02-01-2014, 02:41 PM
Great man, glad it's appreciated. :)
Apparently the darkness thing is directly connected to specific receptors in our eyes that based on light levels trigger neural pathways connected to our nocturnal/diurnal or sleep/wake cycles. So while you may have certain preferences the general mechanism is in you anyway.
The not being able to get to sleep thing can totally be a tough one which is why I included that whole section in the post. Of course we are all different physiologically and there are many factors and variables that can affect it, but I think if you try and implement some or all of those things there will be more chance of having success at keeping to a good schedule. You also can't rule out things such as sleep disorders and other stresses that may be additional factors, but it sounds like you are suffering from too much freedom (yeah it's a thing :D) and you should just try and be a bit more regimented at least for a month or two and see what progress you make.
I personally only occasionally experience not being able to sleep when I want to , and when I do, the main reason is that my brain hasn't switched off enough and it is chewing over something in particular. Generally I have found a good wind down ritual and some meditation tends to help that pretty well.
I have more coffee than I need as well (but try not to have it in the afternoon) which doesn't seem to be bad for my sleep, but I am going to cut down to 1 a day max from purely an excess caffeine point of view. I think you definitely should cut that stuff down a lot if not out completely.
Give it a go, and good luck!
Apparently the darkness thing is directly connected to specific receptors in our eyes that based on light levels trigger neural pathways connected to our nocturnal/diurnal or sleep/wake cycles. So while you may have certain preferences the general mechanism is in you anyway.
The not being able to get to sleep thing can totally be a tough one which is why I included that whole section in the post. Of course we are all different physiologically and there are many factors and variables that can affect it, but I think if you try and implement some or all of those things there will be more chance of having success at keeping to a good schedule. You also can't rule out things such as sleep disorders and other stresses that may be additional factors, but it sounds like you are suffering from too much freedom (yeah it's a thing :D) and you should just try and be a bit more regimented at least for a month or two and see what progress you make.
I personally only occasionally experience not being able to sleep when I want to , and when I do, the main reason is that my brain hasn't switched off enough and it is chewing over something in particular. Generally I have found a good wind down ritual and some meditation tends to help that pretty well.
I have more coffee than I need as well (but try not to have it in the afternoon) which doesn't seem to be bad for my sleep, but I am going to cut down to 1 a day max from purely an excess caffeine point of view. I think you definitely should cut that stuff down a lot if not out completely.
Give it a go, and good luck!