Hey founders! I'm working on a startup as a solo founder and realized that I'm only sleeping 5-6 hours per day for last few months. Don't think it's sustainable and healthy. I'd like to sleep 7-8, but just wake up early. I can't get myself to sleep longer or more. It's probably because I have too much on my mind and feel I have a lot to do.
Have you guys experienced this? How did you address it?
I have experienced the same symptoms, although not quite as badly (waking up very early), for the last two years. Take this with a huge grain of salt, because most of what I tried didn't work all that well, but I'll let you know what I tried with at least modest success.
And, if you ever figure out how to get your sleep back on track, I'd be grateful if you'd message me and let me know what worked!
-- Weighted blankets: I got one, and this seemed to help a little bit.
-- Cool bedroom: it's recommended to set the temperature to 68 or below.
-- Consistent sleeping times. Go to bed at the same time every night (if you can).
-- Limit activities in your bed. No TV, internet, smartphones. And no lying in bed wishing you could sleep. If you don't feel sleepy, then get out of bed, go do something else for a little while and then maybe try again.
-- You might check out CBT-I -- cognitive-behavioral therapy for insomnia. (Some of what I suggested above is part of this.) In general the most widely recommended therapy.
-- Keep up exercise and your social life, even if you're tempted to cut back (as I was).
> Limit activities in your bed. No TV, internet, smartphones. And no lying in bed wishing you could sleep. If you don't feel sleepy, then get out of bed, go do something else for a little while and then maybe try again.
I listened to a (Swedish) podcast some time ago where they interviewed a professor[0] about sleep and health effects of good and bad sleeping patterns etc. One question that came up was something along the lines of "what should I do if I'm lying in bed, just twisting and turning and unable to sleep?" The response was very much in line with your suggestion: don't remain in bed trying to force yourself to sleep.
Get up, do something. Read a book, walk around, do the dishes – pretty much anything really. It's apparently much more effective than trying to force yourself to sleep. He also said that you should avoid activities that shines a bright light in your face, like watching a TV or fiddling with your phone or tablet.
I'm going to try your other tips to see if that helps any with my own sleep issues – thanks for sharing!
I know it's hard to make the time, but try to make some time for physical activities (hiking, swimming, anything cardio) and some meditation/breathing exercises/yoga to help get your nervous system out of it's flight/fight state. You need some balance!
Cosigned! Personally I’m a big fan of weightlifting, particularly in the evenings when I’m too tired to do anything but my heart is racing because of stress. It tends to tire me out pretty fast and the repetitive motion feels meditative.
The effects are twofold with physical activity: It's a great reducer of stress and anxiety, and can be meditative in itself. It will also tire you out nicely toward the end of the day, or energize you in the morning (and by the time your set bed time arrives, you'll be ready for it, and need it in order to get up so early as to workout again)
It doesn't even matter what it is so much, as long as you enjoy it and are consistent: running, weights, cycling, ice skating, skateboarding, surfing, mountain biking, HIIT, or tabata-like classes, soccer, whatever else/all of the above.
I had a friend once who couldn't sleep well because of the things on their mind. Journaling seemed to be the magic bullet for them. They just wrote everything down that was on their mind. And each day they didn't have quite as much to write.
This helped me a lot when I had trouble sleeping. I kept a pencil/paper by the bed. I found I didn't need to turn on a light or anything. Just the reach over and write the thought in the dark. I'd wake up in the morning and find I had a paper covered in illegible scribbles, but for some reason it worked.
Also sometimes I still wake up early with thoughts of stuff I have to do. The trick for me to get back to sleep is to have somewhere for my mind to go. Concentrating on imaging lying on a beach somewhere can divert my mind and get it back to a sleepy place.
That sounds more like anxiety for some people. A good way to avoid that is just use things like notes or task checkers on your phone. Then just chip away at doing these things as you can. You don't need to worry about it in the morning because your phone is better at remember things you tell it to than you are.
How many coffees per day do you drink? And what is the time of your last coffee? The half life of caffeine is 8 hours, and can inhibit deep sleep even if you achieve unconsciousness.
Actually, it varies. Two genetic tests an experience confirmed I have much slower caffeine metabolism. So no coffee after 11 for me, and ideally not a lot.
I just fact checked myself and found that the half-life is actually 3-5 hours. Sorry about that. But in any case, it's common for people to go to bed at night with some active caffeine in their system.
Make sure your room is completely dark. I mean totally. No charger lights, not a blink of light through curtains. Use really thick blankets e.g. to cover the window. You would be surprised how it affects your sleep.
+1, but I'd add that if you want to test whether this is an issue and don't want to shell out for blackout curtains (or are in an apartment where you can't), an eye mask is a good way to go.
After trying half a dozen or so of the $10-20 Amazon eye masks, I sleep with the Manta Sleep eye mask and am quite happy with it. I see a bunch of other masks in the $30 range that also look like solid options.
It's not for everyone, but getting into distance and running really helped my sleep and energy levels in general. It does take a lot of time to train for a full marathon IMO, so I'm not sure that would be very manageable as a solo founder. But, eventually squeezing in 7-8 hours per week to train for a half marathon could be doable depending on your schedule and other commitments. I personally found that my increased energy levels made up for the time commitment in productivity and general well-being, although I have to temporarily sacrifice other hobbies and some social life in the middle of rough training cycles. Finding friends to run with helps make the latter more tolerable.
I struggled a lot with sleep issues in the past - both falling and staying asleep - but I surprisingly found it really difficult to not fall asleep early and stay asleep for at least 8 hours after some very long runs during training. It takes time to build up endurance, but once I was able to run ~5 days a week with a few 6-8 mile runs without excessive effort, I found it easy to maintain a schedule that keeps me tired enough at night to sleep quite well. I also found that marathon training improved my time management skills a lot.
If you don't run at all, couch to 5k is a good place to start. Measure weekly distance and increase mileage at most 10% of week after that. Reddit's /r/running is a good place to find more learning resources.
I used to have this problem a lot. I've never completely eliminated it, but I've dramatically reduced it to the point where it's tolerable. I have no idea if what I did would work for anybody else, but here it is...
First, I learned "self-hypnosis" (really, just serious and intentional relaxation techniques). That didn't always get me to sleep (although it usually did), but I would get some rest anyway even if not fully sleeping.
Second, I stopped trying to regulate when I went to bed, but rather when I woke up. For me, the sweet spot was to always get up at 5:30, whether or not there was a reason to get up that early. The predictable routine is the important part here, not the precise time. At first, that would mean I'd be tired for the day -- but after a while, my body adjusted and I started naturally wanting to go to bed earlier.
Another thing to keep in mind is that as an entrepreneur, going to bed when you're tired is overtly in your job description. You need to care for yourself to care for your business. It can sometimes feel that you're losing productivity by doing this, but you aren't -- work you're doing when you're exhausted will be lower quality work, produced more slowly. The best use of that time is to rest, not work.
not a founder,
but I would start with building some peace of mind for yourself -- Journaling, mindfulness, meditation, prayer or similar is a great place to start and most high-productivity folks actually draw a connection between this sort of focus and both increased productivity and lower stress. In your one-man-band phase, this is super important for you to constantly improve.
A less popular angle is to cut out alcohol. There are huge gains to be made in focus and rest without it.
a good reference for this is The Productivity Project available in audio ( I listened to it myself )
Things that work for me:
-Teaspoon of Calm magnesium powder before bed. Not every day but a few on and off.
-no phones or tv in bed
-no blue light for at least 2 hours before bed
-dark dark room
-same bedtime each night
-no alcohol
-no coffee or other caffeine or even dark chocolate after 2pm
-daily exercise for at least 20 min
-write out my tasks for the next day so I’ve got things as much out of my head as possible
-If I can’t sleep or wake up, Get up and eat something small and protein-rich like nuts or cheese
-Don’t check phone in middle of night
-wear earplugs. It’s amazing how little noises wake me up. I use the soft moldable swimmer’s ear plugs
I have been using a sleep mask to block out the morning and other light, and have a few history podcast I listen to, but those are more to go to sleep faster than to wake up later.
I had the same issue. It was because of unresolved stress. I would wake up with slight palpitations and a lot of thoughts and feelings and concerns in my mind.
I resolved it by regularly going out of my home, leaving my phone behind and "doing nothing" at a place where I can sit for a long period of time without being disturbed. Over time a lot of stress builds up in your body that if not unwinded will add up and create a self-feeding cycle of stress-nosleep-stress-even less sleep. Until you are in a burntout situation.
I find that sleeping of its own will not unwind your stress. It is not hte reset on all stress and full rest. You have to take time to let the mind wander. This activity took almost 5-6 hours of doing nothing for it to become complete and for me to come back to normal.
When I say doing nothing. I don't mean not doing something productive. I mean not fiddling with the phone. Not talking to someone. Not taking your kids or partner for a walk. Not taking your dog. Nothing. You literally have to do nothing and resolve to let your entire body and mind rest. Only then will the mind and body allow itself to rest. Ohterwise you will be stuck in this unending barrage of activity which your body is starting to burntout from.
Waking up too early is called sleep-maintenance insomnia or sleep-onset insomnia. I get this a lot. I have no problem getting to sleep but then wake up too early. I sometimes wake up at 3AM and can't get back to sleep, then end up feeling like crap the next day.
What helps me:
-- A very clear clock on my room so I can look at the time in the middle of the night. If I don't know what time it is, I'll sometimes just get up, only to realize it's way too early. Once I'm up out of bed, it's harder to get back to sleep
-- I found that watching and listening to something really stupid when trying to get to sleep (old reruns of Family Guy and American Dad) help me to stop thinking about a million things before sleep. Also, if I wake up and can't get back to sleep, I watch/listen to it till I fall asleep.
-- Have a consistent bedtime, as someone else posted.
-- While light therapy is recommended in the morning to prevent normal insomnia, there are some studies that show that light therapy in the morning can cause you to wake up earlier. Try doing some light therapy in the afternoon or evening.
The good news is that, technically, this is sustainable, for certain values of “sustainable”. I have been sleeping about 6 hours per night on most nights for a decade, basically ever since my kids were born.
The bad news is that you’ll never be at peak powers in this way. You’ll be ok enough to go through the day, but with diminished focus and willpower. The few days I make sure to sleep more, I clearly get extra energy and focus. (I then typically pull a 32-hr day because I don’t feel tired, which is also bad).
I compensate with afternoon naps when I can, which I think is the best “natural” remedy. My grandfather comes from a culture where you’d traditionally wake up very early, work the fields, then rest in the early afternoon because it’s hot outside, before doing another shift into the cool evening. My dad was lucky enough to invent a job for himself that allowed a similar routine, with 1hr or 2hr naps on most days. Unfortunately, the modern workday was “invented” in Northern Europe and follows different rhythms, so less people get that option than ever before.
Other ways I’ve found to increase the sleep-hours count:
— allocate a couple of hours during the night for actual work, then go to bed earlier. E.g. 21-3 sleep, then 1 or 2h awake, then another 3h sleep to wake up at 8. (I sleep better in cycles of 3h). This is actually more relaxing to me than doing 9h straight. Unfortunately it’s risky - if you get in the zone, the temptation to skip the second sleep-block is very high.
— when you wake up, 30mins physical exercise followed by shower, then back to bed. Surprisingly effective but not always an option (partner or kids in the house will not appreciate the noise).
— reducing caffeine. I don’t drink caffeine after 2pm, ever.
— losing weight. My amount of fat tends to be inversely proportional to the hours I sleep.
I've only had that problem when I was super busy one summer and I had to squeeze ever ounce of workable hours out of the day. I drank 1 coffee a day and only drank again at night if I had to get stuff done. I worked full time, did school full time, and exercised about 3-4 times a week at about 2-3 hours each. I'd basically get up at 7, work until 430, some play for about an hour or two, school work until 11 or 12; occasionally 1 am, then sleep until repeat.
I'd then "cash in" my deprived sleep state on the weekends where I'd just catch up on the sleep I missed in one or two days. So I'd go to bed at like 11, and wake up at like 9. I'd do that on Friday and Saturday. I've never had problems with sleep in my life so I probably am a minority here.
I take magnesium citrate, 200mg of magnesium in the form of two capsules right before sleep (I buy a product from SuperiorLabs, although I've tried a couple of brands). Puts me rapidly to sleep even if my brain is very active with thought. I had always tossed & turned a bit during sleep, and occasionally struggled to fall asleep; both things got worse throughout my 30s. If I take the magnesium, that entirely ceases and I essentially pass out like someone tranquilized me.
Some people don't tolerate magnesium well in terms of their stomach. I don't have any problems with it though. A lighter dose might work for those with a negative stomach response.
It's a skill. Babies go through this phase where they're too tired to sleep, and can't sleep because they're tired. You often have to force them to sleep early.
But as the adult, nobody's there to force you to sleep, and you can hit this point where you're tired but don't want to sleep.
One trick is just to wake up extra early. It will feel terrible for one day. You can make do with a midday nap, even 10 minutes works. Your 2 AM bedtime will move back to 11 PM automatically. Every now and then instead of waking at 5, you can 'oversleep' to 7 AM, giving you a good night's rest, and more control over your sleeping time.
I have this problem too. I haven't solved it, but one thing that has helped is setting an alarm and not looking at the time while sleeping. If you wake up at anytime during the night, go back to sleep without looking at a clock. Don't get out of bed until your alarm goes off.
After a while of waking up too early, it got to the point of waking up at 4am and thinking "that's close enough" and I would get out of bed. (Attempting) to go back to sleep regardless of the time seems to have helped that a bit.
Are you working out? You need to have vigorous ways to put stress out of your system. Lifting hard (with good form) is safe and will make you sleep like a baby. If on top of that you have a stable sexual life, the better. No coffee after 17pm and maybe consider melatonin 3mg before going to sleep (it can make you sleep deeper so recover is more fruitful).
PS: BTW, I do 6h sleep most nights and some times I need an additional 20 or 30m nap during the day and is totally sustainable (I train 5d/w).
In addition to the things people have mentioned, melatonin might help you feel more rested. Start with 0.5 mg a half hour before the time you want to go to bed. In general melatonin is very safe and non-addictive, but as always when starting a new supplement you should consult with a doctor first. You'll also want to stop using screens (computer, TV, phone, etc) for at least an hour before bed time, ideally longer.
[+] [-] impendia|6 years ago|reply
I have experienced the same symptoms, although not quite as badly (waking up very early), for the last two years. Take this with a huge grain of salt, because most of what I tried didn't work all that well, but I'll let you know what I tried with at least modest success.
And, if you ever figure out how to get your sleep back on track, I'd be grateful if you'd message me and let me know what worked!
-- Weighted blankets: I got one, and this seemed to help a little bit.
-- Cool bedroom: it's recommended to set the temperature to 68 or below.
-- Consistent sleeping times. Go to bed at the same time every night (if you can).
-- Limit activities in your bed. No TV, internet, smartphones. And no lying in bed wishing you could sleep. If you don't feel sleepy, then get out of bed, go do something else for a little while and then maybe try again.
-- You might check out CBT-I -- cognitive-behavioral therapy for insomnia. (Some of what I suggested above is part of this.) In general the most widely recommended therapy.
-- Keep up exercise and your social life, even if you're tempted to cut back (as I was).
Good luck! (Contact info in profile.)
[+] [-] mstade|6 years ago|reply
I listened to a (Swedish) podcast some time ago where they interviewed a professor[0] about sleep and health effects of good and bad sleeping patterns etc. One question that came up was something along the lines of "what should I do if I'm lying in bed, just twisting and turning and unable to sleep?" The response was very much in line with your suggestion: don't remain in bed trying to force yourself to sleep.
Get up, do something. Read a book, walk around, do the dishes – pretty much anything really. It's apparently much more effective than trying to force yourself to sleep. He also said that you should avoid activities that shines a bright light in your face, like watching a TV or fiddling with your phone or tablet.
I'm going to try your other tips to see if that helps any with my own sleep issues – thanks for sharing!
[0]: https://staff.ki.se/people/johaxe
[+] [-] taigeair|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] nestorherre|6 years ago|reply
Also I can second doing physical excercise.
[+] [-] 29athrowaway|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jascii|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ideal_stingray|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] 52-6F-62|6 years ago|reply
The effects are twofold with physical activity: It's a great reducer of stress and anxiety, and can be meditative in itself. It will also tire you out nicely toward the end of the day, or energize you in the morning (and by the time your set bed time arrives, you'll be ready for it, and need it in order to get up so early as to workout again)
It doesn't even matter what it is so much, as long as you enjoy it and are consistent: running, weights, cycling, ice skating, skateboarding, surfing, mountain biking, HIIT, or tabata-like classes, soccer, whatever else/all of the above.
[+] [-] taigeair|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] swsieber|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] intrepidhero|6 years ago|reply
Also sometimes I still wake up early with thoughts of stuff I have to do. The trick for me to get back to sleep is to have somewhere for my mind to go. Concentrating on imaging lying on a beach somewhere can divert my mind and get it back to a sleepy place.
[+] [-] LeoTinnitus|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] josephdviviano|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] radu_floricica|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] josephdviviano|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] SwiftyBug|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] izhak|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] paulgb|6 years ago|reply
After trying half a dozen or so of the $10-20 Amazon eye masks, I sleep with the Manta Sleep eye mask and am quite happy with it. I see a bunch of other masks in the $30 range that also look like solid options.
[+] [-] mariojv|6 years ago|reply
I struggled a lot with sleep issues in the past - both falling and staying asleep - but I surprisingly found it really difficult to not fall asleep early and stay asleep for at least 8 hours after some very long runs during training. It takes time to build up endurance, but once I was able to run ~5 days a week with a few 6-8 mile runs without excessive effort, I found it easy to maintain a schedule that keeps me tired enough at night to sleep quite well. I also found that marathon training improved my time management skills a lot.
If you don't run at all, couch to 5k is a good place to start. Measure weekly distance and increase mileage at most 10% of week after that. Reddit's /r/running is a good place to find more learning resources.
[+] [-] JohnFen|6 years ago|reply
First, I learned "self-hypnosis" (really, just serious and intentional relaxation techniques). That didn't always get me to sleep (although it usually did), but I would get some rest anyway even if not fully sleeping.
Second, I stopped trying to regulate when I went to bed, but rather when I woke up. For me, the sweet spot was to always get up at 5:30, whether or not there was a reason to get up that early. The predictable routine is the important part here, not the precise time. At first, that would mean I'd be tired for the day -- but after a while, my body adjusted and I started naturally wanting to go to bed earlier.
Another thing to keep in mind is that as an entrepreneur, going to bed when you're tired is overtly in your job description. You need to care for yourself to care for your business. It can sometimes feel that you're losing productivity by doing this, but you aren't -- work you're doing when you're exhausted will be lower quality work, produced more slowly. The best use of that time is to rest, not work.
[+] [-] cameron_b|6 years ago|reply
A less popular angle is to cut out alcohol. There are huge gains to be made in focus and rest without it.
a good reference for this is The Productivity Project available in audio ( I listened to it myself )
https://alifeofproductivity.com/the-productivity-project/
[+] [-] taigeair|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] doitLP|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] isaacgreyed|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ravedave5|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] nodelessness|6 years ago|reply
I resolved it by regularly going out of my home, leaving my phone behind and "doing nothing" at a place where I can sit for a long period of time without being disturbed. Over time a lot of stress builds up in your body that if not unwinded will add up and create a self-feeding cycle of stress-nosleep-stress-even less sleep. Until you are in a burntout situation.
I find that sleeping of its own will not unwind your stress. It is not hte reset on all stress and full rest. You have to take time to let the mind wander. This activity took almost 5-6 hours of doing nothing for it to become complete and for me to come back to normal.
When I say doing nothing. I don't mean not doing something productive. I mean not fiddling with the phone. Not talking to someone. Not taking your kids or partner for a walk. Not taking your dog. Nothing. You literally have to do nothing and resolve to let your entire body and mind rest. Only then will the mind and body allow itself to rest. Ohterwise you will be stuck in this unending barrage of activity which your body is starting to burntout from.
[+] [-] insickness|6 years ago|reply
What helps me:
-- A very clear clock on my room so I can look at the time in the middle of the night. If I don't know what time it is, I'll sometimes just get up, only to realize it's way too early. Once I'm up out of bed, it's harder to get back to sleep
-- I found that watching and listening to something really stupid when trying to get to sleep (old reruns of Family Guy and American Dad) help me to stop thinking about a million things before sleep. Also, if I wake up and can't get back to sleep, I watch/listen to it till I fall asleep.
-- Have a consistent bedtime, as someone else posted.
-- While light therapy is recommended in the morning to prevent normal insomnia, there are some studies that show that light therapy in the morning can cause you to wake up earlier. Try doing some light therapy in the afternoon or evening.
[+] [-] toyg|6 years ago|reply
The bad news is that you’ll never be at peak powers in this way. You’ll be ok enough to go through the day, but with diminished focus and willpower. The few days I make sure to sleep more, I clearly get extra energy and focus. (I then typically pull a 32-hr day because I don’t feel tired, which is also bad).
I compensate with afternoon naps when I can, which I think is the best “natural” remedy. My grandfather comes from a culture where you’d traditionally wake up very early, work the fields, then rest in the early afternoon because it’s hot outside, before doing another shift into the cool evening. My dad was lucky enough to invent a job for himself that allowed a similar routine, with 1hr or 2hr naps on most days. Unfortunately, the modern workday was “invented” in Northern Europe and follows different rhythms, so less people get that option than ever before.
Other ways I’ve found to increase the sleep-hours count:
— allocate a couple of hours during the night for actual work, then go to bed earlier. E.g. 21-3 sleep, then 1 or 2h awake, then another 3h sleep to wake up at 8. (I sleep better in cycles of 3h). This is actually more relaxing to me than doing 9h straight. Unfortunately it’s risky - if you get in the zone, the temptation to skip the second sleep-block is very high.
— when you wake up, 30mins physical exercise followed by shower, then back to bed. Surprisingly effective but not always an option (partner or kids in the house will not appreciate the noise).
— reducing caffeine. I don’t drink caffeine after 2pm, ever.
— losing weight. My amount of fat tends to be inversely proportional to the hours I sleep.
[+] [-] LeoTinnitus|6 years ago|reply
I'd then "cash in" my deprived sleep state on the weekends where I'd just catch up on the sleep I missed in one or two days. So I'd go to bed at like 11, and wake up at like 9. I'd do that on Friday and Saturday. I've never had problems with sleep in my life so I probably am a minority here.
[+] [-] rocgf|6 years ago|reply
Stuff that can help (may have been suggested in other comments):
- exercise will definitely help; there are way too many benefits to list, apart from helping with sleep
- coffee - try to limit intake after 2PM or so because caffeine has a long half-life; the earlier you stop, the better
- meditation
- breaks, walks in the evening, anything that disconnects you from your load
- reading in bead, just before going to sleep
- limit phone, laptop etc. in bed, before you go to sleep
- try not to eat/drink too much before bed, especially not an extra large pizza at 10PM
- take a hot shower before bed and have your room cooled down
- avoid various substances that may sedate you, but won't help you actually sleep better
If all that fails, there are sleep doctors. There are many conditions that can affect sleep, but it's most likely plain old stress.
[+] [-] adventured|6 years ago|reply
Some people don't tolerate magnesium well in terms of their stomach. I don't have any problems with it though. A lighter dose might work for those with a negative stomach response.
[+] [-] muzani|6 years ago|reply
It's a skill. Babies go through this phase where they're too tired to sleep, and can't sleep because they're tired. You often have to force them to sleep early.
But as the adult, nobody's there to force you to sleep, and you can hit this point where you're tired but don't want to sleep.
One trick is just to wake up extra early. It will feel terrible for one day. You can make do with a midday nap, even 10 minutes works. Your 2 AM bedtime will move back to 11 PM automatically. Every now and then instead of waking at 5, you can 'oversleep' to 7 AM, giving you a good night's rest, and more control over your sleeping time.
[+] [-] patchorang|6 years ago|reply
After a while of waking up too early, it got to the point of waking up at 4am and thinking "that's close enough" and I would get out of bed. (Attempting) to go back to sleep regardless of the time seems to have helped that a bit.
[+] [-] sebastianconcpt|6 years ago|reply
PS: BTW, I do 6h sleep most nights and some times I need an additional 20 or 30m nap during the day and is totally sustainable (I train 5d/w).
[+] [-] defen|6 years ago|reply