(Not) Sleeping

Discussion in 'Introduce Yourself' started by 607, Jan 4, 2017.

?

Do you frequently have trouble getting asleep at night?

Yes. 34 vote(s) 70.8%
No. 14 vote(s) 29.2%
  1. I didn't read all the posts so if i have redudency excuse me, but from recent studies and also from what you said electronic devices are causing this problem world wide. Mainly because of the blue light. It confuses your mind from thinking it is still day while it is not. One neat program I use is f.lux from https://justgetflux.com/. lower the blue light as much as possible from most devices. I use it and it makes me yawn and get sleepy after the sun is there no more. So even if i want to continue working which I can it does affect you in such a way that you want to hit the hay.

    My wife has the problem when it comes to sleeping. Due to stress and other problems. Which I completely understand so what I told her, I know you(we) have worries but sleep today to fight another day. You can't fix it right now in your bed being tired. Sleep, rest and tomorrow we can fight again. After that she only worries during the day and rests in the night. We all need to, you can't fix it right now. Tomorrow you have another opportunity. Call is survival which I find it is. You need your rest to prepare yourself for the next day. It takes mental practice. For her too, but now she sleeps like a baby. Even though I took most of the responsibilities, but unlike me I just sleep with problems or without problems, because I already mentally made myself strong. Rest first fight later.
    TomvanWijnen, Equinox_Boss and 607 like this.
  2. I did know all that, but I didn't know about the app! That seems useful, thanks for sharing!
    Equinox_Boss and MCSaw like this.
  3. Yeah no problem, and btw i updated my post lol. Hope you can work something out, you need it.
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  4. Yes! Very well said!
    Equinox_Boss likes this.
  5. It seems to me that it goes into effect a bit early. If the sun starts to set at 4:30, should it then necessarily also have to go into sleep mode at 4:30? I mean, I shouldn't get sleepy yet! :p
    Equinox_Boss likes this.
  6. Have you put the transition speed at 60 minutes instead of 20 seconds? I only ask because you seem to have noticed it :p

    And it goes into effect at sunset: which would be 4:30. It's designed to stop the screen light messing with your melatonin levels and allow your body to follow its natural regulation of the hormone, which requires it to follow the light patterns.
    TomvanWijnen, Equinox_Boss and 607 like this.
  7. Ah, that makes sense, thanks.
    I didn't pay enough attention, I thought it was 20 seconds or 60 seconds, not 60 minutes. :p
    Equinox_Boss likes this.
  8. you can adjust it you can disable it (takes an hour) or close it completely and rerun it when you need it. see if it works bro for you:) haha it is 60m

    for my linux lovers <3 https://itsfoss.com/night-shift-flux-ubuntu-linux/
    Equinox_Boss likes this.
  9. I know that you live in Europe and have noticed recently that you were making posts at times that seemed very late or early for you timezone.

    I have heard people produce less melatonin as they grow older and I recall between my thirties and forties having more and more of a problem too. I made some changes and think I have kind of gotten used to it as well now. I no longer feel like I have a lot of trouble getting to sleep and sleeping through the night but I sometimes still have a problem doing one or both of these.

    When it started becoming a problem for me I tried melatonin when I felt like I needed to but it only helped to get me started sleeping. I would still wake up during the night and it made me feel messed up in the morning. I often have a night where I sleep very little, wake up thinking I will go to bed early the next night then push through until my normal time anyway. I think I have had something similar happen when I took melatonin at a time when I was anxious or had some other thing keeping me awake and it was like I never took it at all. My mind overrides its effect I think. So I've mostly given its use up.

    You mention that you have some specific things that are keeping you up: worries, trips to the bathroom, pain in your hand, muscle spasms, electronics, irregular bedtime. I do not know what of those are in your control to change, but you should try to change what you can because the effort will make you feel better even if it changes little. Regular bedtimes and routine are what I hear are best whenever this subject comes up and I am sure there must be some things like these you can change to make it better.

    There are a few changes I have made that have helped me. I used to have problems sleeping in the early morning during the summer and heavy, dark curtains have made a huge difference for me. I don't encourage any of our pets on the bed. No dogs and if a cat gets up they can stay but only down near my legs. If they insist on walking around, climbing me, or getting up near my face they find themselves on the floor.

    I avoid snacks late at night and stop using the PC sometime before I go to bed in order to wind down. I like reading in bed also until I start drowsing off. Sometimes I can't make it through a page and sometimes I might read for an hour or more. Occasionally I like taking a warm shower at night especially if it is hot.

    Sometimes I shut off the light and put my book away and still can't sleep. There are a few mind tricks I have come up with that I use often. I am not sure of the psychology behind them but I know they work pretty well for me at least(Part of the trick is that I believe that they work.). As I get into bed I like thinking of how nice it will be to snuggle into my bed, relax, maybe read a bit, then go to sleep. Rather than trying to put bothersome things out of my mind I concentrate on other things that are enjoyable. I'm not forgetting the other things, I am just replacing them for awhile with more enjoyable thoughts. It is kind of like hypnotism maybe.

    If there is some project I am working on, like a hobby or work project sometimes I might daydream a bit to come up with solutions but mostly it is more like a rehearsal in my mind of things I already know how to do rather than something that is a real problem and the effect is like counting sheep. For example, we recently bought a sewing machine. I would like to try making a soft case that rolls up for some chisels of mine and have been thinking of how the design should be.

    The last few nights I have been thinking of this in bed after I read and only get partway through the design before I fall asleep. When I was in school I used to do this with writing projects. When I had time to write them, I often had already come up with some good ideas and parts were already written in my head.

    Sometimes I feel nervous and my face and body tighten up. When I notice this I sometimes do an exercise where I consciously relax all my muscles starting with my face and going down to my feet. When I am having trouble doing this, it also helps if I put my hand or crook of my elbow over my face, mainly over my eyes. There is something about it, the feedback from my hand or having something against my face, that helps me to relax. My wife likes a moist, cool cloth over her eyes, especially when she has a headache.

    A heavy knitted or crocheted blanket makes me feel better too. When it is very warm just a blanket or sheet on my legs or feet helps. I usually wear just shorts in bed but sometimes when it is too warm for blankets I've worn a shirt and pajama pants. Sometimes socks too. I think it maybe makes me feel secure. I have seen where you can order weighted blankets online but I think for me these simpler things that I already have work just as well.

    I look forward to hearing about what you've tried and your progress in February.
  10. In the OP, you said you use your iPad late at night, and that you are trying to stop using it at 20:00. Do you use the night shift feature on your iPad? It reduces the level of blue light coming from your screen when the sun sets (or whenever you set it to change the screen's color), resulting in a better production of melatonin.

    Also, I have a question to ask you, 607: when you use electronic devices, is there any ambient light in the room (from lightbulbs)? Having a light on in the room should result in less eye strain and more melatonin production at night, especially if the light's color is warm. :)
    Equinox_Boss likes this.
  11. That was added in iOS 9.3, I think, and I hadn't updated to that before iOS 10 got released. I don't want iOS 10, as I want to be able to 'slide to unlock'.
    Hm, that might mean the f.lux app doesn't work in older versions of iOS either... I'll have a look.

    Yes, definitely. And the brightness of the screen is at its lowest.
    Equinox_Boss likes this.
  12. Today's going to be an exception to the challenge again (I don't expect for that to happen this frequently, don't worry :p): born_ego's celebrating his 18th birthday today and the first episode of the new seasons of one of our favourite tv shows (if you're Dutch you'll probably know what I'm referring to here) is airing today.
    We'll watch it together at his, but it starts at 20:30 so again, there's no way I'm going to not use electronics after 20:15. :p
    Equinox_Boss and UltiPig like this.
  13. Hm, f.lux is only available on iPad for jailbroken devices... it was available for sideloading but Apple took it down. :(
    Well, that was to be expected, I guess. Oh well, I suppose I might be okay without, especially if I don't use the device after 20:15.
    Equinox_Boss likes this.
  14. Night shift came out in iOS 9.3. If you are able to update to iOS 9.3 (or just update to the latest version), you can use it. :)
    Equinox_Boss likes this.
  15. No, I answered that here:
    And I believe Apple doesn't allow you to update to any specific update: they only allow updating to the latest version.
    Equinox_Boss likes this.
  16. Yesterday was the last full day of AGDQ. At 20:08 a bonus run was about to start: The Lost Levels Any% (including worlds A through D) with 2 players, 1 controller. I really wanted to watch that, so I decided to watch it even though it'd last until a bit past 20:15.
    It was awesome! :D
    Afterwards there was going to be a TASBot segment, but as I am still doing this challenge, I decided to not watch that. :)
  17. If you're going to lose sleep I think these are good trades. I think, like in dieting, you should be able to treat yourself sometimes but always go back to the plan. I hope you were able to watch the second one later?
    607 likes this.
  18. I don't enjoy watching live-streams back a lot, for some reason it feels much more exciting when it's actually live. But in Summer there will be another event, and TASBot is likely to appear there too!
    I'll have my exams and everything way behind me then, so I'll probably be able to afford a little loss of sleep. :)
    Pab10S likes this.
  19. I had actually been sleeping pretty well recently!
    However, Monday my testweek started, and that demanded quite a lot from me.
    Wednesday evening I was really tired and didn't sleep very well, and I only attended 1 of my 3 tests. I'm also missing the test I would have today. But I'll probably be able to do them later.

    Yesterday evening I also couldn't get to sleep, and I took another 2.5 mg of melatonin, after which I slept alright.
    I do still feel very tired, but that's not unexpected, as I'm still suffering from my loss of sleep Wednesday night, and testweeks are simply quite exhausting.

    But I'll keep up this challenge until February 4th, for sure! :)
    UltiPig and nltimv like this.
  20. I chose to go over my time a little bit today; I really felt like treating myself. ;)
    I played Re-Volt online, and it was the most fun I've ever had in an online session in that game!
    It was really chaotic as we had 7-10 people playing, and I even got some first and second place finishes! ^.^
    nltimv and UltiPig like this.