How I Improved My Sleep (Despite Being a Terrible Sleeper)
After years of hypervigilance and insomnia, here's what actually helps
You’ve had a long, exhausting day. You feel tired, so you go to bed. Then your eyes pop wide open.
No sleep. Just millions of thoughts about tomorrow, today, work, family. Your brain replays an awkward moment from a meeting three weeks ago. Why did you say that? But wait, you should be sleeping. You roll back and forth, searching for the right position. It feels like suffering for hours.
Eventually, you fall asleep. Then you wake up at 3am. Then 4am. You need to pee. Now you’re stressed because you have to get up early and you know you’ll be tired. The stress makes it harder to fall back asleep.
You finally drift off. Five minutes later (or so it feels), your alarm wakes you. You know immediately that today will be hard.
This was my life for years.
Until a few years ago, I didn’t pay attention to my sleep quality. But once I started, I realized I’d probably slept poorly my entire adult life. Mostly because of alcohol, bad diet, smoking, and stress.
After I cut those out, I still had difficulties calming my mind and falling asleep. That’s when my sleep exploration journey started.
In the last three years, I’ve tested countless options. Many helped. Some didn’t.
I’m going to show you both sides because the following results are based exclusively on my experience. Even if something didn’t help me, it might help you. Give it a chance if you struggle with sleep.
One more important thing: I’m hypervigilant from growing up in a stressful environment. My nervous system stays on high alert, which makes deep sleep difficult. I also experience insomnia and sleep paralysis occasionally.
If you have similar issues, these solutions come from someone who genuinely struggles, not someone with occasional trouble falling asleep.
What Worked
Consistent Sleep Schedule
10pm became my religion. I wake up between 7 and 7:30 every day without an alarm. If I don’t go to bed at 10pm, I start feeling extremely sleepy because my body wants to follow this routine. Consistency matters more than I ever thought.
Dark, Cold, Silent Bedroom
I used to heat my bedroom and sleep with the window open. Traffic noise woke me at 5am. Birds even earlier. Light infiltrated from the kitchen.
Now: I close the bedroom door during the day, don’t heat the room at all, and unplug every small light-emitting device in my apartment, including the water boiler and microwave. Those tiny lights are visible from my bed, and they disrupt sleep.
The room stays dark, cold (around 16-18°C), and silent.
No Caffeine After 12pm
I used to drink coffee at 5 or 6pm. Sometimes my hands shook from too much coffee and not enough water.
Then I learned: six hours after your last coffee, half the caffeine is still in your body. Coffee at 3pm means caffeine circulating at 9pm, making it harder to fall asleep.
After implementing the 12pm cutoff, I started feeling pleasurable tiredness in the evenings.
Eating and Drinking Smart
Alcohol: Cutting alcohol had a huge impact. Even one beer disrupted my sleep quality measurably.
Liquids: I try not to drink too much after 6pm. Otherwise, I wake up to pee.
Food: I stopped eating huge meals late in the evening: pizza, steaks (I cut meat completely anyway), cakes, tiramisu. I try to finish my last meal around 6pm so my body isn’t digesting while I’m trying to sleep.
Light meals like lentils with vegetables result in better sleep than heavy, spicy, carb-heavy meals. I can’t always stick to the 6pm rule, but on most days I manage it, and the results show at night.
Exercise in the Morning
Exercise is great. Outdoor exercise is better. Morning exercise is best.
I learned this the hard way. I love running in the park after work at sunset, but running stresses my body significantly. It takes 4-6 hours to calm down after a run. Running at 5pm means I still have physiological stress at midnight.
Now I run during my lunch break. My body has time to calm down before bed.
Gym sessions cause less stress but can still hinder sleep if I go too hard. I aim to finish by 4-5pm.
Important: exercise has a huge positive impact on my overall stress levels. When I didn’t exercise for two weeks, my work stress increased dramatically, which negatively impacted my sleep.
Summary: Exercise is very good, but prioritize morning workouts.
Less Screen Time
I work from home, staring at screens all day. I watch movies on the big screen, play with my phone more than I should. It has a negative impact on my sleep.
Not just the blue light. The apps like Bumble and LinkedIn increase my stress. I tested this multiple times: when I didn’t use my phone all afternoon or all day, I not only felt more relaxed but also fell asleep easier and didn’t wake up multiple times.
I recently started using red light mode in the evening, but I don’t have measurable evidence it helps. It’s not just about the light. It’s the content I consume on screens.
Not Over-Scheduling Days
Perfectionists and productivity people like me want to get a lot done. Slow weekends are for the weak, I used to think.
But over-scheduling generates stress. Even when I know I can handle all the tasks, the lack of time and the packed calendar make my days stressful.
What I underestimated: the time needed to calm down after stress. I thought a few minutes of breathing would help, but it’s not true. Sometimes it takes hours for my nervous system to calm completely.
On over-scheduled days, I end up in bed with all the day’s tasks running through my mind, making sleep impossible.
On days when I have time to read, to be bored, I sleep easily with much better quality.
Warm Bath (Not Sauna at Night)
A warm bath helps me fall asleep, but only if it’s not too hot and I don’t spend more than 30 minutes in it. After the bath, I don’t do anything stressful except slow yin yoga or reading.
I take a warm bath 3 times a week, and it helps me sleep better.
Sauna is different. Evening sauna stresses my body much more due to high temperature. My body needs more time to calm down. Morning sauna works better but is harder to test regularly.
Lots of Outdoor Time
Spending time outdoors, especially in the morning, helps me sleep better. On days with lots of sunlight, less screen time, and more steps (mostly during vacations), I always felt nicely tired, and sleeping wasn’t a problem.
Getting morning sunlight supports my circadian rhythm. I want to test this more consistently after reading Why We Sleep.
Quick favor: If this resonates with you, I’d be grateful if you subscribed to Running Home. I share more stories like this about growth, awareness, and the messy journey back to yourself. It’s free, and it helps me keep writing honestly. Thank you. — David
Stretching
This is my secret weapon.
20 to 60 minutes of yin yoga or full-body stretching decreases my stress and helps me wind down. While stretching, I focus only on my body and breathing.
After stretching, I usually fall asleep faster, and my sleep quality is higher.
Important: it’s not intense yoga or Pilates. It’s slow stretching where you hold poses for 2-4 minutes. If I do this after a warm bath, a good night’s sleep is almost guaranteed.
Quick favor: If this resonates with you, I’d be grateful if you subscribed to Running Home. I share more stories like this about growth, awareness, and the messy journey back to yourself. It’s free, and it helps me keep writing honestly.
What Didn’t Work
Various Teas
Chamomile, lavender, lemon balm, and many others. I never felt any positive effects, but I had to pee during the night. Give it a try. It might work for you.
Various Supplements
Magnesium, L-Theanine, Melatonin, CBD, Valerian Root, and many others I found on the internet. None helped. There’s no guarantee supplements will help you sleep better. They didn’t help me, so I stopped buying them.
Mouth and Nose Plasters
I thought maybe I had sleep apnea or snored. I ordered mouth plasters and nose strips to open nasal passages. No problem sleeping with plasters on my face, but the effect was insignificant. My sleep quality was as bad as before.
Listening to Boring Content on Spotify
A friend listens to boring stories when he goes to bed and falls asleep immediately. It sounded promising, so I tried easy stories, white noise, and other boring channels.
My thoughts are simply stronger. After a while, I didn’t hear anything from the noise. My own thoughts took over again and again.
Walking Before Sleep
I expected the same impact as stretching and yoga, but walking outside for 30 minutes before bed didn’t help. I thought walking would release stress and help me calm down, but I felt more awake after, especially when the weather was cold.
Meditation
The biggest disappointment.
I still practice meditation today, but not for sleep benefits. I can meditate for 60 minutes without problem, and my watch shows I’m in deep relaxation. But once I get into bed, sleep doesn’t come. It feels like my mind wants to catch up on the thinking I skipped during meditation.
Meditation definitely has benefits, but for me, it doesn’t help with sleeping, even body scan versions
Final Thoughts
I’m still not a perfect sleeper. I probably never will be. But I sleep better now than I have in years. Not because of supplements or hacks, but because of consistent habits: same schedule, dark room, morning exercise, less caffeine, less stress.
I sleep 8 hours almost every day. The quality varies, but it’s more positive than negative. And having a good night’s sleep impacts every other area of my life. I look better. My eyes are more awake. My skin is better. I have more energy. When I get enough REM sleep, I’m very creative and simply think faster.
Sleep is not negotiable for me anymore because it increased the quality of my life.
If you struggle with sleep, start paying attention.
The body knows what it needs. You just have to give it the conditions to actually rest.
Thanks for sticking with me through this one. If you’re going through something similar, or have your own experience with this, drop a comment. I read every one. David
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