Hacker Remix

Ask HN: How do you sleep on time?

18 points by rookie123 3 months ago | 29 comments

Hello fellow HN guys, My work mostly ends around 9 to 10:00 PM. I have this hangover of spending a few hours after dinner so it ends up me being able to sleep around 12:00PM-1:00 AM which is very late. What can I do to get to sleep early?

Thanks!

bhu1st 2 months ago

SLYP for deep sleep:

- S *Shape Tomorrow:* Make a mental note of 1-3 major things to do tomorrow during work hours.

- L *Love & Gratitude:* 5 minutes on bed: acknowledge one positive thing from today about d2d life, family, and work & feel love and gratitude, and be thankful for this day.

- Y *Your Daily Movie:* Recall everything throughout your day, EVERYTHING, recall as many details as you can remember (audio, video, emotions, feelings). Play the daily movie forward & backward, slow or in a flash.

- P *Prayer & Sleep:* Pray for peace & have a deep sleep (by the time you reach this step you're already flat asleep.)

I wanted to have better sleep and created the SLYP steps and followed them ritually for about a year but nowadays I am flat as soon as I reach my bed.

mindwok 3 months ago

As people have pointed out, your work schedule is a problem.

More importantly I think the key to managing sleep is managing the night before. It's WAY too easy to be randomly distracted by Netflix, Insta, TikTok, dating apps, messenger, whatever else that keep your mind racing until the point where you're expected to put your device down and just fall asleep.

You gotta get proactive about managing this. For me, I go to bed at 9:30 to fall asleep at 10:30. I use an app called Jomo that bans me from using any apps that could distract me unless I enter a long random code, which is enough to dissuade me in 90% of cases. I also have room mates who stay up late and watch TV, so I set an alarm at 9:30 that acts as a circuit breaker otherwise I stay up chatting to them all night.

Neuronaut 3 months ago

After I go to bed and read a few pages, I do a mindfull excercise where I focus on every single muscle from my toes to my hands for about five seconds. This helps me get to sleep faster.

How do you usually structure your day to get to bed earlier, I can't answer that one.

mlhpdx 3 months ago

My mother taught me something similar as a child. She called it “jellyfish” and the challenge was to be completely relaxed in every muscle. Later I added a simple mental exercise (visualizing each letter of the alphabet sequentially). As an adult I sleep on demand; anywhere, anytime. I know it isn’t this “easy” for everyone (not really easy, it took a lot of practice).

So, I work until 10 or so and just head to bed. I’m almost always out in less than 10 minutes.

meiraleal 2 months ago

That's a real human super-power. Congrats!

rookie123 3 months ago

is that yoga nidra?

Neuronaut 3 months ago

Yes, something like that. Become aware of every single part of the body step by step, but remember that the goal is to relax and fall asleep. So there is no pressure to work for 60 minutes and try to stay awake to complete all body parts.

You can do this in the morning when you wake up as well. It's a great way to start your day.

jononor 3 months ago

Why do you get off work so late? And also need to get up early (and thus sleep early)?