Comment by iterateoften
2 years ago
I am a firm believer in sleep hygiene especially the rule “reserve the bedroom for sleep”.
I have had conversations with friends when they complain about not enough sleep and one common theme is they use electronics in the bedroom before sleep.
When I share similar recommendations as this article about not using tv or phone in the bed and to leave the bedroom and meditate if you can’t sleep after 20min I get a lot of pushback.
The most common is that they can’t fall asleep without watching a show or movie on. This is right after they complained about not being able to sleep. The second one is around not wanting to change anything about their weed or alcohol use to improve their sleep.
I think a lot of it has to do with trying to avoid other anxieties which makes their sleep worse which increases anxiety in a cycle.
This is just anecdotal without much else to say other than in people in general seem pretty skeptical about sleep hygiene. And almost seem reluctant to experiment. But I’m a firm believer.
> This is just anecdotal without much else to say other than in people in general seem pretty skeptical about sleep hygiene. And almost seem reluctant to experiment. But I’m a firm believer.
As someone who often has difficulty getting to sleep, I have tried every sleep hygiene thing I have seen suggested but none of it works for me, at least in terms of getting to sleep, and conversely I find actually find doing special things around sleep to be counterproductive since they make me more more stressed out about getting to sleep, so I have decided to simply not worry about them.
I do think they may be helpful for people who either don't really have issues getting to sleep but simply tend to get absorbed watching tv or something and go to sleep to late or who can get to sleep easily but have sleep quality issues, though.
> „reserve the bedroom for sleep“
That’s unfortunately a luxury many people can’t afford.
I’m literally sitting in my in—laws apartment in Poland right now. About 40sqm total, and for forty years they’ve slept on a fold—out—sofa bed.
I am both for avoiding electronics but also enjoy TV in bed. Not necessary but it’s not something that I restrain much.
Haven’t seen too many people suggest this: train yourself to wake up earlier. I wake up at 5. That’s not a hustle culture thing. Just the time when I can fit in my personal time, fitness, and a bit of free thinking before my kids wake up and the day starts.
I can barely keep my eyes open past 930.
> reluctant to experiment
I stuck steadfast to “sleep hygiene” for most of my life, including zero electronics and my sleep stayed as horrid as it’s been since I was a child. No caffeine/alcohol, bed only for sex and sleep, wind down periods, reading/not reading and the rest, all useless.
One day I came to a realisation that the only time I never had issues falling asleep was ironically normally when attempting to ever watch TV on the couch during the day. For whatever reason whenever I try to watch TV, it always just makes me drowsy I realised. Despite this, I refused traditionally to have one in my bedroom.
I decided to “experiment” and break my no electronics/TV in the room rule.
A TV is now my personal sleep aid. Brightness goes to zero, volume goes to barely audible levels, and I deliberately tune into it. I’m guaranteed passed out in less than 15 minutes everytime and a timer turns it off at 30 minutes.
Id almost describe it as life saving for me. Following damage to my spinal cord I was getting less sleep than ever due to now permanent pain and I’ve now largely developed a natural sleep pattern and I’ve been able to go off the strong drugs I was prescribed that whilst they knocked me out, always left me feeling shitty and groggy the next day.
I wish I had not been a such an extreme stickler for “I must keep endlessly repeating what’s recommended for sleep because obviously it must be accurate”, because for me, it wasn’t.
The damage a lifetime of poor sleep has done to me and now knowing I could have solved it by ignoring the generally recommended advice is…depressing.
Since doing this I’ve been able to turn huge chunks of my life around. It’s been nothing short of life changing.