Search Ideas

Interesting and disturbing. I still think psychology is the prime suspect for me, though. Runaway thinking. I'll pay more attention going forward, and see if I observe this "alertness signal."

I do use 0% brightness on my monitor and Windows' red night filter at 90% about 90 minutes before getting ready for bed, and I use only a warm-colored lamp. But could do more. Have not messed with the actual monitor color presets (turning off the blue and green channels; not the same thing as the night filter?). No screens at all seems like a smarter habit, which I'll work toward.

I have traveled internationally, and I think jetlag is the same as just staying up very late. Both allow for fast time-to-sleep (<30min). I can fall asleep quickly if I've been awake for 19 hours, say. The issue is trying to achieve that time-to-sleep for ~16 hours of awake time.

Interesting. But I would guess it only works well for constant sounds. The sensor has to read the waveform to create one that cancels it. Will not do much for short impulses of sound, which are the main offender (my current neighbors are okay, for the record).

Well the device may deal with some noisy neighbors, but sure, a criticism overall. Edited.

I've wondered about taking some regular to fall asleep, and the time-released to stay asleep. But in any case testing so far has shown melatonin (of either kind) on its own does not significantly help the falling asleep issue (the greater of the two, falling asleep and staying).

A cursory search suggests I was mistaken. It may be "mentally" habit forming (one becomes anxious if it's unavailable). But that's no big deal. So it could be a fine long-term solution to the staying asleep problem. What's not to love: #5205.

Indeed; the criticism included with it (that I don't want to be dependent) applies to regular melatonin as well.

Oh I definitely meal prep. But major room for improvement. Work in progress.

Looks awesome! Didn't realize you have a bodybuilding channel, will check it out.

Not sleeping at all certainly damages the rhythm. But for me the current choice is between a chemically-mediated 8-9 hours from, say, 12am to 8am, or a natural 5-6 hours, from 2 or 3am to 8am. Both are similar in terms of the day night cycle, and not close to as bad as sleeping in to noon (and later and later) would be, I think.

This depends on neighboring residents being home during your apartment tour, and being honest (or correct) about noise pollution (maybe they're causing it and don't know). The search remains an uncertain one, even with great interview participation.

Finding quiet places in a city is indeed doable, but it's hard to even come close to guaranteeing success. There's no way to sample an apartment for 24 hours before moving in. It comes down to scoping it out, reading reviews, interviewing other residents if you can, then signing the lease and hoping for the best. If it's a bad fit, moving again is a huge, costly hassle.

I would not say I care for rural America. It sounds nice on the one hand, but conflicts with my anti-hermit hangup (I don't want to be isolated from society, at least not too much...). My vague ideal has always been: "big city in the near distance." Agreed that too quiet is a problem but that's trivial to solve compared to too loud.

I do not have a consistent 9am obligation now, no. But my implicit hope here is to find lasting solutions. I expect to have morning obligations again one day, maybe very soon.

Hmm, I'm skeptical of the physics, and a cursory search supports. Not feasible for the same reason that holograms aren't (as depicted in movies): waves won't stop midair, unless they're "standing waves," which you can't do much with. Comment #5225 may also apply.

I also clearly procrastinate preparing food and eating, almost every day, conflicting with caloric intake goals. For a few years in childhood I had an anxiety disorder around eating. I suspect some residual hangup from that, but hard to say. Relates to the sleep trouble..?

Have done. Does not seem to have a strong effect on the "timer." Still may take an hour to fall sleep after getting back into bed. As if a certain amount of time in bed (certain amount of suffering, or punishment?) needs to pass before sleep will come.

I notice a distinct feeling of boredom after a certain amount of time in bed.

I notice a tendency to find more things to do (such as research questions) leading up to bedtime, similar to how I miraculously find more tasks to do (such as taking out the trash) when trying to leave the house for an appointment (I have a lifelong habit of running late as well; I suspect a relation between these two).

This perpetual creep of waking time will mean one's circadian rhythm is messed up, inverting every several days. (Being out of sync with sunlight is a health concern.)

Daytime noise in any kind of city is hard to avoid. One can try to optimize their living situation to avoid, but that's not always doable. Earplugs and noise-machines can help, but have never been totally foolproof for me.

This perpetual 2-hour creep is not compatible with the obligations of life, such as getting to work by 9am every weekday.

I do fall asleep more quickly the longer I've been awake, but not by as much as one would hope. After being up 18 hours, it still may take an hour or more for me to fall asleep.

On days when I have extensively exercised, worked, socialized or all of the above, my trouble falling asleep seems largely unchanged. (It still often takes ~2 hours, without chemical intervention.)