Sleep Group

JustChris Here's the link to the blog: http://everymansleeper.blogspot.com/ . Here's a brief introduction to the sleep pattern a friend and I chose: http://everymansleeper.blogspot.com/2008/12/brief-introduction.html .

mrboodaddy oh nice. I will have to ask about that next time I have a doctor appt

mrboodaddy I have the mask that covers both my nose and mouth

jenwebster I think I do, but will have to go back through my fitbit data to find out. I think this would be a great study.

gbiggers Agreed. Would you be up for starting a draft design, then inviting the community to help with design of the study?

skjonas It's deceptively simple, but having a good going-to-bed routine has been incredibly effective at bringing on sleep. The key is sticking to it so that your body learns and recognizes the sequence of actions. I often find it to be too effective in that I often fall asleep too quickly, and don't get enough time to read my book. I'm curious about others in the group. What is your experience with establishing a night routine and what does it include?

skjonas I was having an issue where I was waking up around 2 to 3 times a night and through some experimentation realized that it was probably due to light leakage in my room. Wearing a good sleep mask helped me cut out my mid-night awakenings. Without knowing any more than what you wrote, if you're waking up that much throughout the night, the first thing that occurs to me is that it might be due to stress/anxiety. Things to experiment with could be relaxation/breathing techniques or perhaps writing out a plan for the next day to quiet the planning part of your brain.

vlaskovits Hey Greg -- how do I invite like-minded friends?

gbiggers You can use the big green 'INVITE FRIENDS' button and the system will email friends a join link. Or, you can just share the url for a group or study. When a new user hits the JOIN button, they are now automatically welcomed into the beta.

JackFrost Well, I don't have onset insomnia, for the most part. If I turn off the lights and go to bed, I usually fall asleep within a half hour.

JackFrost However, I dont naturally *feel* sleepy until 3-4 in the morning. Melatonin can induce a temporary, mild feeling of sleepiness for an hour or two, but it's not powerful enough to make me go to sleep.

ulrich No lights in your sleep environment (eradicate all stand-bys), f.lux for the computer and a go-to-sleep routine such as reading.

gbiggers Good tips. I'm going to pose this as a Question to the whole group. Can you re-post your answer after I do that?

brendan I do, although I'm finding that it's a little buggy. I haven't monitored systematically, but I do like the different hue. In my case, that screen is literally the last thing I see before I sleep.

JackFrost I've tried F.lux, and it doesn't do much for my DSPS.

skjonas I remember seeing something similar to this in a Things You Never Knew Existed catalog when I was in middle school. I always wondered if it worked.

gbiggers BTW, do you ever grab the data that your CPAP machine is collecting?

gbiggers BTW, do you ever grab the data that your CPAP machine is collecting?

gbiggers BTW have you considered using 2 week durations rather than 1, to be sure you are measuring correlated signal vs. holdover from the previous week's intervention?

skjonas I will primarily look at mood and sleep, using moodscope and the zeo, respectively. Every day, I measure mental acuity, body temperature & blood pressure (morning and evening), and weight, so I may as well see if there is any impact there as well. I hadn't considered 2 week durations but will now because you bring up a compelling point.

EriGentry They are inducing "cerebral hypothermia," to decrease activity in the prefrontal cortex, which is usually high in patients with primary insomnia. It reminds me of airplane scenes in movies when they want the passengers to shut up, they turn oxygen levels down (or is it up?...) and they fall asleep. The former sounds like a neat medical hack. I'd be up for trying this. skj--you mentioned something like comparing using a cool washcloth on the forehead to wearing the zeo, right?

skjonas I was wondering if there any existing products with which you could test this idea. As if wearing the zeo and a sleep mask isn't enough: http://www.amazon.com/Elasto-Gel-Cranial-Medium-smaller-CAP600/dp/B000GLIKGY. One disadvantage of this compared to the cooling cap in the study is that the circulating water probably keeps the cap at a consistent temperature, whereas this will warm during the night. However, one of the main benefits cited is reduced time-to-sleep as well as better deep sleep (which occurs more towards the beginning of the evening), so you would assume that a person using this device would benefit. In the reviews on Amazon, a person mentions wearing this to sleep, claiming it helps fibromyalgia.