pork and potato

[keturn]

When it comes to getting out of bed in the morning, the "alarm clock" tactic is pretty well understood, and can be extended upon by increasing volume, cleverness, or number of alarms. But what tactics do you have for getting to bed? So far I've got Leechblock. Which is helpful. But I'm not asleep right now. So what else works for you?

Comments

[isquiesque]

I use Pure Sleep [ http://www.teslasoftware.com/ ] to generally useful effect. If you don't have an iPod that'll run it, the other thing you might try is to download some meditation podcasts (generally free). Good luck...

[boojum]

If I can read books instead of using the computer, it's sometimes helpful.

Adjusting my food schedule does a lot to adjust my sleep schedule -- I try hard to eat early in the morning and not late at night.

mmm breakfast

[keturn]

I've been keeping the food thing in mind since seeing an article about food and jetlag.

Since making exercise my #1 thing in the morning, I've learned a few things:

1) I can actually do some aerobic exercise without eating breakfast first. There are probably activities I still wouldn't recommend having had nothing to contribute to my blood sugar or protein intake for 12 hours, but if my goal is just to get my heart and lungs going for a while, I can do it before breakfast.

2) I'm not really motivated to eat right after exercising. If you put food in front of me I'll happily eat it, or if I am intentional about getting breakfast, but I think the exercise tends to make me *less* inclined to grab something. Which is a little weird, and I think not generally true when I was bike commuting in the morning, so maybe something else is going on there.

Re: mmm breakfast

[boojum]

I've had your #2 effect, a little. I think it happens when I exercise enough that I get overheated, instead of just the warmed-up I usually get by bike commuting. I don't know if that's generalizable to your body, though.

The food and jetlag thing is interesting, especially how it relates to what I know of food and sleep-dep (which is: if you're not sleeping, eat. Never try to be awake when you're usually asleep if you're also hungry.)

[faethverity]

I try to have a cup of tea (especially tea with valerian root extract) about a half hour before I intend to go to bed. A little going to bed routine helps, though I've gotten pretty bad at timing.

[ms_nico_blue]

The big one for me is no caffeine after Noon.

Also, I try to go to bed close to the same time every night during the week, 10:30 - 11pm.

What I've started doing in the last year or so is, as soon as I start feeling tired, I turn the lights off and go to bed. No music, no TV, no reading. Usually I can get to sleep within about 30 mins. But, if all else fails and I can't get my brain to shut up, there's always diphenhydramine (Benadryl)

I've heard from others that having a bed time routine is helpful, sort of a way to tell your brain "Hey, it's time to sleep now"

[ms_nico_blue]

Oh!
And Decaf Mocha FTW! :D

[akatchoom]

Work my ass off. Know that I am scheduled for a long day on the morrow. Think of sleep in the same vein as coffee- this is just what one does.

In terms of getting to sleep, I employ a few stretches, a cup of tea and perhaps a chapter of reading. The cat needs cuddling, and he tends to only get it when I am in bed.

If you bookend your sleep times with scheduled activities, you might not get enough sleep every night, but it works for me in terms of being too tired to avoid bed.