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Say Good Night to Insomnia: The Six-Week, Drug-Free Program Developed At Harvard Medical School
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All the comments and stories posted to Hacker News that reference this book.Apologies. Here’s the book.Say Good Night to Insomnia: The Six-Week, Drug-Free Program Developed At Harvard Medical School https://www.amazon.com/dp/0805089586/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_hS...
Here's what I did:- Make your bedroom dark, quiet and cool
- Get a memory foam pillow
- Install blue-light filter on your phone, laptop or desktop (Twilight on Android, f.lux on Mac & Windows)
- Have your Vitamin D levels checked, take supplements if necessary
- Take 0.3 mg of Melatonin if you're having trouble sleeping
- Read Say Good Night to Insomnia [0]
[0] https://www.amazon.com/Say-Good-Night-Insomnia-Drug-Free/dp/...
I also have pretty serious stress induced insomnia like the author describes. This sleep deprivation stuff didn't really help me. In fact, I wonder how much it really helped the author. I know I've tried various strategies and proudly proclaimed myself cured on a number of occasions only to have the sleeplessness return the next time shit hit the fan.I recently bought this sleep tracking thing which works really well: https://www.beddit.com/ It's a thin strip that goes under your sheets and talks to your phone. It tracks heart rate and respiration and as far as I can tell it's quite accurate.
The things I've found most helpful are cognitive restructuring and the relaxation response. Both of which are recommended in this book: https://www.amazon.com/Say-Good-Night-Insomnia-Drug-Free/dp/...
Cognitive restructuring is part of the CBT stuff mentioned by the author. You catch yourself thinking thoughts like, "Oh shit I'm going to be so stupid tomorrow" and argue against them with thoughts like, "I've managed to do my job on no sleep before and I can do it again. Worrying won't help."
The relaxation response is very similar to mindfulness meditation: you systematically relax every muscle in your body while taking slow deep breaths that expand your belly. You do this for 15 minutes at some point in the middle of the day. You can also do mini versions of it for shorter sessions integrated into your regular activities. The point is to lower cortisol levels. If your cortisol levels get elevated during the day, they tend to still be high at night which makes it hard to sleep.
This is a great read for anybody with issues sleeping. The vast majority of sleep problems are in your head and after reading this I never had another issue. He debunks the utility of sleeping pills and give you lots of strategies for improving your sleep. http://www.amazon.com/Say-Good-Night-Insomnia-Drug-Free/dp/0...