Slashdot Mirror
Sleeping Problems?
hugo_pt asks: "I have had sleep problems for some years, but it always get worse in the Summer. Yesterday I slept one hour, so when I got home at 8PM I thought I'd sleep till 9AM or so. Wrong. It's 1.36AM, and I can't sleep anymore. Instead, I'm reading The Complete FreeBSD, and the urge to sleep is gone.
I was wondering how many Slashdot readers suffer from this problem, and what they do to combat it ?"
Most Slashdotters probably don't notice how much caffeine they consume during a regular day - and there's even a whole bunch that think, "It has no effect on me whatsoever!"
But, it realy does. On days I'm not feeling well or have sleeping issues, I simply cut my caffeine intake for the next two or three days and my body usually cycles back to normal.
It IS possible to be "over-tired". Try doing something quiet with the lights low, like reading a light book in bed, or talking to a friend on the phone with the lights off. It may take a while, but you'll usually doze off.
There should be a ton of resources all over the web about this. First, don't stay in bed or do other activities in bed other than sleep. Your body needs to know that when you are in bed you are there to sleep. Cut back on the chocolate, sweets, coffee, etc, specially late at night. Drink some warm milk before you get to bed. Do different things before you go to bed and see which one actually makes you sleep then try to get that in a routine before going to bed. Exercise!
Useless sig.
1. Halt all caffeine intake. Caffeine stays in your system a long time and interferes with natural sleep signals.
2. Stop watching TV or other "bright" displays a few hours before you wish to sleep. I forget the name of the brain chemical (and I don't feel like looking it up), but bright light (sunlight esp., computer monitors, TVs, etc.) cause the brain to generate "wake up" chemicals. Instead, try reading print material if you need intellectual stimulation in the evening.
3. Go to bed when you first feel drowsy. I have a window between 9 and 10pm where I get drowsy. If I don't go to bed then, I'll magically refresh and then stay up until 2+am.
4. Get a regular schedule. Don't nap. Get up at the same (early) time each day, and go to bed at the same time each night. Ideally, try to align your schedule with the sun. It will help.
Good luck.
.sigs are for post^Hers.
I second (third) this. My limit is 4pm and usually getting to bed at midnight. If I drink coffee later, I stay up later, with miserable sleep.
Other thing is your monitor. It is proven that staring at a bright object will postpone your sleep cycle. (It applies to TV as well), so lay it off by 9-10pm, then you will get sleepy naturally.
Code poet, espresso fiend, starter upper.
I just got back from an overnight sleep test at the Stanford Sleep Clinic.
There's a lot of misunderstandings about sleep. Many "pop" books regarding sleep, and a number of physicians, have plenty of misconceptions about sleep and sleep problems.
I highly recommend the book The Promise of Sleep . It's written by Dr. Dement, one of the foremost sleep researchers. It helped me understand healthy sleep and sleep disorders, and lead to my discovery that I have a potentially life-threatening sleep disorder (which has just been diagnosed, and I'm about to begin treatment).
Sleep problems can lead to lots of problems in your physical and mental well-being. In my case, over the last several months, my productivity at work is shot. I can't concentrate on my code. I also don't have the energy to go out and have fun with my friends like I used to.
It's also difficult to recognize the results of sleep problems as such. You might not feel tired, even when your body is desperately needing more restful sleep-- but it still interferes with your daytime activities. You might think that they're related to other problems. I thought that my problems were the result of problems with diet, exercise, etc. In my case, these were contributing factors, but the sleep thing seems to be the biggest cause.
I highly recommend you-- and anybody else who has the slightest inkling that they may not be sleeping as well as they could-- read Dr. Dement's book.
Above all else, trust your own body. If you aren't feeling healthy, you aren't healthy.
I focus on the "90% fruits and veggies" part of your post because if I had to guess, this is the source of your problems. Depending on the fruits and veggies you are eating, this can leave you short of fat (good kinds) and protein (all kinds!). In fact, unless you have studied vegetarion dieting carefully it is almost certain that you are short. You need large enough quantities of fat and protein that you can't take them in pill form. (Protien supplements exist, but they are mostly targetted at body builders, and that is probably right.)
Now, personally, I find none of the reasons for vegetarianism compelling, so I say, go ahead and eat meat. Just try to eat it as unprocessed as possible, which is good advice for nearly all food. You may want to pay extra for organic. We've been eating it for millions of years, and many meats (including fish, seafood, and other such things) have a lot of good stuff in them that is difficult or impossible to get through fruits and veggies.
If you want to stay vegetarian, you must educate yourself on how to do it. There are a lot of resources, but as you may expect I can't recommend any
AFAICS, there are two things that are universally agreed on by nutritionists:
- Vegetables, esp. green leafy ones, are good for you.
- There is room in a healthy diet for all the food groups, and nobody (without an ideological agenda) supports removing fruits, veggies, and all meats (some would remove red meat, but I know of no serious nutritionist who wouldn't want you to eat fish).
Beyond that, the controversy still rages because nutrition isn't really a science right now (links to my defense of that statement, see third or fourth header); stay sharp, make sure you are getting all of your nutrients, proteins, fats (good ones, at least, probably), and other vital building blocks. The more you restrict your diet a priori ("only fruits and veggies", "low carbs", etc.), the harder that is to do. (Of course, unrestricted diets are only easy in theory, in practice we seem to do a bad job on average.)(I would be happy to hear from you if this helps.)