
Ask HN: How do you fall (back) asleep? - sprainedankles
The world is quite stressful these days. There are a lot of problems to solve, people to help, and bills to pay. I feel like I&#x27;m in college again, wondering how in the heck I&#x27;ll graduate. Except now, replace graduate with &quot;live a full life.&quot;<p>So. How do you manage to fall (back) asleep?<p>Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated :)
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stakkur
Two things: breathing, and progressive muscle relaxation (PMR).

Breathing:

Breathe in deeply for about a 4 count, out for about twice as long. Focus your
mind on your breathing: "I'm just focusing on my breath".

Andrew Weil advocates a 4-7-8 pattern: inhale deeply into your belly (not
chest) for 4, hold the breath for 7, then exhale for 8. He demonstrates it
here:

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gz4G31LGyog](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gz4G31LGyog)

PMR:

Here's an explanation of how to do it: [https://www.uofmhealth.org/health-
library/uz2225](https://www.uofmhealth.org/health-library/uz2225)

Both of these engage the parasympathetic nervous system--the 'rest and digest'
system. Learning about this and how to 'hack' it has changed my life. Nothing
else has worked for me for sleep and general anxiety.

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cell9840179419
To understand the concept of sleep, we need to look at the concept of rest,
autonomous nervous system, cortisol, and its regulators.

Source, Internet, disclaimer, not a medical or sleep professional. Use this
only as hear-say.

Why do we need sleep - because we need to rest before our next conquest in
life, which is tomorrow.

What our autonomous sympathetic nervous system does - it knows! It knows how
nasty tomorrow is. We call this stress! Depending on the level of stress and
ferocity or importance of the stressors, the nervous system decides that it is
enough if you sleep for 3 hours in this time of personal emergency. So it
wakes you up in 3 hours. But it is also kind! It produces cortisol, a pain
reducing hormone so that, "hey my human, I woke you up in just 3 hours. So
that you have 21 hours to solve our problems, so that we can have a happy
future. Btw, it is painful, so I also spiked your blood with 500mg of cortisol
so that you wont hurt". Sounds fair?

There you go. You are wide awake at 2.00 am, painless yet tired, nothing to do
as the day hasn't started. Tossing in the bed.

Thus far we gave the definition of the problem.

What is the solution. We can go two ways.

We obey the brain. We get up, and do some meaningful work, and tell yourself,
yeah, we did this so now my day is looking better. Then go to bed. The brain
knows! So it lets you sleep another 3 hours. And you repeat. One day your
problems will be really over. You sleep full night.

Second solution. Your problems may not be solved by you doing anything. Then,
you do something to kill the cortisol. It is the baffle on which your brain is
balancing your body. You knock it out. How? Vitamin C. It kills Cortisol. So
take 5g of Vitamin C in drink form before bed. Take a drink of Vitamin C every
time you wake. It should work. There are other Cortisol regulators, but none
have the convenience, cost advantage and additional benefits of Vit C.

~~~
matt_the_bass
Do you have a reference you can share re: vit C?

~~~
cell9840179419
[https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27507778/](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27507778/)

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totetsu
There is a genre of nonsense stream of speech radio that helps some tune out
and people sleep.
[https://www.sleepwithmepodcast.com/](https://www.sleepwithmepodcast.com/)
[https://wfmu.org/playlists/HA](https://wfmu.org/playlists/HA)

Personally I find TTRPG actual play podcasts can make me drift off.

ACT cognitive therapy has some good advice about intrusive thoughts, and
acceptance de-fusion of thoughts. That can help break the cycle of worrying
about worrying.

No caffeine after midday, make sure to get some exercise during the day, keep
lights dim, and try a pair of 3m peltors

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aguilar
Hi. I have been trying this technique for a few days and it is getting better
as I practice.

[https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/national-napping-
da...](https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/national-napping-
day-2019-fall-asleep-fast-military-trick-sleep-a8817826.html)

~~~
sprainedankles
These seem great, I'll give them a try. Thank you!

~~~
feiss
Yup, I tried this too, and it works (for me at least)!

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ipi
Waking up at the same time everyday!

Sounds counter intuitive but forcing myself to wake up at the same time
irrespective of the quality of sleep has forced my body to adapt. If some
reason I couldn't get a good sleep, I still force myself to get up at the
scheduled time. This makes me drowsy on the day but I will be tired enough to
get a deep sleep next day. If I let myself take few more hours of nap by
snoozing because I didn't got enough sleep that spirals down.

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jshawl
I don’t try to fight it. Get up, make a cup of coffee, start my day
essentially. About 30 mins in I will feel like I need a nap. So I nap and then
wake up at a reasonable hour.

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gleepglop
I can relate. I have this problem most nights. What works for me is pretending
to be asleep. In most cases, in less than 10 mins I will fall back to sleep.
Of course all of this happens after I used the bathroom, check the doors and
look out the front window.

~~~
sprainedankles
I agree, the pretending to be asleep part usually works for me too. But as
soon as I realize it didn't work...then my mind takes off. Checking the doors
and looking out the windows aren't things I've tried yet, though. Thank you!

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runawaybottle
Melatonin, but I’m not sure if it eventually became a trigger via placebo.

The other is I let my eyelids sit heavy while I read (1/2 open).

Basically whatever tricks my body into sleep mode.

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feiss
I have two children ️

