Comments on: Travel Belt, Sleep anyone? http://spaceagewasteland.com/travel-belt-sleep-anyone/ technology where little exists... hacking the simple life Fri, 30 Jul 2010 01:40:57 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.1.2 By: milesh http://spaceagewasteland.com/travel-belt-sleep-anyone/#comment-41 milesh Fri, 22 Apr 2005 21:01:08 +0000 http://spaceagewasteland.com/travel-belt-sleep-anyone/#comment-41 I'll present something that I've been trying that is less about sleep per se and more about waking up. It's based on the psycological idea that if, as you go to sleep, you tell yourself what time you want to wake up (and mean it when you tell yourself) then your brain will get you up within a resonably short time window of the time that you "programmed" yourself. I'm sure that everyone has seen times where they wake up a few minutes before the alarm they set goes off. It's related to that. The reasons I've been trying this for a few months are as follows: * I am waking up on my terms rather than being jarred awake by some external uncomfortable racket when I'm not ready or when I'm in the middle of a deep sleep phase cycle both of which causes me psychological damage; or at least it feels like it judging from the mood and pain I feel. Yes, I had for a long time associated raw physical pain with waking up. Head hurts, eyes hurt, soreness, crankyness, etc. * Waking up when my brain tells me to is much more satisfying, comfortable, and promotes a kind of readiness to start the day. Like internally saying "it's time." Also when I know there's no alarm snooze waiting to wake me up again, I'm less likely to go back to sleep. * Don't know about you but I hit the snooze button over and over and over and over. Partly to overcome that painful feeling of being jolted awake and wanting to recover restfully. However, interrupted sleep post-snooze-button is not restful and only prolongs the amount sleep that I feel I need to really wake up fresh and I end up pressing the snooze more and more times. Waking up once and when I'm ready is much more restful and therefore efficient. I don't have to interrupt my sleep and keep rewaking to hit the snooze. * When I was using my alarm daily, my brain had learned to ignore it. I even would need to set 2 alarms including my mobile phone alarm just to make sure. I just didn't trust it after a while. Now that I only use my alarm when I must, I hear it again. It's also more comfortable for a partner to not have an alarm her too. I've been doing this for a few months now and I feel like I sleep better, with more efficiency and feeling of completeness. I've learned to trust my brain to do the right thing and so far (with some exception I will explain) it has. I awake nearly always within 15 minutes before or after my programmed time (I suspect it's dependant on where the deep and light sleep phases happen to align) and each succesful time it makes me feel better and reinforces my trust. In my early trials there were occasions where I did oversleep but there were reasons for it, mostly that my body needed it. I therefore haven't completely discarded my alarm. I now use my alarm only when: * I've been drinking the night before. Obvious reason, right? Also if I'm sick or taking medication. * My wakeup time is less than about 5 hours before I need to wake up. Mostly because I have this feeling that my body will be stubborn and insist that I need sleep. * I absolutely without exception MUST be up at a certain time (e.g. plane flight, important meeting, etc.) and then it is used more in the vain of a backup or failsafe. On that final point, I suppose that I could just keep the alarm always on and set at a failsafe time but since my work hours are somewhat flexible I don't. Being a problem sleeper I have a few thoughts on the going-to-sleep process too but I'm still struggling with that. I’ll present something that I’ve been trying that is less about sleep per se and more about waking up. It’s based on the psycological idea that if, as you go to sleep, you tell yourself what time you want to wake up (and mean it when you tell yourself) then your brain will get you up within a resonably short time window of the time that you “programmed” yourself. I’m sure that everyone has seen times where they wake up a few minutes before the alarm they set goes off. It’s related to that. The reasons I’ve been trying this for a few months are as follows:

* I am waking up on my terms rather than being jarred awake by some external uncomfortable racket when I’m not ready or when I’m in the middle of a deep sleep phase cycle both of which causes me psychological damage; or at least it feels like it judging from the mood and pain I feel. Yes, I had for a long time associated raw physical pain with waking up. Head hurts, eyes hurt, soreness, crankyness, etc.

* Waking up when my brain tells me to is much more satisfying, comfortable, and promotes a kind of readiness to start the day. Like internally saying “it’s time.” Also when I know there’s no alarm snooze waiting to wake me up again, I’m less likely to go back to sleep.

* Don’t know about you but I hit the snooze button over and over and over and over. Partly to overcome that painful feeling of being jolted awake and wanting to recover restfully. However, interrupted sleep post-snooze-button is not restful and only prolongs the amount sleep that I feel I need to really wake up fresh and I end up pressing the snooze more and more times. Waking up once and when I’m ready is much more restful and therefore efficient. I don’t have to interrupt my sleep and keep rewaking to hit the snooze.

* When I was using my alarm daily, my brain had learned to ignore it. I even would need to set 2 alarms including my mobile phone alarm just to make sure. I just didn’t trust it after a while. Now that I only use my alarm when I must, I hear it again. It’s also more comfortable for a partner to not have an alarm her too.

I’ve been doing this for a few months now and I feel like I sleep better, with more efficiency and feeling of completeness. I’ve learned to trust my brain to do the right thing and so far (with some exception I will explain) it has. I awake nearly always within 15 minutes before or after my programmed time (I suspect it’s dependant on where the deep and light sleep phases happen to align) and each succesful time it makes me feel better and reinforces my trust. In my early trials there were occasions where I did oversleep but there were reasons for it, mostly that my body needed it. I therefore haven’t completely discarded my alarm.

I now use my alarm only when:

* I’ve been drinking the night before. Obvious reason, right? Also if I’m sick or taking medication.

* My wakeup time is less than about 5 hours before I need to wake up. Mostly because I have this feeling that my body will be stubborn and insist that I need sleep.

* I absolutely without exception MUST be up at a certain time (e.g. plane flight, important meeting, etc.) and then it is used more in the vain of a backup or failsafe.

On that final point, I suppose that I could just keep the alarm always on and set at a failsafe time but since my work hours are somewhat flexible I don’t.

Being a problem sleeper I have a few thoughts on the going-to-sleep process too but I’m still struggling with that.

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