Reflections on the week
I’m definitely noticing improvements from making my sleep schedule more regular. But I need to continue with this – in the past, I’ve found that I get the most benefit after a week or more of keeping to a fairly strict sleep schedule.
Improving sleep: what’s worked for me
Over the years, I’ve experimented with various recommended techniques for improving sleep. Here are the ones which I think have helped me the most:
- Going to bed (and turning out the lights) at the same time every night. Irregular exposure to light seems to be more detrimental to my mood and mental energy than not sleeping well. This is by far the most useful intervention, followed by the next technique on this list.
- Being outside for at least ten minutes (or a bit longer, if the sky is overcast) early in the day, to get exposure to sunlight. I think that when I’ve maintained this habit for a while, it’s much easier for me to fall asleep quickly. A trade-off is that I become sleepy earlier, and so I can’t rely on being having enough concentration to do cognitively demanding work in the evening.
- Turning off screens and bright lights (so that I’m in dim light only) at least an hour before bedtime also helps me to fall asleep more quickly. I’ve experimented in the past with the “Night Shift” setting on my laptop to give the display a warmer tone in the evening, but I didn’t notice any benefit from that. For me, avoiding screens after a certain time seems to be more helpful.
- Taking a hot shower, but only if it’s not right before my scheduled bedtime.
- Exercising during the day (particularly if it raises my heart rate) seems to help me sleep more deeply.
- Eating whole fruit may also be helpful for me (see Possible ways to increase slow wave and REM sleep for some notes and disclaimers about sleep and dietary fibre).
I’ve seen recommendations about the timing of meals. In particular, a common piece of advice is to maintain a gap of several hours between the last time you eat in the day and your bedtime. However, I haven’t noticed any personal benefit from doing this, or any adverse effects from not doing this. Generally maintaining a routine may be more useful for me.
I’ve also tried avoiding caffeine in the afternoon (including the small amount in chocolate) but I haven’t noticed any benefit from this either.