

Ask HN: insomnia? - joubert

What do you do when you have insomnia?
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ErrantX
Read & exercise.

It's the best thign for it (esp if your really not going ot get any sleep).

Steven Fry is an insomniac and he knows a _lot_ of crap simply from reading
books when he couldn't sleep. I try to go the same way :D

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hapless
I follow my doctors' advice. Every doctor I've ever had has given me the same
advice on insomnia. It's not rocket science.

1\. Go to bed at the same time every night.

2\. Get up at the same time every morning.

3\. Don't do anything in bed other than bed-related activities. No TV, no
reading, no radio. (If you must read, just don't do it in bed. Get up. Sit in
a chair.)

4\. Exercise more.

5\. Cut caffeine consumption.

This is common-sense advice. Your situation may be peculiar in some way. See a
doctor.

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sam_in_nyc
Find out what's causing it... there's something wrong. Usually it is stress or
anxiety. Is something worrying you?

The easiest way to solve it: exercise and/or eat more. This reduces stress and
anxiety. It's easier said than done... I find insomnia (and most things in
life) to be a feedback loop. Less sleep means I'm more exhausted and not
hungry. More quality sleep gives me more energy to exercise and I eat right.
So you've gotta do something that changes in which direction you're
regressing.

It should be noted there's a difference between insomnia and sleep phase
disorders. One is actually whether or not you sleep soundly for enough hours a
night, and the other is at which hours you tend to sleep.

But take my advice with a grain of salt.. it's 6:15 here and I'm still awake
:)

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matthewking
Watch TV for half an hour, then try to sleep again. Usually its because
something is on my mind, so I need to put my mind somewhere else (hence, the
TV).

However, I find that I sleep much better if I get off the computer early, say
9PM. That gives me plenty of time to wind down and get sleepy before a
reasonable time to go to bed.

Otherwise I'll find myself still on the computer until 3AM, then I have no
means of winding down, so I struggle to get to sleep all night, get up late
the next day, and so the cycle continues!

~~~
jwilliams
I find TV and Computer the worst thing - I think the directed glow/light of
the screen isn't good for your body clock... Try reading. Works much better
for me.

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hbien
Hack. Or read Hacker News.

~~~
joubert
Yeah, I'm doing both right now. I wonder whether anyone does something like
jogging, play Go on KGS etc.

~~~
hbien
Oh, well I don't jog at night if I can't sleep. But I find that running during
the day helps me sleep at night.

Here's my list: hack, play TF2, catch up on my stack of PragProg PDFs, plan
out the next day, practice juggling

