Public Address | Cafe | Hard News: How do you sleep?

Kyle Matthews

Fri, 15 Nov 2013 16:48:13 +1300

I haven’t slept more than a couple of hours at a time since having little children. Never relearnt the art.

From about 6 months I only slept six or seven hours a night, waking at about 5.30 am every day.

This trained my mother to only sleep about five hours…

Ian Dalziel

Fri, 15 Nov 2013 07:57:10 +1300

bob a job...
...working out what I’m going to write here in
the morning as I drift in out of of sleep
a fine REMonstration of bulldozing?
;- )

Sofie Bribiesca

Fri, 15 Nov 2013 07:41:14 +1300

Do you see what I do for you people? Do you see?:-)

Hah!
3.52 Dog wakes me up whining to go out (her new form of barking)
Magazine (working on interior for Master bedroom, none of these mags come remotely close to what I have planned..... )
4.33 Dog back…

Jos

Thu, 14 Nov 2013 20:39:00 +1300

We need people to bleed for us...

Chris Waugh

Thu, 14 Nov 2013 18:34:03 +1300

Do you see what I do for you people? Do you see?

And we love you for it Russell. Sacrificing your sleep to keep us entertained and informed.

Russell Brown

Thu, 14 Nov 2013 18:18:30 +1300

I'll sometimes find myself working out what I'm going to write here in the morning as I drift in out of of sleep. It's evidently not ideal for actually sleeping, but it does mean I can knock out something quite quickly after breakfast. Example: yesterday's post.

__Do you see what…

Lucy Stewart

Thu, 14 Nov 2013 16:23:31 +1300

Why, I do believe the National Government may be
using the same technique to ‘lullaby’ the nation…

The difference being I know the genre I'm working with is fantasy.

Ian Dalziel

Thu, 14 Nov 2013 10:40:51 +1300

...tell myself stories
Why, I do believe the National Government may be
using the same technique to 'lullaby' the nation...

Sacha

Thu, 14 Nov 2013 10:24:58 +1300

those lights are distracting :)

Kracklite

Wed, 13 Nov 2013 23:58:52 +1300

is to tell myself stories

Used to do that too when I was a child. Good idea... maybe I should start it again.

Chris Waugh

Wed, 13 Nov 2013 15:09:46 +1300

Edit: Here's the story: http://www.buddhanet.net/e-learning/buddhistworld/chan.htm

(because I'm supposed to be working on a translation and I'm way behind in essay marking)

Interesting story, pity about the messed up attempt at old school Wade-Giles transliteration. Zen is chán (禅). Wikipedia has a slightly more detailed and coherent version of the story…

Jos

Wed, 13 Nov 2013 14:46:35 +1300

This is my favourite screensaver, it's what I try to picture to attempt to turn off the brain whilst attempting sleep in the early hours.

Marcus Turner

Wed, 13 Nov 2013 14:10:36 +1300

I endorse this: both the part about meditating all night if necessary, and the part that you probably won’t.

It’s my understanding that Zen meditation is carried out with eyes open. (Maybe not in all groups: I’m not sure.) There’s some story about the founder ripping his eyelids off.

Edit:…

Francisco Blaha

Wed, 13 Nov 2013 13:22:27 +1300

try more exercise during the day and/or a small joint prior bed... discontinue if it condition does not improves!

Jos

Wed, 13 Nov 2013 12:37:13 +1300

I woke up around 5 as usual and all I could think of was you lot all being awake as well! Somehow strangely comforting :)

BenWilson

Wed, 13 Nov 2013 12:02:44 +1300

Essentially what Ben said, but just a note it does take practice to learn to do well.

I think that I only got the hang of it when I made the decision that the "effort" involved in doing it wasn't worse than trouble of sleeplessness from churning thoughts, and so…

Lucy Stewart

Wed, 13 Nov 2013 11:59:03 +1300

All the meditation apps seem to take too long, but revisiting isolated bits of simple stories one liked seems to work rather better. I’m actually not being facetious – if you can’t shut down thinking, it narrows one’s attention without provoking more complex associations.

Weirdly, the only way I go…

Kracklite

Wed, 13 Nov 2013 11:24:01 +1300

I sleep pretty well now. But while I was struggling with depression I slept terribly, 2 hours was a good night.

Anyone who has that, see your doctor immediately! It got to the stage where a lot of mental functions began to shut down, I reeked of ketones (spontaneous human…

Richard Grevers

Wed, 13 Nov 2013 10:47:30 +1300

The males in our household are earlybirds, the females night-owls. Parenthood put an end to my solid sleep-through times, now I awaken quickly at any sound that might be a child. Consequently I seem to have lost my very strong body-clock which used to jolt me awake at the same…

Craig Young

Wed, 13 Nov 2013 10:20:19 +1300

Try to avoid benzodiazepines, they're addictive.

Bart Janssen

Wed, 13 Nov 2013 09:38:52 +1300

I sleep pretty well now. But while I was struggling with depression I slept terribly, 2 hours was a good night. It’s one reason I started playing WoW since it’s better than disturbing my partner at 4 am and I wasn’t functional enough to do anything challenging. It also meant…

Amy Gale

Wed, 13 Nov 2013 08:47:37 +1300

For me, the content of what I'm consuming in the evenings seems to matter a fair bit. Current events (in any format) are highly likely to rile me up, so I have stopped watching or reading news at night. This seems to have been beneficial. The same restrictions apply to…

Nora Leggs

Wed, 13 Nov 2013 08:42:42 +1300

I must be really suggestible, all this talk about sleep, it was a sleep-minus night last night.

Russell Brown

Wed, 13 Nov 2013 08:09:06 +1300

f.lux’s settings are only accessible via the taskbar (top right for anyone on a Mac). Very, very easy to miss.

Ah. I see. I'll give it another try then.

Kimberley Verburg

Wed, 13 Nov 2013 08:03:07 +1300

f.lux's settings are only accessible via the taskbar (top right for anyone on a Mac). Very, very easy to miss.

But now I've got that sorted, looking at my screen is a lot more soothing.

danduran

Wed, 13 Nov 2013 06:12:20 +1300

You can change the settings in f.lux quite easily – the newest version, which came out only a week or two ago, lets you set it to some quite extreme colour schemes, if you want. Maybe the Mac version is different, I dunno – but it's one of the best…

BenWilson

Wed, 13 Nov 2013 00:09:05 +1300

I can tell you right now that swotting how to solve triple integrals is most sleep inducing.

Pete Sime

Tue, 12 Nov 2013 23:31:48 +1300

I sometimes listen to guided relaxation podcasts and they seem to send me off tickety-boo. But on more than one occasion I've woken in the middle of the night to untangle myself from the lead for my earbuds.

Deborah

Tue, 12 Nov 2013 23:09:14 +1300

Years ago, we had a family gathering at my parents’ place. In the morning, when we were all getting up and making coffee and greeting each person as they arrived in the kitchen, my husband asked my then five year old nephew, “How did you sleep?”

My nephew looked at…

linger

Tue, 12 Nov 2013 22:52:00 +1300

I just would not sleep for 2-3 days and then crash for 20 hours straightSounds like all of my thesis years.
And also, like my job — especially, alas, during thesis editing season, which requires many all-nighters — except that I’m not able to do the “crash” part of the…

Rich Lock

Tue, 12 Nov 2013 22:41:57 +1300

The Manifesto is not in copyright

One would be rather surprised if it was, property being theft and all that.

A friend says BBC is good

The shipping forecast is oddly soporific

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AnKWo9kvSyo

I sleep very well, but my wife does the whole 'wake up at anywhere between 4.30 and…

Kracklite

Tue, 12 Nov 2013 22:22:34 +1300

I'm never more than a metre from a notebook, but last night's "What if all caves were made of slate segmented into rectangular prisms?" really wouldn't have been worth the effort.

I also load episodes of Doctor Who onto my iPod and watch bits. It generally takes me off the…

nzlemming

Tue, 12 Nov 2013 22:08:45 +1300

Now every bloody night, it’s “Oh great, another slightly interesting idea that will keep me awake but is not quite the ‘Eureka’ that would get me out of bed to write down. Thanks, brain.”

This is why you keep a notebook beside the bed ;-) (and a pen that writes…

Russell Brown

Tue, 12 Nov 2013 21:59:22 +1300

4. Watching TV lying down in the dark. Only problem is the posture. Easy to get a sore neck.

This very reliably sends me to sleep.

Kracklite

Tue, 12 Nov 2013 21:39:57 +1300

He never let me have a peaceful emergence from a Saturday night's sleep – I usually woke up screaming "Oh Jesus and fucking Cthulhu in a tuxedo and tutu riding in his sidecar, how could you ever be so banal?!"

Not a good way to start a Sunday morning.

I…

Geoff Lealand

Tue, 12 Nov 2013 20:38:10 +1300

Motel rooms may help. I am hoping this one tonight will work, with a view over the flat, grey sea in Napier (off in a trip to add more sites to http://cinemasofnz.info)

Russell Brown

Tue, 12 Nov 2013 20:32:02 +1300

Just watched Flux change the colour temperature of my screen in real time, unexpectedly. It's not exactly subtle.

I'm actually seriously unimpressed with it. You get a once-only chance to make any setting, which I somehow accidentally dismissed. From there the only way to interact with it is to open…

Geoff Lealand

Tue, 12 Nov 2013 20:31:57 +1300

Ah, early mornings! I have sharp memories of those 5am stirrings, when I would help my father out on his milk-round. The TeasMade would be bubbling, and dawn breaking with the first bird song.

Dare I mention afternoon naps, which can be invigorating. Between 3.30-4.00pm is good.

BenWilson

Tue, 12 Nov 2013 20:31:50 +1300

Some things that have helped for limited times over the years:

1. An app called "Relax and sleep" on my droid. It's a bunch of ambient sounds that can be individually turned on or off. I don't know why, but I found a combination of intermittent thunderclaps and traffic noise…

Nora Leggs

Tue, 12 Nov 2013 20:27:13 +1300

Lavender – works for me when I'm over excited and buzzing – lavender cream on wrists and temples – even if I can't get to sleep it smells wonderful.

Hilary Stace

Tue, 12 Nov 2013 20:26:54 +1300

Nice to hear that there are other people out there who relate to lying awake at 3 am worrying about not getting enough sleep to cope the next day.

I haven't slept more than a couple of hours at a time since having little children. Never relearnt the art. What…

Nora Leggs

Tue, 12 Nov 2013 20:24:19 +1300

Chamomile, calming evening bevvy – so long as it doesn’t wake you to go to the loo later.

B Jones

Tue, 12 Nov 2013 20:20:58 +1300

I notice when verbal thoughts happen that there is an accompanying slight feeling of tension, which I isolate by feel and relax it.

I guess what I do, when it works, is an informal kind of meditation. Mantras, hah, for some reason "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" is visual…

Jos

Tue, 12 Nov 2013 20:14:49 +1300

I play Battlefield 4 most nights right until bedtime and then sleep soundly till 5ish, a couple of turn overs and I wake/dream/doze till 7.15 after that. I try to picture a totally empty white room like a screensaver to clear the brain. The less tossing and turning I do…

Mike O'Connell

Tue, 12 Nov 2013 20:05:31 +1300

I sleep really well these days. I used to be a really early riser, up at 6.30, pacing about looking for things to do even on weekends. Not sure what to put it down to but am largely content with life I guess. Can even get through to 9am at…

BenWilson

Tue, 12 Nov 2013 19:47:59 +1300

What works for me is turning off the audio/verbal part of my brain, the bit that subvocalises all my thoughts and reminds me of all the things I need to do the next day, what I should have said yesterday, and what I’d really do first if I won lotto;…

RaggedJoe

Tue, 12 Nov 2013 19:42:40 +1300

I am pretty lucky and generally sleep well, better at 50 than 30 interestingly. One factor is that I handle stress better now, more stability in life, kids grown out of health issues and better work environment. BUT, if I do wake, it can be a problem, especially when overseas…

Ross Mason

Tue, 12 Nov 2013 19:41:07 +1300

How do I sleep? Horizontally seems to provide the best zzzs. Any other position gives unsustained somnia.

As far as sex being useful. Apparently it is a no no to fall asleep on top in the afterglow. Dreamy for the one on top, a nightmare for the one on the…

BenWilson

Tue, 12 Nov 2013 19:34:26 +1300

I have only recently kicked 20 years of insomnia. It had become so normal I just didn't worry about it any more, and would just do stuff until I nodded off doing it, at whatever time. The main thing was to make sure I rose at the right time, even…

Lilith __

Tue, 12 Nov 2013 19:25:43 +1300

You and me both. It’s a royal pain. Very occasionally, my wanting-to-go-to-sleepness coincides with what people call bedtime

Large doses of melatonin just before bed will send me to sleep, but then I pop awake in the small hours. Melatonin’s half-life is only 50 mins, so I guess that makes…

Isabel Hitchings

Tue, 12 Nov 2013 19:24:14 +1300

I’ve been a piss poor sleeper for as long as I can remember. Add children, chronic neck pain and a world that doesn’t fit my natural rhythms very well and I am, basically, screwed.

I find that the right bedtime helps. Anytime before elevenish and, even if I drop off…

Russell Brown

Tue, 12 Nov 2013 18:53:39 +1300

Yes! I love riding to work at first light because it’s such a calm time.

I've done a couple of early rides recently and I intend to do it more often. As you say, things are calm.

And apart from anything else, riding into town and seeing people flushed out…

nzlemming

Tue, 12 Nov 2013 18:47:18 +1300

Chris Laidlaw sends me straight back to the land of nod for my weekly sleepin on Sundays. Alas, no longer …

Thank sweet baby Jeebus for this. It's worth the sacrifice of sleep.

nzlemming

Tue, 12 Nov 2013 18:43:04 +1300

I have CFS and have particularly bad troubles with sleep. I’ve been through all the usual “sleep hygiene” stuff and it makes no difference to my sleeplessness at all except to make me more irritable because I’m so bored. :-)

Conversely, I am able to sleep at virtually any time…

B Jones

Tue, 12 Nov 2013 17:57:30 +1300

I get 4am wakeups when I'm a bit stressed (like starting a new job: lovely to turn up with panda eyes, chugging coffee and yawning all through meetings). If I'm lucky I get back to sleep before 5:30ish. If I'm unlucky one of the kids will wake up before I…

Moz

Tue, 12 Nov 2013 17:40:26 +1300

The world from 4.30 until 7 is a beautiful place

Yes! I love riding to work at first light because it's such a calm time. Now that I can open the gates at work I can start whenever I like (really. One coworker regularly starts at 5am... but sometimes comes…

Andre Alessi

Tue, 12 Nov 2013 17:38:36 +1300

I've always had trouble falling asleep, but I used to have even worse trouble waking up. I can never sleep in a room with light or noise-even having the bedroom door open can keep me awake.

I was a very heavy sleeper as a kid, but these days I wake…

Richard Aston

Tue, 12 Nov 2013 16:38:02 +1300

Russell does getting less sleep affect you at all during the day?

Ana Simkiss

Tue, 12 Nov 2013 16:13:34 +1300

Chris Laidlaw sends me straight back to the land of nod for my weekly sleepin on Sundays. Alas, no longer ...

http://m.nzherald.co.nz/entertainment/news/article.cfm?c_id=1501119&objectid=11155775

Russell Brown

Tue, 12 Nov 2013 15:11:01 +1300

My sleep patterns have been erratic in recent years. I’ve recently been prone to having cat-naps after I get home from work, and after that I find it difficult to fall asleep until the small hours.

I sometimes quite struck by how late people I know are up and about…

Chopper

Tue, 12 Nov 2013 14:47:42 +1300

I've recently had to get up at 4.30 am just to get stuff moved from one house to the next while the kids are asleep, and I am getting addicted to it. The world from 4.30 until 7 is a beautiful place without many people about and no demands from…

Gee

Tue, 12 Nov 2013 14:44:50 +1300

there is an App for this of course
There's a nap for that? perfect ;)
i have been having horrible trouble sleeping and so far only the sleeping pills work, if i take them early enough... does nothing for helping me be alert in the morning though....

Lilith __

Tue, 12 Nov 2013 14:28:20 +1300

which I know is quite obnoxious and I’m very sorry.

Obnoxious? It’s a SUPERPOWER.

It sure is a superpower! I have CFS and have particularly bad troubles with sleep. I've been through all the usual "sleep hygiene" stuff and it makes no difference to my sleeplessness at all except to…

Chris Waugh

Tue, 12 Nov 2013 14:22:21 +1300

The Manifesto is not in copyright, and is freely available online.

If only, at 3am frustrated by my inability to get back to sleep, I'd thought to either check the bookshelf or, considering the computer was going and I sat down to read online for a bit, had googled it....…

Dan Salmon

Tue, 12 Nov 2013 14:17:51 +1300

A subject dear to my heart.

If i don't get up at six, and have a full day with some outside time, i don't sleep. Which totally buggers me if i get sick and try to sleep in for a few days. I end up in an entropic cycle of…

Danielle

Tue, 12 Nov 2013 13:58:22 +1300

My husband is obsessed with an Android version of that white noise app – we first downloaded it for baby number two, the initially terrible sleeper – and uses it to fall asleep every night. It works quite well for me too (although I can drop off without external help…

Euan Mason

Tue, 12 Nov 2013 13:53:44 +1300

The Christchurch City Council, in its wisdom, has just specified hot blue LED lighting for all new street lights, and so expect to encounter many more sleep-deprived Cantabrians.

Jan Farr

Tue, 12 Nov 2013 13:42:33 +1300

I've had two sleepless nights since I gave up coffee about two years ago – and the sleepless nights were both in strange beds. I can't cope with a strange bed on the first night. Sleep well the second.

Kumara Republic

Tue, 12 Nov 2013 13:40:01 +1300

My sleep patterns have been erratic in recent years. I’ve recently been prone to having cat-naps after I get home from work, and after that I find it difficult to fall asleep until the small hours. Seems partly to do with regular caffeine consumption. Seems also partly to do with…

linger

Tue, 12 Nov 2013 13:28:28 +1300

@James – Or the scene in You’ve Got Mail:
Frank Navasky [ to Joe Fox ] : Tell me something: really, how do you sleep at night?
Patricia Eden [ interrupting ] : I use a wonderful over-the-counter drug, Ultradorm. Don’t take the whole thing, just half, and you'll wake…

Glenn Pearce

Tue, 12 Nov 2013 13:20:09 +1300

Russell, there is an App for this of course ;-) Haven't tried it myself.

https://itunes.apple.com/nz/app/white-noise-lite-relax.-sleep./id292987597?mt=8

James Butler

Tue, 12 Nov 2013 13:13:27 +1300

Obligatory

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GO0JaecRWy0

Sean_us Handley

Tue, 12 Nov 2013 13:05:37 +1300

We humans used to sleep in 2 bursts in olden times before light bulbs, so don't get too stressed by waking after the "first sleep". Here's a good book that might keep you awake on the subject until you get used to the idea:
http://www.amazon.com/Dreamland-Adventures-Strange-Science-Sleep/dp/0393345866
Also, watch out for the…

Stephen Judd

Tue, 12 Nov 2013 12:41:23 +1300

which I know is quite obnoxious and I’m very sorry.

Obnoxious? It's a SUPERPOWER.

danduran

Tue, 12 Nov 2013 12:35:23 +1300

I haven't really got time to go into much detail – supposed to be working right now – but I'm a recovering insomniac and wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy. In my experience, the best thing you can do is stay well away from GP-prescribed medication (which they dish…

Jason Kemp

Tue, 12 Nov 2013 12:33:03 +1300

A few years ago I had almost the opposite experience. It turns out I had sleep apnea and since then I use a CPAP machine. For years I had been half awake and did more than my fair share of coffee. I could go to sleep anywhere but lacked deep…

Carol Stewart

Tue, 12 Nov 2013 11:59:08 +1300

I used to sleep very well, by which I mean that I never thought about sleep, I just did it. Or i didn't and then I did later. Then I had an event, and then I didn't sleep, and then for the next 8 years I struggled with insomnia, which…

Marcus Turner

Tue, 12 Nov 2013 11:58:30 +1300

I've been telling people for years that the "Hogamus Higamus" poem was composed by somebody writing down something they'd dreamed in the night. That turns out to be probably untrue: http://quoteinvestigator.com/2012/03/28/hogamous/

JessicaRose

Tue, 12 Nov 2013 11:53:28 +1300

Ahhh this old chestnut....

I used to sleep very well, by which I mean that I never thought about sleep, I just did it. Or i didn't and then I did later.

Then I had an event, and then I didn't sleep, and then for the next 8 years I…

Brodie Davis

Tue, 12 Nov 2013 11:47:50 +1300

What I have found. Is no coffee after midday, eat some cottage cheese or something high in protein before bed (to keep the tummy fullish,the slower digesting the better). Exercise, even if its just a 30 minute brisk walk around the block. And don't let yourself sit/lie in bed too…

Hebe

Tue, 12 Nov 2013 11:40:13 +1300

When I do tai chi regularly sleep, or broken sleep, is not a problem. When I meditate daily, I sleep better: more fully and it’s restorative rather than a coma. I’m undisciplined and both of those practices come and go.

The earthquakes have not helped: spent two years waking up.…

Lucy Stewart

Tue, 12 Nov 2013 11:38:21 +1300

I sleep well and heavily, which I know is quite obnoxious and I'm very sorry. I could quite easily sleep through someone coming into my house and removing all my furniture (don't get any ideas, you guys). These child-raising years have so far been a series of literal rude awakenings.…

Marcus Turner

Tue, 12 Nov 2013 11:29:59 +1300

A couple of pieces of advice I was given, that work for me:

1. Train yourself to associate light with being awake and dark with being asleep. When you can't sleep, turn the light on. When you want to try to go back to sleep, turn the light off. If…

Cecelia

Tue, 12 Nov 2013 11:29:57 +1300

Going through the alphabet with NZ place names (mainly towns but I allow Vinetown, Whangarei and Upper Hutt) helps. And if that doesn't work I do international countries and cities.

TracyMac

Tue, 12 Nov 2013 11:28:27 +1300

The Manifesto is not in copyright, and is freely available online. With footnotes. :-) http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1848/communist-manifesto/

Stephen Judd

Tue, 12 Nov 2013 11:27:35 +1300

Not for me.

I gave up coffee for a couple of months earlier this year. Although it improved my general state of mind considerably (many double espressos a day and very strong filter coffee left me agitated and overstimulated), I didn’t notice much improvement in sleep quality, neither have I…

Gaz Tayler

Tue, 12 Nov 2013 11:22:25 +1300

Last night was awake until after 1:30am... my mind would not stop racing, despite a body screaming out that it was tired from renovation work on the weekend. I suspect too much shitty coffee @ work.

Does quality of coffee make a difference?

Chris Waugh

Tue, 12 Nov 2013 11:15:17 +1300

a worry that sits behind the other worries – what if I can’t get to sleep at all?

That sounds familiar. When I find myself in that state, I get up and read a book or watch TV for a bit. Basically, busy my mind on something relaxing. Or dead…

Josh Addison

Tue, 12 Nov 2013 11:10:45 +1300

How do I sleep? Like shit, since I was about 18. Some years later I paid a specialist a fair bit of money to be told that I have proper insomnia and here are some drugs. (Well, not that abruptly – I trialed all sorts of solutions before settling on…

Amy Gale

Tue, 12 Nov 2013 10:51:17 +1300

A couple of months ago I decided to try counting sleep and then spent the rest of the night trying to figure out whether I was 'watching' multiple sheep or the same sheep going round and round in circles, and if the latter, how it was getting back round to…

bob daktari

Tue, 12 Nov 2013 10:44:45 +1300

I have periods when I suffer from insomnia – used to really do my head in trying to force myself to sleep, until I stopped fighting it and gave in... so when awake I'd do awake things and when sleepy and possible (ie not working etc) I'd grab the zzz's…

Stephen Judd

Tue, 12 Nov 2013 10:34:39 +1300

I sleep well when I get exercise during the day and don’t drink too much.

I've also come to realise that I have a "window" between about 9:30 and 10:15 where I find it easy to get to sleep, then I start to become alert again. The next window is…

Emma Hart

Tue, 12 Nov 2013 10:33:34 +1300

I used to be the worst sleeper in the world. Now I'm not even the worst sleeper in the house. And I say this having had 1 1/2 hours sleep last night.

Works a treat though I know it goes counter to that advice about bed only for sex and…

Joe Wylie

Tue, 12 Nov 2013 10:32:31 +1300

I'm glad I gave it time, as it looks pretty weird at first.

Russell Brown

Tue, 12 Nov 2013 10:27:26 +1300

As long as you have something more productive to do than joining your fellow dotards on late-night talkback. In the meantime, may I suggest this. Works for me.

You're the second person to recommend that in 10 minutes. I might have to have a look.

Joe Wylie

Tue, 12 Nov 2013 10:26:00 +1300

As long as you have something more productive to do than joining your fellow dotards on late-night talkback. In the meantime, may I suggest this. Works for me.

Danielle

Tue, 12 Nov 2013 10:20:24 +1300

David Hood

Tue, 12 Nov 2013 10:11:34 +1300

Here is something from the BBC I remembered from last year
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-16964783
Basically being awake for a while would be thoroughly normal if we hadn’t all been up late due to artificial lighting.
[Edit, others got there first while I was writing this I see :) ]

Carol Stewart

Tue, 12 Nov 2013 10:10:50 +1300

Our lad was not a great sleeper and I had periodic insomnia for his first ten years or so. Awful, and anyone with this has my deepest sympathy. It's much, much better now. What works really well for me is what Kate said – a bit of exercise/fresh air really…

JacksonP

Tue, 12 Nov 2013 10:07:57 +1300

But on the other hand, why do we expect to sleep through the night anyway?

Ah, snap! (-ish)

JacksonP

Tue, 12 Nov 2013 10:07:00 +1300

1.30am has become my witching hour. Have to turn the lights on down stairs, have a glass of water, pay a visit, then hope for returning to sleep, which lately has taken longer than usual. Also some of the weirdest waking dreams. Might be the books I’m reading, but still……

Shaun Lott

Tue, 12 Nov 2013 10:05:43 +1300

Poor sleep is strongly correlated with anxiety and depression, but also it is just an age thing... Blue light from screens is something to be avoided and some form of specific relaxation technique is a good idea. But on the other hand, why do we expect to [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Segmented_sleep | sleep…

Simon Grigg

Tue, 12 Nov 2013 10:02:24 +1300

Tell me about it. I crawled into bed at 2am and found myself wide awake at 6.30. This is my new norm, and yep, wine makes it worse. Beer not so much.

The upside is that I also find now that I can deal with long international overnight flights with…

Robyn Gallagher

Tue, 12 Nov 2013 09:54:58 +1300

I've never had trouble sleeping (touch wood), but it's a topic that interests me in a nerdy way. One thing – even if you're not asleep, lying in bed is still resting your body and mind. Yeah, it's not the same as sleep, but it helps. Also – my Mum…

Russell Brown

Tue, 12 Nov 2013 09:41:14 +1300

A few glasses of wine is one thing, but stress is definitely a big factor.

Yes. Lying awake worrying is not my idea of fun, but I'm not really too stressed at the moment.

Kate Hannah

Tue, 12 Nov 2013 09:40:56 +1300

Oh I hear you! Last night for me was filled with bright ideas in the wee small hours, and thus had me trying to convince my brain to rest while another part of my brain was frantically drafting some writing in my head ...

Exercise during the day, no screens…

Maz

Tue, 12 Nov 2013 09:36:54 +1300

A few glasses of wine is one thing, but stress is definitely a big factor. Oh, and staring at a laptop during the evening.
I can recommend meditation, as even a little bit makes a big difference, staying away from the laptop during the evening, and only using the bed…

Public Address

Tue, 12 Nov 2013 09:36:54 +1300

Discussion from blog post.