Are you falling asleep correctly?

Kaitzilla

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A third of our life is spent sleeping, and I bet most of you are doing it wrong!

Falling asleep is a taught skill that anyone can learn and can be done in 2 minutes as learned during World War 2.
https://www.artofmanliness.com/articles/fall-asleep-fast/
And after six weeks of practice, 96% of the aviators were able to fall asleep in 2 minutes or less — anywhere and anytime. Not only that, they could do it even when they drank coffee (though having caffeine in your system does make it harder), and even while the simulated noise of machine gunfire and cannon blasts played in the background!

Yes, you have to be physically relaxed before you can fall asleep.
Then once you are physically relaxed, think of nothing at all to get mentally relaxed and off you go.

Some somewhat obvious tips for a good night's sleep:
  • First, don't fall asleep wearing a full outfit of clothes. Barely enough clothes to be sanitary is best.
  • Don't drink a bunch of water, or you'll wake up in the middle of the night having to pee. A few sips is good.
  • Don't drink caffeine after 9P.M. It stays in your system for 4 hours and really screws up your sleep.
  • Don't fall asleep with the light on. That's a good way to wake up with a headache every single morning.
  • Put down the E-devices, they will lop off an hour or two of prime sleep each night.
  • If you wake up in a pool of sweat, you used too many covers or you have some kind of crazy mattress wrapped in plastic. Don't just tolerate this, make changes fast.
Once you get a good rhythm going every night, your body will want to fall asleep at the same time every night due to the body's circadian rhythm. :thumbsup:

Now there is debate on which way is best to lie in bed.
https://www.onhealth.com/content/1/best_sleeping_positions_sleep

The consensus is flat on back is best, but there is some debate if lying on your left side is better.
If you are drunk, face down is best so you don't puke in your sleep and choke to death.

If you only have 1 pillow, stop being a heathen and buy 2 more pillows!
Foam is superior to those cheap 5 dollar polyester stuffing pillows that make your face hurt when waking up.

Wash your bed sheets once and a while, it's really comfortable.
If you smell dust when you first wake up, you're way past due.

If you wake up exhausted everyday and you've accounted for all other factors, you might have sleep apnea.
Set up your phone to record you sleeping one night and watch to see if you stop breathing in the middle of the night a lot.
This is a dangerous condition in the long term and fairly treatable if you know about it.
If half your dreams are underwater and you keep waking up gasping that's a big tipoff.

If you must sleep during the day, consider buying a blindfold and ear plugs for $20.

So, this is the thread dedicated to sleep.
Talk about anything you want.

Is 7 hours of sleep enough?
I need almost 8 to function best, but I hear some people live on 6.

Thread count is life.
Buy maximum thread count sheets and pillows.
 
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First, don't fall asleep wearing a full outfit of clothes. Barely enough clothes to be sanitary is best.
So whoever wrote this has never experienced a winter on the Canadian Prairies. I tolerate cool fall weather and cold winters, but only up to a certain point. There were a few weeks this past winter when I damn near froze indoors. And that's with multiple layers of clothing plus fleece blankets.

Turns out the heat was all being sent to the top floors (like they needed more) and those of us on the first floor - situated above an outdoor parkade that's like a freezing wind tunnel even in summer - were left to freeze. So after they made some adjustments it turned into a sauna here, like it was July. Problem is, we're not allowed to open the windows in the winter.

If you wake up in a pool of sweat, you used too many covers or you have some kind of crazy mattress wrapped in plastic. Don't just tolerate this, make changes fast.
Certainly. Anybody have suggestions as to how to change women's biology so they don't need to deal with certain things after they pass a certain age? :rolleyes:

My own go-to-sleep methods include listening to music (waves crashing against the shore or thunderstorms are good; so is quiet flute/harp music, or Arthur C. Clarke reading his own stories), reading (at about 2 pages/night it's going to take a loooong time to finish the novel I'm currently working on), or doing a crossword puzzle.

I do try to relax physically, and if I don't feel like any of the other methods, I just think of one of the stories I've been working on. I've got a pen and paper in case anything gets thought up that just needs to be written down, but that usually isn't the case when I'm trying to sleep. So essentially I just "think" myself a bedtime story, and sleep comes within 5 minutes.

The cat is good at helping me relax, as she likes to sleep with me. She's got her nightly ritual of kneading and turning around to get comfortable, and she'll usually want to exchange "goodnight kisses" (which in her case means licking me on the nose).

Only as a very last resort do I use medication.
 
I think sleep quality matters more than hours. Parents will understand. 6 hours of uninterrupted sleep is way better than 10 hours being woken up 3 times in the middle.

Also people have natural rhythms. I would much rather sleep from 2am to 9am and would feel more rested than 10pm to 6am even though the earlier rise is an hour longer.

Screens are a huge issue but I can't give it up. Night is my only free time to game and/or watch tv. I know it stimulates me because I will tuck my kids in bed and lie down for a second with them and feel like I could just pass out for the night, but I still have to go do some laundry or something so I don't. Then if I get on the computer an hour later I'm wide awake. Tv isn't quite as bad since it's less interactive.

White noise is great, we just use a fan.

I drink a lot of water in the evenings because I used to wake up with headaches and this fixed that. I do usually pee once a night though. Maybe I should switch something up.

I don't wear a lot while sleeping but strangely if my feet are cold I toss and turn more so I usually sleep with socks on.
 
I'm 100% sure that military personel's ability to fall asleep in 2 minutes is due to extreme exhaustion and stress more than any learned techniques but I guess I wouldn't really know.
 
A third of our life is spent sleeping, and I bet most of you are doing it wrong!

Falling asleep is a taught skill that anyone can learn and can be done in 2 minutes as learned during World War 2.
https://www.artofmanliness.com/articles/fall-asleep-fast/


Yes, you have to be physically relaxed before you can fall asleep.
Then once you are physically relaxed, think of nothing at all to get mentally relaxed and off you go.

Think of nothing at all? Is this from one of those Puritan-bot factories I see mentioned in the comments sections of media outlets?

Imagine that you are a human being, not a cog in a machine, working to pay off a mortgage doing a Damocles over your head.

Wash down 30-45mg dexedrine with 12-20 cups of instant coffee per day. Pretend you live on a planet with a 24-26 hour day. Find work that doesn't depend on being anywhere at a particular time. Programming/maths/writing are good fun.

After the kids leave home, move to another imaginary planet with a longer 28-32hour day. Play civ on one computer, work on another, and have vids or audio books running on another.

Have a very, very understanding partner. Laugh a lot every day, at yourself and your mistakes.

Take pride in every small success, then take a selfie of yourself being crushed by the Sysyphean sphere rolling back down the hill of failure. Don't worry if you didn't get the iphone out fast enough. There will be another opportunity, every single day of the rest of your life.

If anyone starts a sentence with "Millenials are ruining..." close your eyes and imagine that they are knocked off their mobility scooter by a young person riding a pink unicycle.

Work until you are satisfied with your progress for that "day" because you'll just lie there thinking of the next step, bug, squiggle, paragraph.

I didn't choose the maths life, it chose... No it didn't, I went in with my eyes wide open, bloodshot, and I haven't regretted one your Earth minutes of it. (@)-(@)
 
Blackout curtains ftw.

Going thru cuddle withdrawal since my gf and I broke up. Sleeping alone feels unnatural to me (even tho I slept alone most of my life).

On the flip side sleeping in the room with a snorer is the worst. Slept over in a room with two friends and I literally had to leave the room and slept on the bathroom floor with the fan on (had to unscrew the light bulbs since it was one switch) to get away from one of my buddy's snoring (was a studio apartment unfortunately and the bathroom was the only place to escape the noise)!

I used to be a back sleeper now I'm mostly a side sleeper with a pillow between my knees and one to hug.
 
. Night is my only free time to game and/or watch tv. I know it stimulates me because I will tuck my kids in bed and lie down for a second with them and feel like I could just pass out for the night, but I still have to go do some laundry or something so I don't. Then if I get on the computer an hour later I'm wide awake. Tv isn't quite as bad since it's less interactive.
Try blue light blockers, flux on comp, twilight on phone.

I drink a lot of water in the evenings because I used to wake up with headaches and this fixed that. I do usually pee once a night though. Maybe I should switch something up.
I feel it's better to be well hydrated and risk having to wake up to pee once or twice than waking up dehydrated
 
Werent the US Pilots like the German Pilots all doped up on Meth ?
 
I'm 100% sure that military personel's ability to fall asleep in 2 minutes is due to extreme exhaustion and stress more than any learned techniques but I guess I wouldn't really know.

In our Warrior Skills manual, there actually was a section dedicated to techniques for falling asleep faster. Don't know if they actually worked or if it was more of a placebo effect thing though.
 
Blackout curtains ftw.

Going thru cuddle withdrawal since my gf and I broke up. Sleeping alone feels unnatural to me (even tho I slept alone most of my life).
Cats. I know it's not the same kind of cuddling you're used to, but even having a cat to sleep with means you're not alone.

As far as I'm concerned, there are two people who live here. We just happen to be different species.


I feel it's better to be well hydrated and risk having to wake up to pee once or twice than waking up dehydrated
Keep water beside the bed. If you wake up dehydrated, it's simple enough to take a couple of sips and go back to sleep.
 
Werent the US Pilots like the German Pilots all doped up on Meth ?

I think they also had meds to counteract the effects of benzedrine and
other amphetamines so they could sleep on return.
I didn't want to call them "bombers" in case it confused Arakhor.
 
...
Keep water beside the bed. If you wake up dehydrated, it's simple enough to take a couple of sips and go back to sleep.

Yup, that's what I do.
1 bottled water, a few sips, and I sleep the whole 7 hours straight through.
Gulp it down in the morning first thing.
 
I sleep roughly five to six hours each day, go to bed somewhere between 3 and 4, read a little and fall asleep shortly after. I get up between 9 and 10 on most days. This rhythm feels very comfortable to me and is definitely healthier than what I used to do a few years ago.

I drink a lot, like five to six litres of each day, but never have to get up during the night (or maybe I don't remember). I almost always sleep on my side. Often it takes me mere minutes or seconds to fall asleep.
 
On the flip side sleeping in the room with a snorer is the worst. Slept over in a room with two friends and I literally had to leave the room and slept on the bathroom floor with the fan on (had to unscrew the light bulbs since it was one switch) to get away from one of my buddy's snoring (was a studio apartment unfortunately and the bathroom was the only place to escape the noise)!

My life staying in hotels on family vacations
 
Try blue light blockers, flux on comp, twilight on phone.


I feel it's better to be well hydrated and risk having to wake up to pee once or twice than waking up dehydrated

I really don't think it's the light. I think it's the stimulation of playing the game. Mind is very active. I play strategy like civ or dota2 or lately darkest dungeon. I'm not on my phone at night.

I hate cuddling while I sleep. We have a king size bed and my wife and I don't touch during sleep. Sometimes in the mornings she'll try to come cuddle and I hate it, it just wakes me up and makes me uncomfortable.
 
Cats. I know it's not the same kind of cuddling you're used to, but even having a cat to sleep with means you're not alone.

As far as I'm concerned, there are two people who live here. We just happen to be different species.
Yeah I leave the door cracked so the cat can come in. She only likes lying on my torso though, she makes an annoyed meow and exits the bed when I turn over on my side.

Keep water beside the bed. If you wake up dehydrated, it's simple enough to take a couple of sips and go back to sleep.
Yeah, I do this. Hate having to get up to get water.
 
I really don't think it's the light.

It is in particular the blue light emitted by most electronic screens that messes with people's circadian rhythms. You can avoid this by using the blue filter feature that most devices have. What I do with my phone is I only read my ebooks on it for an hour or so before I go to bed, and I keep the ereading apps I have on night mode so the screen is black with white letters.
 
I hate cuddling while I sleep. We have a king size bed and my wife and I don't touch during sleep. Sometimes in the mornings she'll try to come cuddle and I hate it, it just wakes me up and makes me uncomfortable.

you.. I like you
 
She hates to be touched while sleeping too so it works out. She likes cuddle time to be just that, she just has the nerve to try it while I'm sleeping!
 
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