I’ve had issues with insomnia starting in college. Found out I have a slow metabolism of caffeine (it’s a genetic thing). I now sleep very well, getting 3-5 hours of deep sleep per night on about 7 hours of sleep. Things I’ve done to fix it:
- No caffeine after 12pm. I stopped drinking coffee a few months ago, but I was fine as long as I didn’t have it after 12.
- Exercise with some portion being vigorous HIIT or lifting. Running also helps. It should tire your nervous system out.
- Have a consistent sleep schedule. Don’t oversleep on weekends. I’m up at 6:30am every day, give myself 30 min to wake up. Get some sunlight to flush out the adenosine in your system (do this before you drink coffee to avoid the afternoon crash).
- AC goes to 67’f at night.
- Don’t work or study in bed.
- I bought a nice bed (Purple Premier 4 King).
- Blue light-blocking glasses about 2 hours before bedtime.
- Not being a founder helps a lot, but figuring out stress relievers otherwise.
- No alcohol. I’ve mostly stopped drinking, but this alone was the worst thing for my sleep. If I do drink, earlier is better, and only a few drinks.
- Mouthguard that prevents me from snoring at night. I don’t snore as much when I have a healthy BMI, but when overweight, I snore more.
- Stop working 2 hours before bedtime. Same for gaming. These things are too mentally stimulating.
- The things that stress you out, figure those out and make sure you’re feeling good about progress each day. For founders, this sometimes just won’t go away.
- I’ve tried prescribed sleeping medications, but the one I took didn’t actually improve quality sleep. It just made me feel tired and removed the stress. Some of these drugs are just sledgehammers on the pre-frontal cortex.
- Use a sleep tracker and figure out why you’re not sleeping well. Usually can be tracked to alcohol, large meals close to bedtime, or caffeine.
- I take melatonin at bedtime. I had fatigue that I believed was because of poor sleep since moving to Austin, but realized from a doctor that it was actually just allergies. I take Singulair, made a huge difference in my energy during the day.
- No caffeine after 12pm. I stopped drinking coffee a few months ago, but I was fine as long as I didn’t have it after 12.
- Exercise with some portion being vigorous HIIT or lifting. Running also helps. It should tire your nervous system out.
- Have a consistent sleep schedule. Don’t oversleep on weekends. I’m up at 6:30am every day, give myself 30 min to wake up. Get some sunlight to flush out the adenosine in your system (do this before you drink coffee to avoid the afternoon crash).
- AC goes to 67’f at night.
- Don’t work or study in bed.
- I bought a nice bed (Purple Premier 4 King).
- Blue light-blocking glasses about 2 hours before bedtime.
- Not being a founder helps a lot, but figuring out stress relievers otherwise.
- No alcohol. I’ve mostly stopped drinking, but this alone was the worst thing for my sleep. If I do drink, earlier is better, and only a few drinks.
- Mouthguard that prevents me from snoring at night. I don’t snore as much when I have a healthy BMI, but when overweight, I snore more.
- Stop working 2 hours before bedtime. Same for gaming. These things are too mentally stimulating.
- The things that stress you out, figure those out and make sure you’re feeling good about progress each day. For founders, this sometimes just won’t go away.
- I’ve tried prescribed sleeping medications, but the one I took didn’t actually improve quality sleep. It just made me feel tired and removed the stress. Some of these drugs are just sledgehammers on the pre-frontal cortex.
- Use a sleep tracker and figure out why you’re not sleeping well. Usually can be tracked to alcohol, large meals close to bedtime, or caffeine.
- I take melatonin at bedtime. I had fatigue that I believed was because of poor sleep since moving to Austin, but realized from a doctor that it was actually just allergies. I take Singulair, made a huge difference in my energy during the day.