I very rarely have sleep issues so I never looked into blankets or gadgets but I will say this:
Recently my neighbor got a really bright outdoor light on the side of their house and even with black out blinds it wasn't close to enough blockage because light kept leaking through the sides and even pierced the blinds.
The first night I noticed that, I was like "jesus, why is it so bright outside" and I tried to sleep unsuccessfully. I was up until about 3am when I normally goto bed at 11pm'ish. I tried everything to block it on the spot like trying to pile up a sheet near my face but it had no effect since the light just illuminated the room. It was so light that I could see details across the room, like individual fan blades on a 12" fan. I typically can only fall asleep on 1 side but switching sides made no difference either.
So the next afternoon I decided to try an experiment. I took a black garbage bag and completely covered the window. I actually laughed out loud to myself at how dark it was when it was bright outside.
That night was remarkable. I didn't think a room could be so dark. It was the most peaceful sleep ever, except now my TV's little red dot is a distraction where as even pre-outside light it wasn't noticeable.
So if you have trouble sleeping, you may want to try to make your room as dark as possible as a test. Even in hostile lighting conditions a black garbage bag (one of the big ones you would use for leafs) can solve the problem. I hung mine with 2 nails, so when I wake up I just unhook 1 side to get natural light. The only problem is it looks completely stupid from the inside.
It’s also worth getting a nice eye mask (one that’s comfortable on your face) for when you’re on the road. Hotels, Airbnbs, etc. are full of super bright LEDs now, and many of them (e.g. smoke detectors) can’t be easily covered or turned off.
If anyone has recommendations for good (cupped) eye masks, I'd love to hear them.
I currently use the cheap contoured cupped kinds (I think Bucky, currently), which are adequate. I find the cups vastly preferable to having something pressed against my eyes, and I dislike masks that feel heavy. A cheap mask will keep out most light (but not all of it). For the most part, they work. Sleeping with a mask is better than sleeping without one.
The problem with the cheap brands is that they always inevitably fall apart 3-5 months after being purchased, especially if you wash them. They're almost all glued, not stitched. They use materials like velcro everywhere.
A while back I tried to do some research to see if there was a premium market for nice, really durable, stitched brands. I couldn't find anything that stood out, it was a big surprise. I've considered trying to find someone on Etsy to try and custom make something.
Right now I'm paying $10-16 every 4 months for a disposal mask. I'd happily pay a ton more for a lightweight, cupped mask that actually blocked 100% of the light and that would last me a few years.
I went through about a dozen different masks over the course of 6 months and these were the most comfortable. I like the removable inserts -- sometimes I want the pressure on my eyelids, sometimes I don't. They completely block out the light. And they trap moisture so your eyes stay moist overnight.
It may be a bit of an extreme solution, to go around a hotel room, covering every tiny LED with electrical tape, but if you are very sensitive to light while you sleep, it can make a world of difference in the quality of your rest.
Black "Gaffers tape" is a tape designed to hold things temporarily and be removed without leaving a residue (or as little residue as possible). You can tear off a perfectly square piece with your fingers since the fabric of the tape is aligned with the tape. It's great for covering those always on LEDs.
It is better than electrical tape for this purpose IMO.
I've never gotten used to wearing a mask, so when I travel I make every effort to get a room away from the street so I'm less likely to have either street lights or the hotel's own lights shining in the window. I unplug everything I can, and I bring tape for the rest. Nightlights built into bathroom power outlets have been a particularly annoying trend lately, and most kinds of tape don't completely block the light themselves, but the tape can hold whatever thickness of paper or cardboard I need. Band aids will work in a pinch, but tape is cheaper.
My silk eyemask totally changed how I sleep. Best $10 I ever spent. For me, my problem is I tend to sleep in later so when the sun is out, sometimes it's hard to get woken up midcycle.
Also, noise is usually a problem for me. I keep a fan running at night to provide a good background hum of white noise to help drown out any external sounds.
I've found that if you sleep on the back and not move much, a light scarf can do the same job as an eye mask, which can be handy if you're traveling and don't have one.
What bothers me the most is that you tend to go from nearly pitch black to lifting the shades and now it's brighter than a billion suns because your eyes have no chance to react. Even leaving the room into a hallway that has minimal natural light from other windows is an issue.
The natural progression of the sunrise is very helpful to have your eyes auto-adjust by the time you open them since it goes through your eyelids with your eyes closed.
I'm not sure how to solve this problem in a way that's reasonable. Building a robot to unhook the trash bag based on the sunrise time is out of scope of what I want to do. Maybe some type of solar powered automatic curtain rod exists, I haven't looked but it's worth exploring. I wonder how others solve this. I feel like the solutions I'm thinking of are way harder to implement than it needs to be for such a common problem.
There have to be uncountable numbers of lamps, timers, and home automation solutions that can gradually bring the lights up at sunrise or whenever you'd like to arise. Or if you insist upon the shades being raised as your solution, about five hundred US dollars will get you an automated shade that can be configured. Ikea has some coming out (oh, real soon now, they've said for the past year) that are less expensive, but I don't know how well they block light.
The shades I'm thinking of (both Ikea, and others) work with Apple's HomeKit (et. al.), so you can automate it however you like. Sunrise, five minutes before you wake up, fast open, slow open...
> However, I don't get that slow increase of light in the morning that wakes me up gently.
There's a specific type of alarm clock that does that. Philips Wake-up Light (e.g. https://www.usa.philips.com/c-p/HF3520_60/-) is the best known brand but there are others.
I have the same issue. My complex installed very bright lights outside my window so I put up blackout curtains. It's great for sleeping but in the morning I have no clue what time of day it is, and I miss that "gentle wakeup" from the morning light.
In all seriousness, coming from a Mediterranean country to the UK, the summers can be quite annoying with the light starting a little after 4am and if you don't have a good set of blinds it can get very disruptive.
Your solution (ugly as it maybe ;) ) it's actually quite good as it does not require a lot of effort or DIY that a landlord could object to.
If you want something a little nicer than a trash bag. I've got these[0] in every bedroom in my house. Keeps the heating and cooling bill down as well as blocks out light really well.
Those would be great for blocking the main bulk of the light but I suspect would leak all around the sides and edges. They look identical to the curtains I currently own. I personally like aluminum foil to block out my windows. I apply it with a spray bottle just the bit of mist the foil will stick to the glass and quickly dry away leaving the foil stuck to the glass. It also works very well to reflect the heat where when I had blackout curtains they would radiate heat. I did have the numbers at one point but the difference between black and aluminum foil was massive.
Nope. We're not friends but we are on friendly terms (occasional hellos, zero tension, etc.).
During that first night my thought process went something like this:
- How the fuck can someone be so rude to put a light so bright on?
- I'm going to get the loudest portable stereo I can find that can be remotely turned on / off, load it up with one of my favorite deathcore playlists and put it onto their roof tomorrow night
- I'm going to leave passive aggressive notes on their door with shawshank redemption quotes (the light resembled a prison light)
My mind just raced with scenarios that involved retaliating. Those were the highlight thoughts after spending hours ruminating on it.
But then after a few nights with the bag I didn't care anymore about the light. I ultimately came to the conclusion that I was missing out for years by not blacking out my room and I would continue to black it out even if the light didn't exist.
It's interesting to see the effects of something as trivial as a light being on at night to disrupt your sleep patterns and thoughts. Unintentional lack of sleep is no joke even in short doses.
Man, I wish I could have hacked a solution together like this with my neighbor. We moved away 4 weeks ago because it ended up as the only viable solution. Story went like this:
Living in dense city apartments, large German city, our thoughtful upstairs neighbors decided to play very loud hardcore techno at 2am (!) during weekdays - every single day. They were students but the area is not cheap at all. Without external support, German students would have a very hard time paying rent in that area. This area is primarily for well-off yuppies with large incomes. For those students, I strongly suspected mommy and daddy pay for the rent (and the drugs, see below).
Aside from breaking mentally down and degenerating into thoughts of vengeance over this insane level of assholeness, we recovered and tried to be productive according to following steps:
1) Go upstairs, ask them to turn it down -> no response at the door, tried and retried 6 times in total over several days in between the following resolution attempts
2) Intermittently, random screaming and banging against our walls in frustration
3) After doors were never opened and a conversation was not possible, we emailed facility management/landlord -> quiet nights for a handful of days
3) After loud music started up again one day (because why not?) we finally called the police. A step which is somehow both radical and useless at once. Police, annoyed by our noise complaint, banged against the neighbors doors. It took > 5min of banging and police yelling until neighbors opened the door. You could hear the excuse: "Sorry, fell asleep with the music on."
That's like falling asleep in a laser-light electronic music club. Bullshit excuse for "we are drugged up as shit and don't care about our neighbors who have to go to work at 7am because <insert garbage justification>"
Well, it became quiet for 3 weeks. Thought they learned their lesson. Then it started over again and at that point we had exhausted all rational options.
Repeated complaints against landlord lead to nothing. So there was no leverage left. In the end we moved. Thankfully that wasn't our only motivation to move but if you're a bit unlucky, noisy neighbors can mess your life up. Finding apartments here is really hard and I don't want to imagine if we had built our dream apartment in our dream area and were screwed over by these people for no reason at all.
Home ownership and dealing with neighbors is all about picking your battles. Getting into a war over a light is just not worth the effort, when you have a simple solution. Chances are someone else will bitch anyhow. Save your ammunition for the inevitable future issues.
Also, a dark yellow nail polish should make those horrid blue leds appear green, which albeit not turning them off would make them much more gentle to the eyes.
I've left a trail of 8mm squares of gaffer's tape covering literally thousands of LEDs around the world. If you ever see a semi-hairless sasquatch -- with what looks like one black fingernail -- climbing naked on a chair, that's probably me.
We have done something similar at home. We live in an apartment with a small shared central courtyard, which is lit up (though not extremely bright) when someone walks through it. Our bedroom has those crappy Ikea Venetian blinds, which are terrible at blocking light and it's a rental so we can't change them. Instead we cover the blinds with a dark bedsheet and that does a great job of keeping the light out.
Those are not properly "shutters", they are (as you say) "tapparelle" (which translates back to "rolling shutters" or "roller shutters"), they are relatively "modern" and they have been used for yers mainly as a low cost solution to the traditional windows "sets".
They were only widely adopted in Italy after WWII in new buildings.
They were actually available in Italy - and of course in wood only - since the '20's but not widely used, actually intially they were considered "trendy" and used by "name" architects/designers in luxury or public buildings (example):
Traditionally in Italy (but it depends on the area/region) we have "persiane" (on the exterior), that can give some shade from the sun while allowing the air to pass, like these (example):
I have blackout blinds and blackout curtains but still light leaks in!
It seems to come in via the top of the blind, there is a gap between the top of the window and where the blind is attached and then this leaks out into the room via the side of the curtains.
It's fine at night as it's dark anyway, but on days when it gets light early in the morning it's a pain. I like the room to be so dark I can't see my hand in front of my face. I have no gadgets or anything with lights on in the bedroom.
I'm not quite prepared to tape black bags to the window though :D
I recently moved to a place where my bedroom in front of a busy road with stoplights. I can't handle light when i sleep. I just went with a set of double layer blackout curtains myself and then taped the sides down to the window frame. It works pretty damn good. Before that I got them though I went with the garbage bag/cardboard box route. I found it hard to seal all the cracks though.
2 years ago I started using a sleep mask to black out the room at night. It's amazing. Mask goes on. Mind goes quiet. I go to sleep. And as a bonus: no more dry eyes in the morning.
Re: the heat problem, my parents gave me a sheep woolen duvet a while ago (Texeler brand, kinda local to NL though) - it's not a knitted or scratchy contraption, it's a duvet like you know them. However, it's a lot heavier than normal duvets (about twice as heavy I'd gauge), and it's perfect in terms of heat regulation - even in summer I can sleep under the covers without feeling too warm or sweaty. I think the problem with the heat of weighted blankets as mentioned here is down to the materials used, non-permeable plastics and glass and the like.
Silk Duvets, which are filled with layers of spun silk instead of feathers or foam, are much cooler than non-silk equivalent tog(weight) duvets, so you get the comforting weight of a thick duvet but without all the heat. We've had Mulberry Silk duvets for many years and I can totally recommend them.
Oh my god, I had a wool duvet for a while and it was seriously the best. The wool is a natural fiber which allows the humidity to escape, leaving you warm but not sticky.
Be careful with the outer shell of these, though – no use getting a wool duvet with a polyester outer shell (or polyester duvet cover!)
I saw one blanket that was made with chains sewn into a light sheet/blanket. Seemed like a much better approach than the bead based ones. Was way too pricey though.
I bought the Chilla 20lbs weighted blanket back in March and I don't use it anymore. I found it really unconfortable and I would get incredibly hot under them in the middle of the night.
The one I bought seemed to have great reviews, and I paid ~$160 for it, but it didn't seem worth it. It now collects dust in my closet.
Someone out there thinks that I want to manage the thermal properties of my bed since the ads which squeeze through uBlock and friends are all for "BedJet" and other bed air conditioners.
With that being said, it is an interesting idea and might be worth investigating.
I am a to be parent, and reading "happiest baby on the block" gave me some background on why this might be.
Basically it boils down to how we were before we are born in our mother's wombs. Same with car noise and rocking, and why it is easier to sleep in a car without realizing.
Congratulations. It might work for some kids, but my son never likes anything on him, we even cover him when he’s deep asleep and in a minute he’d push it away. And he’s been doing that since very little. Granted, the room temperature is comfortable and he has both diapers and a body on (with legs mostly uncovered). Personally I alwyas need something, even as light as a beed sheed around my torso for comfort.
What’s interesting about this find is that it may be related to the posture/positon of the body while sleeping and the heavy blanket probably relaxes the skeletal musculature and in turn the nervous system. I’m saying this as i noticed when i use the winter blanket, my body feels more aligned and pain free in the morning. One of the plusses of winter imo. Also noticed that when I sleep in a colder room I sleep/rest beter.
+1. Same weight blanket. It took me a couple of nights to fully get used to it (I think I might have preferred a slightly lighter one, something in the 15lb range) but my sleep has noticeably improved in both speed of falling asleep and duration before waking. According to my CPAP machine, I have fewer apnea events per night, too.
For those looking to try one: go for whichever has the smallest pockets for the beads. It does make a difference in how smooth the weight feels.
I really don't know. The difference is significant, though- before, I was recording ~10 apnea events a night, and now it's ~5. I'm naturally a back sleeper, so I don't move around much either way, so I just don't know. I'm certainly not complaining, though!
Thanks for your input ! I am inclined to believe that proclaimed stress reduction benefits of sleeping with an heavy blanket correlates or explains the reduction in apnea events. I may look into it myself.
I hope they work as well for you as they have for me!
Unrelated to weighted blankets, but related to better quality sleep, I have also found that these pillows help reduce the number of apnea events I have per night as well:
You put the thicker end under your neck. It helps keep your airway open, and is quite comfortable. I will say that you might want to buy locally, though- if you check the reviews, it seems like there are a lot of counterfeits on Amazon. The real ones don't smell, and have a firm level of support.
I got the same thing for my wife and she swears by it. I'm curious though, what do you do when you travel? We haven't found a good option for hotels, it would add a lot of weight (and bulk) to try and pack it when flying.
I bought one ~6 months ago and my 2 sleep trackers reported slightly longer duration and more deep sleep for about a week, and then numbers went back to normal. Concluded that it may have been a placebo effect.
I don't understand why is it so hard for some people to grasp this, if you're actually feeling better because of something the root cause of it is irrelevant.
The question is not about the cause but about the actual effects. You might feel better and that's goog in itself, but it's not good enough if you want to treat something with real, measurable symptoms.
But that being said, if person A has no measurable symptoms, and person B does, then A's experience with a weighted blanket may not translate to B even if A experiences positive, measurable "improvement."
So I agree that A's subjective endorsement is no good for B, but then again even if A had sustained objective improvement it still might be no good for B.
At the end of the day, if B has real, measurable symptoms of poor sleep, the very best thing is a controlled test of people with the same symptoms of poor sleep.
IMHO, of course. If my medical diplomas were laid end-to-end, they'd stretch from Albuquerque to Albuquerque.
> ... if you're actually feeling better because of something the root cause of it is irrelevant.
It can certainly be relevant, especially on a long-enough timeline. Suppose the root cause of feeling better is because of opiate usage. Long term, you're going to have a bad time.
Around 9 years ago I was prescribed a weighed blanket with chains inside it, an enormous help to my sleep quality and even helpful daytime during stressful times. I have Aspergers.
Nice to see these become more common alternative to medication.
Aspie is usually not considered derogatory... more casual and friendly. Some may not like the word but it doesn't have any sort of sinister connotation. I see pretty much every synonym for Autism or Aspergers being used derogatorily online.
I've been using a weighted blanket for a couple of months now. It's no panacea, but I find it pleasant. One issue people might not be aware of: if you use any kind of body pillow, the extra weight can make turning over much trickier. I'm a side sleeper and I use a tubular pillow to reduce stress on my knees. That means repositioning the pillow every time I switch sides (few times a night) and with the weighted blanked this can be considerably more of a struggle. It's not the weight itself so much as the extra friction from the blanket pressing down more on a soft object. It's not a deal-killer, but maybe something for people to be aware of.
Exactly. Keeping my knees together is uncomfortable (not enough padding), but having them offset while I'm on my side causes the top one to slope down toward the mattress twisting both knees and (even worse) lower back. It's a very common problem, and quite a market for specialized knee pillows. I use a simple tube, but the principle's the same: provide some separation and/or elevate the top leg to avoid twisting.
I guess this is a little off topic, but can anyone recommend a good side sleeper pillow? I've bought around 6 pillows in the last few years and all of them cause me to wake up with neck and back pain because they don't hold my head up.
I've had insomnia for a long time and I'm still tackling the causes. I'm definitely going to try one of these weighted blankets, and maybe a sleep mask. I made the leap a few months ago to buy a Casper mattress and that's helped a lot. It's not as dramatic a difference as I'd hoped but replacing a ?? year old mattress with anything is better.
I use the Xtreme Comforts Shredded Memory Foam Pillow recommended; when I replace it I'll probably buy the upgrade pick mentioned in the article just to see if it's much nicer.
I've spent years trying different pillows (usually super-expensive ones) and the memory foam is by far the best for me (I am also a side sleeper).
Other random insomnia advice: try to focus on relaxing each and every muscle in your body so that you are totally slack. Mindfulness apps/podcasts can help you do this. It helps me a lot. Low-dose melatonin (1mg) is good when you're training yourself to sleep but I wouldn't take it long-term (very vivid dreams are a side effect).
I've tried mindfulness and melatonin before. Definitely took melatonin long enough to get the side effects. I'll try to get back into mindfulness but it was a difficult habit to form.
Thanks for the suggestion, I'll definitely check out this pillow.
I use the Hullo buckwheat pillow. It's filled with buckwheat shells, which don't compress like normal pillow fillings do. Extremely firm, yet also comfortable after a few nights of adaptation.
Anecdote: I tried a buckwheat pillow and couldn't even make it through one night due to how much noise they make. Every time you roll over or even move your head a little bit it sounds like you're rustling through a pile of dry leaves.
I use one too and that was an adjustment when first getting it, but once I got used to it, the fact that it can be adjusted to fit wherever my neck wants to lay and stay there more than made up for it. Now that it's been a few years I don't even notice it anymore. I have however started buying the hulls and zip-up pillow cases to start making my own for half the cost though. I've had my cat accidentally rip one or two open while careening through the place at 3am. You do have to eventually replace or replenish the hulls regardless though, they break apart and get smaller so provide less support.
I alternate between this and a shredded memory foam pillow. The Blu is thinner than I would have expected to be comfortable, but at least on my mattress, it keeps my spine almost perfectly straight while on my side, and I generally don't wake up with shoulder pain.
Another thing that helps with anxiety is the psychiatry and psychotherapy combo. It helps with sleep as well, consequently.
If you haven’t tried it yet you stand a great chance of significant improvement, both from medication and therapy. The key to getting good help is a) convincing the doctor you need help and b) convincing yourself you need help.
The doctor part is simple - you need to demonstrate tangible effect on quality of life. Does your condition make you late or no-show for work? Avoid social situation? Something tangible, not just “I’m so anxious all the time”. It also helps to keep a sleep journal, it can used as evidence of QOL impact if you sleep 4 hours per night.
Convincing the patient who is not already convinced is near-impossible using standard rhetoric. The only thing I know to work is peer pressure - unearth three friends who already went through the therapy and the frightened mind of the sufferer might follow the herd. Which is why it’s important to talk about it.
Anecdotal: I love getting under the blanket but for some reasons I had to learn to sleep without one last year and it took a week for sleep to come in less than 5 minutes (as per my usual habit). Even though I am using blanket again I now can easily fall asleep when it's hot or if I don't have one.
Foster parents have used these for quite some time to help with anxiety in children. Also used frequently are lycra sleeves they can wrap around themselves to kinda of hug themselves tight. These don't work for all children; some have tactile anxieties and these make that worse.
Just anecdotally I've noticed whenever I have trouble sleeping I wind up putting a pillow on my chest or otherwise build up something that leans on my body. I don't know why it makes me feel safer maybe it's just the animal instinct to hide from possible predators?
I grew covering myself with two comforters just for the weight. Switched recently to a cooling weighted blanket and I no longer need a fan and AC all the way down to keep me cool. Still keep the fan for white noise tho.
My significant other deals with some insomnia and anxiety, we think it's been helpful. Mind you, not a cure-all but she likes the blanket.
We got a bearaby. Ridiculously expensive ($300) but it seems to be enjoyable for her. I look forward to that one coming down in price. I justified it as a really expensive throw if it didn't work out.
Personally, I can't sleep with it. I move a lot and the weight of it has lead me to feeling a lot of pain in my joints when I wake up. (pressure on my shoulders from sleeping on my side with it, knees and feet hurting from being compressed down when laying on my back)
Another approach - non-THC based CBD's. I started taking this most nights and it works incredibly well. I'm not typically anxiety prone, but having just gone through a very stressful period (started a new job a month ago, opened a commercial store with my wife 3 weeks ago), it's worked really well. Sleeping really well, waking up refreshed and seems to take the edge off the day too. I was skeptical it could do much about sleep or anxiety issues but in my case, it's worked very well.
I'll be trying CBD as well. I go through weeks where I just can't sleep before 5-6a, no matter what I try. I've been thinking about weighted blankets, I've tried sleeping masks or trying to get my room as dark as possible, etc. Just doesn't work for me. So I started trying weed, and that'll almost instantly put me out. The only thing I don't like about it is the feeling of being high, so I'm hoping CBD comes with the sleep effects without the high. I also think the ritual itself has something to do with it. I'll brush my teeth, take my contacts out, wash my face, and then smoke. That has the added side effect of being off my phone for 30m+ before I try and sleep.
Depending on how handy you or a family member are, these also can be hand-made. My wife made one for me, and all our kids, each with sci-fi/geeky fabric patterns, so it was not only something to help us rest, but was personalized to some things we like. She found making them to be tedious, but not difficult.
They really do help me get better sleep. My kids don't get as much direct benefit, but they love having them anyway.
I bought a chilipad[1] awhile back after reading Sam Altman's post on productivity[2]. I leave it on 66 or 67 degrees, and fall asleep much faster than I did before. I snake the tube under the bathroom door to muffle the sound, but it's totally worth a little white noise to have a perpetual cool-side-of-the-pillow feeling the whole night. Since it's removing the heat from under you, I suspect it would work quite well in tandem with a weighted blanket.
I can confirm that the Chilipad and weighted blanket combination is great for making sure that you're not too warm at night. Combined with blackout curtains, it's great for getting a good night of sleep.
Do you know know the air temperature in your room?
I can't imagine sleeping on something so cold. Just tonight I had to put on T-shirt in the middle of the night because it felt a bit cold, even though the air temperature was around 26 degrees Celsius (I have a digital thermometer next to my bed). I don't use a blanket at these temperatures though, just a thin bed sheet.
Do you use chillpad to be able to use the heavy blanket even though it's not cold inside the room?
With a weighed blanket, the temperature in the bedroom is 19°C (66°F) and the Chillipad is set to 14°C (57°F). This is the same temperature I was using before getting a weighed blanket.
I believe that's a rather unusually cold sleeping temperature for California, however.
My sister is the same way. She can't sleep if the room is colder than 75F/23.8C. My brother and I can't sleep if the room is warmer than 60F/15.5C. My personal theory is that my brother and I have more brown fat due to being active outside in the winter, even when it's -40F/-40C.
I bought a weighted quilt inset and use a breathable quilt cover specifically for summer sleeping because they're much cooler than a regular doona and I like some weight on me. I got a 10kg version at the recommendation of the store but I'd probably go for a 5kg if I was buying one again.
I don't know about weighted blankets, but I think I definitely sleep more deeply when my cat is on the duvet next to me. That could be due to additional weight, but I wonder if it's a caveman thing where you can sleep more deeply because you can rely on the animal to alert you to any danger.
My experience with weighted blankets was uncomfortable back pain, due to the inevitable shift of the blankets off my chest and around my waist. My I moved from my back to each of my shoulders through the night, hips were effectively pinned into position. We returned the blanket after a week or two.
I've heard that knights a few centuries ago were sleeping in chairs. Only slaves were sleeping in horizontal position. I'm not sure whether it's true or not, but this is what a tour guide told me.
recipe for the best weighted blanket for the best sleep - takes one regular blanket and a cat: cover yourself with the blanket, let the cat to lie on top. Enjoy. For even better result - pet the cat.
I have a glass pellet weighted blanket (no heating issue) that has made a huge world of difference in my quality of sleep. It's about 7 kg. If I double it up, I fall asleep almost immediately.
We bought one for my 9 year old daughter and it has done amazing things for her sleep. Before we got it her sleeping through the night was the exception, but now it's pretty much the the rule.
all I know is that I bought one of those thundershirts for my pom and he loves it. and yes, it has helped with his anxiety during storms. same concept as a weighted blanket I guess.
The best thing you can do for sleep is to stop worrying about it so much. Ditch the weighted blankets, the sleep trackers, the obsessively strict sleep hygiene routine, the meditation, the mindfulness, the blue light glasses etc.
Weird this is getting downvoted. Its true for my own experience - my life is much better since I've stopped with all the sleep gadgets and panicking when I get less than 8 hours sleep in a night.
“The best way to move around with a broken leg is to ditch the cast and the crutches and the scooters, and just walk normally. It worked for me!”.
This is what you sound like.
Also, you have likely mixed up the cause and the effect - you started sleeping better for whatever reason and as a result lost interest in sleep gadgets.
It's because there are legitimately people who have problems falling asleep that are not tied to obsessing about sleep gadgets. How can you be so unbelievably callous and dismissive of people's problems?
I've spent months barely getting 4-5 hours of sleep because I can't shut off my brain and how oppressive life is/can be. I don't see what any of that has to do with tracking sleep or buying a weighed blanket or whatever else. Mainly because I didn't try any of it - but if I do buy a weighted blanket and it helps me fall asleep ... what exactly do you have against that blanket helping me?
It's great if that works for you, but we're not all alike. Personally, I find that the biggest thing for me is just having a consistent schedule. Does that mean other issues won't exist for others? Of course not! Some people find weighted blankets beneficial, and good for them. Some people like sleep masks and/or earplugs, ditto.
I think we should encourage people to experiment and find what works for them. The key is not "everyone do this" or "nobody do this" but "try things, pay attention to which ones work, and do those".
I think you are taking my post far too "literally" (can't think of a better term sorry). I can't blame you though, the internet does not really convey the implicit nuance that I intended with this post.
Yes you are right, my point was more to respond to the increasing culture of "sleep obsession" these days which I think is more often than not resulting in even worse sleep due to the anxiety it causes.
If you want to buy a weighted blanket, go buy a weighted blanket. But these products don't exist in isolation - they are part of a broader trend which is what I'm criticising.
> The best thing you can do for sleep is to stop worrying about it so much
If you're aware that the internet is rife with communications issues, why would you put that out there without any elaboration at all? Reddit is the place for throw-away comments, HN isn't.
Frankly, I don't worry about sleep when I can't sleep. I worry about everything. And if you say "well, stop worrying", I'm going to jump out a window.
I know it sounds rather ‘Wow thanks! I’m cured!’, but that’s the point — if you’ve stopped worrying about it, then you’ve dealt with one of the root problems. Anxiety is dumb like that and being able to chill out and realise that even though it is important, you shouldn’t spend too much mental energy on it.
It’s not an easy thing to do by any means, but it is the end goal, and a lot of people are unfamiliar with how to just let go.
That's only true if anxiety is the underlying problem. I'll grant that anxiety is probably the most common cause but it's far from the only one. Chronic pain and mental illness can easily stop one from sleeping, no matter what you do.
For me, I have back pain that can get severe enough that I can't sleep. And if that wasn't enough, whatever regulates dopamine and norepinephrine levels in my brain doesn't work properly. When I'm depressed, my brain can't sleep until it hits absolute exhaustion. Not won't, can't.
I need all of these strategies, in addition to medication, get any deep sleep with enough regularity to stay healthy and sane.
I don't think that works for some people. I'm lucky - I used to struggle with insomnia and anxiety trying to sleep but at some point it flipped for me and now I can start snoring before the light is all the way out. But my spouse can't - she tosses and turns, full of anxiety. It's not sleep worries, it's life worries - when the lights go out the voices rush in. We're working right now with mindfulness and meditation to see if that helps because she needs tools to help shut off her brain.
I think this is the right approach, but don't ditch those things if you like them (if you like the weighted blanket - go for it), just ditch them if you're using them solely for the purpose of better sleep. I think trying to live a healthy life in general results in the quality sleep everyone is hoping for. Poor quality sleep is often a symptom of other things, so addressing the real root of things is the better approach.
What I've found has given me consistently great sleep (and this is as a fairly normal dude with no insomnia or sleep-preventing issues) is exercising most days (generally later in the evening), giving myself time to wake up "naturally" using one of those alarm apps that detects your sleep cycle, and limiting my alcohol intake. When I'm feeling like I want a really great nights sleep I'll take the supplement ZMA which gives me very vivid dreams and deep sleep.
The relationship between alcohol and poor sleep quality is clear to me. On nights when I drink a lot, I sleep horribly. When I drink a drink or two, my sleep quality isn't negatively affected that much, but it's rare that I have a great nights sleep after drinking even a little.
Having experienced insomnia, I am curious what you believe this means in practice?
Imagine that you got a poor night of sleep last night, and that this is a fairly common occurrence. You then slogged through a workday where you felt terrible and accomplished almost nothing. It is now 10:30 pm, and you're about to go to bed. You are well aware that the same could happen again. To worry is absolutely natural. If you find yourself worrying, then how do you ease it?
In large part, insomnia treatment is designed to slow down your worrying. Certainly that's a major focus of meditation and mindfulness. Psychotherapy is also a frequently recommended treatment.
The sleep hygiene routine is also designed to reduce worry. You've resolved to stick to the same routine every day, regardless of how well or poorly you sleep. This means that you don't have any decisions to make, eliminating one source of worry.
I very much agree with your end goal, but I'm not sure why you're dismissive of the strategies adopted by people who want to reach that goal.
Recently my neighbor got a really bright outdoor light on the side of their house and even with black out blinds it wasn't close to enough blockage because light kept leaking through the sides and even pierced the blinds.
The first night I noticed that, I was like "jesus, why is it so bright outside" and I tried to sleep unsuccessfully. I was up until about 3am when I normally goto bed at 11pm'ish. I tried everything to block it on the spot like trying to pile up a sheet near my face but it had no effect since the light just illuminated the room. It was so light that I could see details across the room, like individual fan blades on a 12" fan. I typically can only fall asleep on 1 side but switching sides made no difference either.
So the next afternoon I decided to try an experiment. I took a black garbage bag and completely covered the window. I actually laughed out loud to myself at how dark it was when it was bright outside.
That night was remarkable. I didn't think a room could be so dark. It was the most peaceful sleep ever, except now my TV's little red dot is a distraction where as even pre-outside light it wasn't noticeable.
So if you have trouble sleeping, you may want to try to make your room as dark as possible as a test. Even in hostile lighting conditions a black garbage bag (one of the big ones you would use for leafs) can solve the problem. I hung mine with 2 nails, so when I wake up I just unhook 1 side to get natural light. The only problem is it looks completely stupid from the inside.