05-27 18:17:52 +02:00
|
|
|
|
|
2010-05-03 08:46:39 +02:00
|
|
|
|
Caffeine
|
|
|
|
|
========
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
No, not in the morning. (Although that helps, too, especially with brain fog.)
|
|
|
|
|
I'm talking about drinking caffeine before going to bed.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
This hack applies only to some brains, mostly people with bipolar or ADD
|
|
|
|
|
personalities. The best sign is whether uppers like caffeine, cocaine or
|
|
|
|
|
Ritanol, especially in small dosages, make you hyper or calm. I actually get
|
|
|
|
|
sleepy from drinking caffeine. It takes me about 2 to 3 hours, minimum, to
|
2011-09-05 17:52:40 +02:00
|
|
|
|
become more active after a cup of coffee.
|
2010-05-03 08:46:39 +02:00
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The critical part is getting just the right dosage. Caffeine still affects and
|
|
|
|
|
disrupts your tiredness, so drinking to much will prevent you from getting good
|
2011-09-05 17:52:40 +02:00
|
|
|
|
sleep. The tricky thing is that the negative effects will only kick in very
|
2010-05-03 08:46:39 +02:00
|
|
|
|
late, hours later, while you are working like crazy. I have gone multiple times
|
|
|
|
|
for about 3 or 4 days drinking huge amounts of coffee, like at 10 to 20 cups a
|
|
|
|
|
day, feeling great, sleeping great, until I finally found I suddenly couldn't
|
|
|
|
|
sleep all the way through because my legs were twitching so much they started to
|
|
|
|
|
be really sore and my heartbeat sounded very unhealthy.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Nonetheless, getting enough caffeine, especially in the evening, each day
|
|
|
|
|
greatly improves my sleep, my breathing and my ability to wake up.
|
2010-05-27 18:17:52 +02:00
|
|
|
|
Unfortunately, it still blocks adenosine, so I find it harder to fall asleep.
|
|
|
|
|
It's quite a paradox state to be in, when you can't fall asleep, but once you
|
|
|
|
|
do, you sleep great. I had even considered taking *both* an upper and a downer,
|
|
|
|
|
like caffeine and diphenhydramine, but found this too silly (and I dislike all
|
|
|
|
|
available downers, including melatonin).
|