What’s your sleep routine? What tech are you using?

What’s your sleep routine? How many hours are you getting a night? How are we tracking it? Apple Watch vs whoop? Weighted blankets? Fans?

9pm in the bed. No phones, iPads or TVs in the bedroom.

Reading with Kindle and lights out until eyes close.

Sleep is tracked with a whoop and Apple Watch.

I use the app AutoSleep (I have tried them all). It has the most data and is easy to understand.

AutoSleep has a great smart alarm that can be set to optimize your waking with your sleep pattern. I use the tickle method for morning arousal. It starts 10 min before the alarm with a tap every minute to bring you out of sleep and ready for the alarm.

Air purifier and a fan for consistent noise running in the background.

Thermostat set to 66f/18.9c

I am considering a weighted blanket but have concerns it will be too hot??

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Consistent bed and alarm times, and ear plugs for me!

Plus having the discussion with my better half that I don’t need the same tog duvet, so she has extra blankets and I’m under the summer tog all year around!

I just track with my Garmin 245. Not sure I take much from it - I kinda know when I’m feeling tired!

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I sleep from 1 am to 8 am
I usually sleep for 7 hours, but sometimes it happens even 6 hours
Yes, I have a Weighted blanket, though sometimes it is difficult to get up from under the blanket there is so warm and good
PC in my room, laptop and phone
I use a regular phone alarm

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What brand weighted blanket are you using?

Floyd’s of Leadville CBD.

Or Ambien.

That’s just how it’s going for me.

:neutral_face:

I’m in bed by 9pm almost every night, up at 5:30am. This usually works out to about 8 hrs of actual sleep. I’ve tracked it in the past using a Readiband, but I don’t use any apps/tech now.

We have a portable A/C unit for the bedroom to keep it as low as possible (usually 62-65ish F), and a BedJet to cool the bed itself.

I do keep my phone next to my bed - alarm is a combination of Hue lights that come on and gradually brighten for about 5-10 minutes, then my phone alarm goes off as a backup, but I’m usually awake by then.

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I’ve really been struggling with sleep for about a year. I have a trazadone prescription and usually take 1/4 of a pill nightly. I was really against drugs for a long time, but I tried a lot of other things (diet change, no caffeine, no screens, white noise, no alcohol, etc.) and just could not stay asleep. I’d wake up at 2-3 AM multiple nights a week, unable to fall back asleep for hours. Trazadone has definitely helped. A whole pill was too much and made me groggy. Similar with 1/2 pill, but 1/4 seems to be a sweet spot. I’d love to be able to ditch it completely, but I’m finally sleeping well so I’ll roll with it for a while. It has really improved my quality of life.

I try to be consistent with bed times and wind down properly prior to bed. Ceiling fan always on medium

I don’t really use anything to track my sleep. Whoop is interesting, but pricey and I’m not a fan of the subscription model. Might pick up a Apple Watch at some time, but it’s not too high on my priority list.

I’m also in my last week of my first experience with SSBHV. High volume gets me asleep as soon as my head hits the pillow :joy:

Thanks, I had never heard of tog rating before. Nice to learn something new

What’s your sleep routine?

I tend to eat something around 8:30-9pm. Hot chocolate or yogurt tend to be what I have. I find having something to eat lets me sleep better.

In bed by 10:30. Read on Ipad for a bit. Typically sleeping by 11 and will wake up at 7am
No tracking. never use an alarm. Have an unusual ability to perceive time even while sleeping. You tell me to get you up at 4am…I will. Really dont know how I do it. I dont wear a watch but can typically tell you what time it is.

House temperature is the same all year at 22c but upstairs bedroom would be likely 20c in the winter. I do use a weighted blanket in the winter months. I like the weight but dont think it adds anything to my ability to sleep.

I will say I am very consistent this year with this pattern.

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If anyone needs a sound machine for less distraction, this one is the king. My wife requires it to sleep. I could deal without. She tried several of them and they all had erratic techno noises I could hear in the background which drove me crazy. This one uses an actual fan. Highly recommended if you’re looking for sound tech.

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Hey…whatever works for you, but you really don’t need to share that with us!!! :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye: :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

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Big fan of the ol’ Vitamin A.

I don’t use it regularly, but when I do, a half pill works wonders. Never wake up groggy.

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:joy::joy::joy::joy:

Here’s some info from a life long insomniac. I also have early stage Parkinsons so sleep is vital and somewhat difficult.

I was hesitant to add my info to this discussion as my solution includes prescription medication. However, it has so dramatically improved my life that I thought it may benefit people with similar sleeping issues.

In bed by 8pm, I like at least 2hrs to read, proper chill time etc.
Use screens etc, but all with blue light filtering.
Fan for cool temp and importantly, white noise.
Podcast in single ear as I sleep on my side.
Room as cold as I can get it.
Solid dinner, inc fats, peanuts being the best trick. The fat is satiating and peanuts also have a little tryptophan. Dieting at dinner time is a recipe for poor sleep.

If you sleep well, please ignore the following info.

The real secret for me is the medication I recently received for sleep. It’s called quetiapine. I take a micro dose of 25mg. It was developed for schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and other issues. Usually, up to 800mg daily for those sort of treatments.

I’m a life long clean living chap so, I was VERY against using a drug for sleep. Funnily enough I now wish I’d had this medication my whole life. I’d have slept every night, perfectly.

Absolutely zero grogginess etc as it’s a very small dose. I sometimes take another if I wake during the night. I’ve read all the info on the drug and am very comfortable using it for my remaining years. I’ve used sleeping pills a few times during my life, this is not that experience at all. Quetiapine at 25mg seems to have literally zero effect on wake up. At least it doesn’t for me. What it does, is get you to sleep. It doesn’t keep you asleep. It’s not remotely powerful.

I’d obviously only recommend this medication for people with extreme sleep issues. However, having a pack of it in the draw for the night before a race, man I would have won a bunch more races :wink:

Since I started using it, I’ve slept perfectly nearly every single night. 6 months now. It’s literally changed my life. From endless sleeping problems to near perfect sleep, every night.

Hopefully sleep is easy for you, if it’s not and you’ve tried everything else, this medication definitely works.

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In the past I usually go for 8h in bed actual sleep can vary big time but my Garmin Varia watch still records circa 8h even if I toss and turn all night :exploding_head:
Now its getting a bit darker here I’m trying to go for 9 hour in bed knowing again, I’ll toss and turn some nights. The watch still records circa 9h :exploding_head::exploding_head:

I tend to stick a long YouTube sleep video/ podcast on.

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Up front caveat: I don’t get enough sleep and I know it. Ok, with that out of the way …

I track my sleep using both my watch (Suunto Spartan Trainer) and the Sleep Cycle app (free version) using the sound feature, not the accelerometer. The wife’s bed time is later than mine so her coming into the room and getting settled skews the Sleep Cycle metrics a little, even when I remain asleep. Sometimes the watch doesn’t recognize that I’ve gone back to sleep after briefly getting up in the middle of the night (bathroom, kid, etc). I cross check the numbers against each other and based on how I feel have a good sense of how much sleep I actually got and the quality. I’m a bit of a data junkie so I record my wake up time, sleep hours, sleep quality, and morning weight in TrainingPeaks daily.

My primary alarm is the Suunto watch that I wear to bed. My wife is a light sleeper and I can usually turn the alarm off before she even stirs. I have a backup alarm on the night stand.

I try to be in bed by 9pm and asleep before 10. Kids activities and helping with homework make that difficult some nights. I’m up at 4 to get my workouts in before work, averaging six hours of sleep per night. Depending on kids activities on the weekends I may sleep in an hour later, but I prefer to end my workouts around the time they are waking up to maximize time together and give the wife a break (she homeschools them and gets plenty of quality time together).

I’m hot natured where’s my wife is cold natured, so our house and bedroom are at a comfortable middle temperature, but I would definitely sleep a little better if it were cooler. I sometimes have a small 6-inch fan blowing on just me to help. Too hot for a weighted blanket (unless they make one with water cooling).

I usually check work emails, this forum, and other sites on the phone before bed. Even with night mode on the phone, I’d sleep better if I read a magazine or book instead (no excuse not to as I have plenty on the night stand).

Anyway, not sure if that helps or not, but that’s what I do.

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I am addicted to my phone. Realizing that I found by removing my phone from the bedroom at night residues the impulse to roll over and pick it up. Tracking my sleep religiously I noticed the phone in the bedroom reduces sleep by a minimum of 30 min, on average, a night, just having it in the room.

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AutoSleep app Apple Watch.

I have added 480mg Magnesium Citrate 1 hour before bed.

New to me. Sounds nice.

I use the Sleep Cycle iOS app and a room that is as cool and dark as possible. I also have 3 kids so that usually defeats my best laid plans. Generally get around 6.5-7 hours of actual sleep.

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For those that have “busy minds” when they get into bed (:raising_hand_man:t2:), I recommend looking into Bluetooth sleep buds. I have been using them for a few years now and they have been game changers for me.

I just use one side at a time and will listen to a podcast when I get into bed. It distracts me / engages me enough that my brain shuts off. I am usually asleep in less than 5 minutes now. I set the timer on my phone for 30 min for it to stop.

If I wake up, I just repeat the process…no more long gaps in the middle of the night for me, tossing and turning.

The buds I use are technically left / right specific, but are actually generic enough that I can use them in either ear…so when I roll over, I can just switch the bud to whichever ear is “up”.

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