Sleep: Everything You Need to Know

One tip which I didn't see: set an alarm for <i>going to bed</i>, not <i>waking up</i>. You should be able to wake naturally, but artificial lighting changes your perception of when you should go to sleep, shifting you from a naturally 23-hour circadian rhythm to a 25-hour one.<p>So just set an alarm for 11pm, and when you hear it, immediately stop what you're doing, save any open documents, turn the TV or computer off. The next 30 minutes are for brushing teeth, settling into bed, and preparing for the following morning only. By then you should be settling into a good night's sleep.

This post seems like one big, long unsubstantiated bunch of app spam for "zeo". I don't think scientists understand the "fact retention" mechanism as well as OP claims, for instance. It's fairly clear that sleep is important, but there's a lot of unsourced information here that's presented as fact.

I really wonder how much sleep people lose worrying about their sleep habits.<p>Trying to micromanage everything from your sleep schedule to your work schedule to your calorie intake to your fat intake to your social media intake to your exposure to cell phone radiation results in being even more stressed out than you would be if you weren't attempting to keep track of eighty different pseudoscientific lifestyle prescriptions.<p>Go to sleep. Wake up. Eat food. Do those things, and try to enjoy life while you have it... burning it trying to "optimize" everything is a painful waste of time.

As an audiologist, I would not recommend wearing earbuds all night. Ventilation is important for your ears.<p>Also, your ears are very adaptable: plugging your ears with earbuds will decrease the sound pressure by about 10 dB, which isn't really all that much. As a hearing loss, it would not require treatment. Your ears will adapt and you will still hear most startling sounds. In fact, your ears will have to "concentrate" more, which is known to lead to fatigue.

I thought it was a good article, but a lot of it seemed like opinion stated as fact.<p>I wear ear plugs at night, but no mask. I suffer from "night terrors" however, and when they strike I am very disoriented. The earplugs make that worse, and I imagine a mask would be a bad idea too.<p>I use these earplugs because we go through a lot. <a href="http://www.amazon.com/SparkPlugs-Disposable-Earplugs-Nascar-Uncorded/dp/B0015TD50C/" rel="nofollow">http://www.amazon.com/SparkPlugs-Disposable-Earplugs-Nascar-...</a><p>They are large, but still comfortable.

Great article! I changed my sleep habits about a couple of years ago, almost given up coffee, eat healthy and exercise regularly. I rarely ever feel grumpy or tired in the morning and a lot of that is attributed to 7+ hrs of peaceful sleep. You don't necessarily need an app for this, you just need a lot of will power.

Interesting post, but I'm not sure if some of this advice can work for me. I've tried earplugs, but to be honest, it makes me paranoid that I won't hear the fire alarm or burglar coming in, which makes me much less relaxed. This isolated feeling is also weird for me. Covering my eyes just feels uncomfortable and also isolating. It's probably just me.<p>Also, I'm not entirely sure where I heard/read it, but I thought it's actually good to wake up with (natural) light, which brings you into a more natural cycle or something. I think I also heard it could help with jet lag, releasing melatonin or something of that sort.

Consistency is key, I've heard time and again and my own experience seems to support (FWIW).<p>However, perfect consistency is hard to maintain. Even if one avoids the late parties and whatnot, eventually emergencies get in the way or illness comes along and increases the amount of sleep required.<p>My question is, when consistency must falter, what piece is most important? Going to bed at the same time, getting up at the same time, getting the same amount of sleep, or getting at least some particular amount of sleep? The article here claims it is not the last.

If you want to use a screen at night and you don't want to mess with your sleep cycle, make sure you have a device with an AMOLED screen that has the ability to run a profile that uses red pixels only.<p>Samsung Android devices like the Note and the Galaxy S3 have AMOLED. On the Play Store, there is a free app called Galactic Night that will let you run the device in red only. Add on another free app called Screen Filter, and suddenly you have a device with perfect lighting that allows you to keep your night vision and let your eyes rest while you drift off to sleep. CyanogenMod used to have this feature; not sure if it still does.<p>Backlit LCD screens (even ones that use Flux or Red profiles) won't work because even the black pixels are backlit. I've tried using a jailbroken iPad with Color Profiles and it's just not the same.<p>Finally, you can use an e-reader but I recommend a light source you can add a red gel to. This will have the same effect.<p>Source: I've been reading on a screen before bed since the days of the Palm III. Also, I used to develop film in a real darkroom.

OP mentions that earbuds (plugs) are one of the best things he's done to improve sleep. Has anyone out there reviewed a few different brands of earplugs? I've used Hearos Ultimate Softness but I'm reading that there are better plugs out there. It looks like the best consumer grade plugs have a NRR of 33. Anyone have suggestions or insight into this?

I am surprised the article doesn't mention anything about alcohol and its effect on sleep. Does anyone want to chime in on this?

Really interesting read... but out of curiosity, how does exercise play into the sleep schedule? In order to maintain a good sleep rhythm, when is latest one should exercise? Also I'd like to know where you get your supposedly free stopwatches.

I think drinking cold water before bed is not as good as you make it to be.<p>Cold water is like shock to your system. It wakes your body up.<p>Your body needs to work on warming the water first.<p>Although water itself should be good, warm/hand temperature water should be best.

Who lifts <i>daily</i>? Don't do that, bud.

For anyone interested, heres a list of additional things that may help you sleep: <a href="http://www.favemaven.com/themaven/tips-and-tricks-better-sleep" rel="nofollow">http://www.favemaven.com/themaven/tips-and-tricks-better-sle...</a><p>I'm also a big fan of flux which lowers the amount of blue light emitted by your monitor: <a href="http://stereopsis.com/flux/" rel="nofollow">http://stereopsis.com/flux/</a><p>Its one page from my first django project which has been abandoned for a while. Its basically a curated affiliate link site (similar to what refer.ly has become)

I don't trust advice from anyone who uses apostrophes with plurals. If you can't figure out basic English, why should I be convinced you've figured out things more complicated?

Loved my Wakemate, but have since moved to all-Android. Are there any decent equivalents to the Zeo/Wakemate that work with Android phones and are still in business?

I usually sleep on my side but, when I do, I never dream. If I force myself to sleep flat on my back, I almost always dream. What's up with that?

One of things that helps me is a sleeping cap. Mine is just a thin lightweight hat. I surmise this helps in the same way the article suggests to wear socks to keep your extremities warm. The only thing is, I hate wearing socks to bed, instead I wear the cap! :)<p>I also like to think the act of putting on my sleeping cap is also a nice subconscious cue that it's sleep time.

What of being woken several times each night? I have two kids and two dogs and a wife; between them all I'm woken at least twice.

Does the headband really work? Detecting "brainwaves" and eye movements sounds fairly dubious to me. Does it cover your eyes?

I can't go without 10-15 minute power naps in the afternoon or evening. Whether it's physically effective or just placebo, it feels essential. That being said I drink coffee before the gym at around 7-8pm, which probably isn't the optimal time (though I have no problem falling asleep at 12:30-1:30am which is when I want to go to sleep).

I agree with short naps concept but i think rather than following "the earlier in the day, the better", another concept of mid-day napping can be followed. You just need to take a short nap of 30 minutes ,15-20 minutes post-lunch. That is the time we can easily fall asleep, also you feel very refreshed and productive once you wake up!

If someone see my comment, there are many information here: <a href="http://www.supermemo.com/articles/sleep.htm" rel="nofollow">http://www.supermemo.com/articles/sleep.htm</a> It is really big so the best solution is to see it fast and read the summary. And it's worth it.

How am I supposed to hear my alarm in the morning if I'm wearing earbuds/earplugs?

A very interesting post. However, it is making some strong claims without really backing them up. It would be nice to see some citations.

no no no, i don't even need to read any of that. 6 hours sleep. perfect for me. not tired, almost always in a good mood. very simple and effective. i don't need no recipes, to know about deep sleep and all that.<p>you should not forget that people are very different. so don't try to impose all these rules on everyone just because it works for you.

What about waking up between sleep cycles?

*than

You don't need to time sleep and you don't need to weigh calories. You just need to make sure nothing is fucking up your true sleepiness and that nothing is messing up your appetite.<p>You have sophisticated systems in you to govern consumption of sleep and food. Just don't screw things up with drugs, digital stimulation, social isolation, or junk food. It's all the same issue.

"Turbo shots" or "red eyes" in your coffee are a placebo btw. Espresso has a lower concentration of caffeine than standard drip. So by putting a "turbo shot" in your cup, you're actually lowering the caffeine concentration.<p>Wants to be hyper-rational and metric-aware about his sleep but didn't know anything about caffeine?<p>Okay.