[jamwt]

Exercise hard in the morning.

At 8:30p: Last big glass of water. Put phone on charger in non-bedroom and don’t touch until 7a. Keep the lights low and warm. Do low stimulation activities like reading fiction or watching semi-boring TV or chatting with your family. Lay down when you can’t keep your eyes open anymore.

Big change for me. The phone especially is poison for evening tranquillity.

[panax]

Also try a multi day hike through the wilderness to reset your circadian rhythm. This combines heavy levels of exercise, no phone access, and you wake up/sleep with sunrise/sunset.

To maintain your circadian rhythm during normal times, try to wake up and go to sleep at the same time every day and eat only during three meals per day at the same time each day, avoid caffeine later in the day and also follow the advice of others here. Keep the room you are going to sleep in very dark and quiet. Don't go to bed until you are ready to fall asleep - don't use tv/phone/computer in bed.

[jayd16]

>Exercise hard in the morning.

Reminds me of my career military grandfather. It was something along the lines of "march long enough and you'll have no problem sleeping."

[PuppyTailWags]

Helpful to know: Exercising hard in general I think is helpful. I am not a morning person but I sleep extremely well when I go climbing in the gym for ~2 hrs or so in the evenings, after dinner. I pretty much have dinner, go there, warm up and climb, go back, shower and sleep, and that guarantees a deep sleep for me. I also tend to wake up with a clear head and can easily solve stuff I was struggling with the day before.

[dkersten]

I’m also not a morning person, but another reason why hard exercise wouldn’t work for me, in the morning, is that after hard exercise it takes a few hours for my brain to function properly again (someone on HN a few months ago explained its because the body prioritises getting oxygen to the muscles instead of to the brain). At least, I’m unable to work for a while after going to the gym. For this reason, I bow only go to the gym after work.

Light exercise like going for a walk is ok though.

[gmadsen]

just food for thought, there is quite a bit of research showing that hard exercise right before bed is not optimal. i think its fair to say any is better than none, and if it works for you, it works for you. but the argument is that hard exercise raises you metabolism and body temperature, which is in direct opposition of what your body needs to do to enter deep sleep (lower body temperature)

[gmadsen]

are you retired? I think many do not physically have the time to follow what you are saying

[oh_sigh]

How many hours are you working that you can't shut off at 8:30PM until 7am? That's not normal.

[BaculumMeumEst]

In addition to this, I stop letting my mind wander to challenging/interesting/stimulating topics in the last hour of the day. That makes a huge difference, at least for me.

[alar44]

Shut down at 830? Yeah not gonna work for me. Or anyone with a job.

[ishjoh]

> Or anyone with a job

If you are young and grinding to climb up the corporate ladder or in an executive position at a default dead startup and happy doing it then your comment makes sense to me.

If you're not either of those things then your comment is extreme and sounds like you'd be happy in a 996 company. If software was 996 everywhere I would find a different career as I enjoy the rest of life too much.

[sxv]

I've worked in tech since 2008 and only for 2 of those years have I had to be "on call" past 6pm. ymmv.