How to have better sleep / more energy?

[FourCrossedWands]

I sleep about 7 hours a day (1am - 8am) but most of the time, I don't have enough energy through the day. I feel like I have only been sleeping about 4-5 hours at max. I am in my mid 30s and it started recently. I think it gets much worse when I work on PC for very long periods of time.

How to get a better quality sleep while working on PC everyday?

Edited April 19, 2023 by FourCrossedWands

[Schizophonia]

Test your testosterone and thyroid hormones

[gettoefl]

4 hours ago, FourCrossedWands said:

I sleep about 7 hours a day (1am - 8am) but most of the time, I don't have enough energy through the day. I feel like I have only been sleeping about 4-5 hours at max. I am in my mid 30s and it started recently. I think it gets much worse when I work on PC for very long periods of time.

How to get a better quality sleep while working on PC everyday?

you got to be dead tired when you hit the hay every night ... for me this means good amounts of working out and walking about interspersed through the day

[The0Self]

1. Set up a standing desk.

2. Consider doing exercises that target good-posture muscles, as these are bound to be somewhat weak if you spend a lot of time sitting in front of a screen -- strengthening these muscles with such exercises can help you have more energy because bad posture requires more energy and work to sustain than good posture (at least partially because it increases the effective weight of your head due to the moment arm increase associated with anterior dominance), and this extra background-stress/work can potentially have a prominent effect on your overall fatigue/stress accumulation.

     You want to be either 1. posterior dominant ("go muscles"), or 2. balanced, not anterior dominant ("show muscles").

     Exercises: facepulls (most important exercise for posture; set above eye level; pull high to low and have hands beat the elbows in a race to the finished/back position; do tons of them, with orange or red elitefts resistance band from amazon; 2-5 sets of 20-100 rapid-fire reps [it's with bands; no momentum, so you can do them really fast] 3-4 times a week), rows, reverse incline superman, rev inc Y-raise, and optionally neck extension and neck curl (stretch and warm-up the neck muscles before training... and only move the top joint connecting neck to head, NOT the joint connecting neck to torso! & don't tilt your head back too much [and especially avoid tilting head back AND to the side!] as this compresses the vertebrae in a problematic way).

3. Don't look at screens within 2 hours of going to bed. At least reduce the blue light you come in contact with for these last 2 hours.

4. Aim to be completely asleep between 1 and 3 am, preferably already having begun deep sleep (begins 3.75 hours after falling asleep) or REM sleep (begins 45 minutes after falling asleep). So the best time to fall asleep is between 9 PM and 12:15 AM. Total daily sleep time should always be greater than 4 and less than 9 hours (up to 9 hours bed rest), depending on the total current accumulation of physical and mental stress load. If you are neither lifting heavy weights, nor at least doing very challenging training with calisthenics/bodyweight exercise, then it's unlikely you'll need more than 7.5 hours to feel best... Especially if you aren't doing training that compresses the spine. If you are compressing the spine (some squat and deadlift variations; almost all barbell SQ/DL variations), then you should be decompressing it as well with hanging leg raises, reverse hyper (best), and vertical pulling (chin/pull-up).

     Perhaps: Lights out 9-6 or 12-9 if you need 9 hours. Bed 9-4:30 or 12-7:30 if you need 7.5 hours. Maybe 11-6:30 if you need to get up fairly early and you need 7.5 hours but you don't want to wake or go to bed super early. Etc.

     Try aiming for a multiple of 1.5 hours as this seems to usually have you waking up at the most optimal point in the sleep cycle (not in deep sleep). Waking up to your alarm whilst in deep sleep can be a harmful factor in excessive daytime sleepiness -- it was once thought that once you've had a certain amount of sleep though, usually you don't cycle through deep sleep anymore, you just alternate between REM and light (stage 2 I believe) sleep... so if you get enough sleep to get past all the deep sleep, you don't have to worry about waking directly from deep sleep anyway, but supposedly sleeping only for multiples of 1.5 hours (i.e. 4.5, 6, 7.5, or 9) can further decrease the chance... but it turns out that seems to actually be even more important as there is at least some evidence that deep sleep cycles continue throughout the night; the deep sleep portion just happens to decrease with each passing cycle, while the REM and stage 2 portions increase each cycle:

     So basically, you want to wake up either 1. directly from REM/dreaming, or 2. shortly after a REM/dream cycle (while in stage 2 sleep), and you do NOT want to wake up during the short period of deep sleep that precedes each REM cycle -- waking up directly from deep sleep can contribute to sleep inertia... which is perhaps part of the reason why the body directly ensures the chance of that is lower the longer you've slept. Timing is definitely a thing, but I'm not entirely sure that's all taken care of simply by ensuring 4.5/6/7.5/9 hours sleep / bed rest... Adding trial and error to this would be most effective.

5. Complete darkness in bed (there are photoreceptors even on your skin) -- Melatonin (5mg max) should be considered if this is not possible. And get some sunlight on your skin during the day, especially around noon or earlier. Vitamin D supplementation is not at all necessary if you have fair skin and live in a reasonably warm and sunny climate, but if neither of those is you, you may want to consider vitamin D -- but only take it with the first fat-containing meal of the day (preferably soon after waking), as vit. D is in some ways essentially the opposite of melatonin.

6. Don't go more than 2 days in a row without moderately intense exercise -- Each bout of intense exercise robustly promotes better sleep, but only for the 72 hours following it. MWF or TuWeFrSu etc works well as a lifting/exercise schedule, because you don't have more than 2 off-days in a row -- never 3+ in a row -- and therefore always get to benefit from the 72-hour-better-sleep-promotion, post each training session.

7. Meditate first thing in the morning. Some good styles are TMI, witnessing/inquiry, noting, and Metta. Before bed can also be good (in addition to first thing in the morning, not instead of) but in my experience meditation energizes so well that it CAN sometimes result in longer sleep latency / time to fall asleep... although it probably enhances sleep quality.

Edited April 19, 2023 by The0Self

[FourCrossedWands]

Thanks for all the tips. I am already doing some of those things and will have to try more of them.

I might have some problems with the thyroid as my hair and skin looks like sh*t.

I have been eating very healthy (no sugar, no coffee, no alcohol, lots of water and healthy fats), but no positive changes.

I will need to exercise more for sure, I just do some light stratching every day. Meditation is also a good idea.

[The0Self]

12 minutes ago, FourCrossedWands said:

Thanks for all the tips. I am already doing some of those things and will have to try more of them.

I might have some problems with the thyroid as my hair and skin looks like sh*t.

I have been eating very healthy (no sugar, no coffee, no alcohol, lots of water and healthy fats), but no positive changes.

I will need to exercise more for sure, I just do some light stratching every day. Meditation is also a good idea.

Especially if you suspect you may have thyroid issues, ensure that carbohydrate intake (net carb, as in fiber doesn't count) doesn't fall below 125g/day at a bare minimum. Going below this can crash the T3 to T4 ratio, resulting in depressed mood and other negative symptoms.

Edited April 19, 2023 by The0Self

[FourCrossedWands]

2 hours ago, The0Self said:

Especially if you suspect you may have thyroid issues, ensure that carbohydrate intake (net carb, as in fiber doesn't count) doesn't fall below 125g/day at a bare minimum. Going below this can crash the T3 to T4 ratio, resulting in depressed mood and other negative symptoms.

So, I should eat at least 125g of carbs per day correct? Such as rice, potatoes, bananas etc.

I definitely eat more than that.

Edited April 19, 2023 by FourCrossedWands

[M A J I]

Blue light blocking glasses help, wear them as the sun goes down to mimic how your body would function if you lived naturally in nature. You will sleep earlier, better and wake up earlier and more fresh. The disturbances of electronics on the brain continues to stimulate even after you fall asleep so by following these guidelines and what others have mentioned should help significantly over time. Have a fruit smoothie with some cacao and maca during the day, around 11am - 4pm is best to eat and get most of your nutrition. Shilajit is a great herb you can add for energy and minerals.

[FourCrossedWands]

6 hours ago, M A J I said:

Blue light blocking glasses help, wear them as the sun goes down to mimic how your body would function if you lived naturally in nature. You will sleep earlier, better and wake up earlier and more fresh. The disturbances of electronics on the brain continues to stimulate even after you fall asleep so by following these guidelines and what others have mentioned should help significantly over time. Have a fruit smoothie with some cacao and maca during the day, around 11am - 4pm is best to eat and get most of your nutrition. Shilajit is a great herb you can add for energy and minerals.

I already have my monitor set on very low contrast and also use the night light option. Sometimes I also use blue light blocking glasses, but I forget to put them on most of the times.

I think my problems are caused by concentration on work, rather then from blue light coming from the display. I also get extremely tired when I talk to people for more than one hour straight.

[The0Self]

On 4/19/2023 at 3:18 PM, FourCrossedWands said:

So, I should eat at least 125g of carbs per day correct? Such as rice, potatoes, bananas etc.

I definitely eat more than that.

Yep. Then you’re good, in that regard at least. More still might be better but something about <125 can be associated with crashed T3 in subjects.

Yeah, it’s pretty hard not to get that much. Kinda just means don’t eat keto style — at least not for long.

Edited April 20, 2023 by The0Self

[Roy]

For me I get a better sleep if I go to bed sore and exhausted from the day, I ease into it very quickly and don't wake up during the night or early as much. I also feel better waking up because I'm going from sore to mostly recovered. If I go to bed not very tired or sore, I am restless. I also get up a ton during the night because my body isn't craving sleep as much.

You should challenge yourself physically every day in some way, like a workout, a sport, or cardio. It's less than an hour investment and is really good for you.

Also investing in some better quality material bedding and pillows is key. You might think you are comfortable now, but there are probably new things you haven't tried.

[Michael569]

1 hour ago, Roy said:

For me I get a better sleep if I go to bed sore and exhausted from the day,

^ this response ^

Fix this before doing anything else. 

I can report similar findings. If I spend most of my day sitting on my ass, working and not going outside, my sleep is awful. The more physical activity I include the better. The best sleep are the ones when I spend a whole day outdoors hiking for example and feel exhausted at the end of the day. 

[quan]

On 20/04/2023 at 9:39 PM, FourCrossedWands said:

I also get extremely tired when I talk to people for more than one hour straight.

Are you an introvert? As an introvert I experience the same thing.

[FourCrossedWands]

2 hours ago, quan said:

Are you an introvert? As an introvert I experience the same thing.

Sure thing. I don't mind talking to family/friends, but if I talk to people I don't like that much and have to force it, I am super-exhausted.

[FourCrossedWands]

I have received my blood tests today and my vitamin D levels are extremely low. My Vitamin D levels 40,4 (normal levels 75,0 - 249,0). So this might be one of the causes.

[Average Investor]

I find for me that I need a good evening routine. A hard cut off time for electronics and doing things like sauna make a big difference. Hard to stick to, but it works if you get it down. 

[Michael569]

On 21/04/2023 at 5:05 PM, FourCrossedWands said:

My Vitamin D levels 40,4 (normal levels 75,0 - 249,0).

What are the units of measure? 

[FourCrossedWands]

On 24/4/2023 at 1:01 PM, Michael569 said:

What are the units of measure? 

Nanomoles per liter

[Michael569]

@FourCrossedWands thanks. 

40.4 nmol/L isn't extremely low. I wouldn't even call it deficient, but maybe "suboptimal" is the right word.

If you can get yourself higher, that would probably be useful. You are unlikely to see any acute difference (e.g. better brain performance) but your long term health is going to receive an extra buff. 

Based on the longitudinal data for male cardiovascular and cancer mortality being in the 80s up to lower 90s is the most protective. Going over the 90s bends the curve upwards for some reason and extremely high levels are actually associated with harm. 

Work with your doc to get a correct supplemental routine and make the most of any sun you can get.... of course pay attention to not getting burned

[FourCrossedWands]

Yes, we had very low amounts of sun this winter (EU). Maybe one or two weeks? I also got some vitamin D prescribed from my doctor.