I do exactly this, sometimes I try to see I can sort of hypnotize myself and get into sleep mode.
Hey @wouzer I work with sleep as a professional. Donât stress out over measurements and data, or norms for that matter. While sleep is essential for our health, there is no single truth on what you need. As you say yourself, listen to your body. If you feel rested, you are. Some donât need more than 6 hours to be fully restored, others need more.
Youâre in health yourself so you know this, but data is just one part of it. The best sleep tracker you got, is your body. Learn to listen to its beat and find your rhythm.
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I was doing music as a living before having children, so I 100% blame them for my lack of sleep !
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Four day working weeks are the future, if you can handle the 20% pay cut!
Iâve been doing four day weeks for the past couple of years, initially due to my employerâs limited funding but subsequently by choice because I found I was way happier and more productive.
I learnt the hard way after multiple burnouts and severe bouts of depression when working full time, not to mention the significant stress caused to my loved ones.
Working less hours has been a financial struggle but it has been well worth the sacrifices.
If you are in a position to work a four day week, I highly recommend it.
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I feel I lose most sleep when I beat myself up about staying up late doing the thing I like.
Iâd suggest a daily meditation practice (as others have suggested already) and a conscious, grateful attitude of enjoyment and recovery when you do the thing(s) you enjoy.
The psychotherapist and philosopher Erich Fromm talked about the importance of active rest vs passive rest quite a bit.
I think creating a comfortable space for yourself when you do choose to dive in, will enable you to do what you like and rest up in a way where you feel refreshed the next day.
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This number is apparently being adjusted down to 7 hours of sleep, if itâs any consolation. CNN article. But providing a single quantity of hours for everyone is flawed, as others have pointed out. The money quote from that article is this:
The study showed a link between too much and too little sleep and cognitive problems, not cause and effect, cautioned Russell Foster, a professor at the University of Oxford and director of the Sir Jules Thorn Sleep and Circadian Neuroscience Institute, who wasnât involved in the research. He said that the study had not taken individualsâ health status into consideration and that short or long sleep may be an indication of underlying health conditions with cognitive issues.
He also said that taking the average of seven hours as the ideal amount of sleep âignores the fact that there is considerable individual variation in sleep durationâ and quality. Less or more sleep may be perfectly healthy for some individuals, he said.
âWe are regularly told that the âidealâ night of sleep in the aged should be seven hours of uninterrupted slumber. This belief is wrong in so many ways. Sleep is like shoe size; one size does not fit all, and by classifying âgood sleepâ in this way can cause confusion and anxiety for many,â said Foster, author of the upcoming book âLife Time: The New Science of the Body Clock, and How It Can Revolutionize Your Sleep and Health.â
âHow long we sleep, our preferred sleep times and how many times we wake during the night varies hugely between individuals and as we age. Sleep is dynamic, and we all have different sleep patterns, and the key thing is to assess what our individual needs are.â
As for me - I typically get 4 hours of sleep a night, sometimes 5. But thereâs also usually a ~1 hour nap in the afternoon, and every 3 or 4 days Iâll splurge on sleep and get 8-10 hours. It helps that I 1) donât drink coffee, and 2) donât drink alcohol (except for rare social occasions, and then Iâll make sure to sleep more). So the sleep that I do get is fairly restful and high quality, unlike many peopleâs. And my ability to wake up without being groggy is also really good.
If this routine felt like complete shit and I hated it, I wouldnât do it. But Iâm not fighting against my body - it feels fine with this routine and Iâve done it for 2 years now. And I have to say, itâs absolute bliss to wake up around 1:30-2am and have a loooong stretch of time before anyone else wakes up to work on music, play games, get some work projects done with deep focus, or anything else I want really. As a parent of a 4 year old and someone who has a very demanding attorney job, itâs been revelatory. And I do feel like Iâve achieved the âcan have it all, can do everything I wantâ lifestyle because of it. That doesnât mean this sleep schedule is right for everyone, or even most people. It just feels right for me and lets me do what I want with the limited time I have on this earth / hypercapitalistic hellscape.
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Hi, so Iâve had fluctuating levels of insomnia for decades, and decided to see my GP a couple of weeks ago.
I was hopping she wouldnât offer me meds and my hopes came true. She put me on a Cognitive Sleep Therapy for Insomnia online course.
A week into the course and I have a new âsleep restrictionâ schedule. The idea is to increase âsleep driveâ before bedtime and associate the bed as a place of rest not a place watching YouTube. After a while they will slowly add back my sleep.
I should do a relaxing activity I like before bed that doesnât involve. phones, exercise etc. I think the playing around with the digi boxes will be too stimulating, so Iâm thinking of trying something else, but not figured that out yet.
Anyway, I just wanted to put it out there to any fellow Elektronauts struggling with sleep. This CBT-I stuff is very promising for me and Iâll let you know how I get on. If you have a questions about it, let me/us know. Peace!
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I work with sleep and with therapists, as well as psychologists and scientists in the field.
I can confirm, the single most efficient method to deal with insomnia is CBT-I. Everyoneâs different, of course, but looking at overall success ratio, this is the method preferred and recommended before anything else, in general.
Youâre gonna do just fine, mate. It sounds like youâre already making progress. Iâm rooting for you 
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Thatâs very encouraging, thanks also for the kind words.
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