[csmajorfive]

I'm not sure what part you found to be pseudoscience. This technique was prescribed to me by a healthcare professional and can be found in medical journals.

And, I fully agree -- light is important. Maybe I'll add an addendum on that.

[bayonetz]

Helpful but not really necessary. For most anyone who's suffered the level of sleep difficulties described here, them having knowledge of melatonin and its effects can reasonably be assumed.

For anyone like the "Pseudoscience!..." commenter saying that melaton knowledge is, in general, sufficient alone to end said sleep problems -- that's just plain dismissive nonsense!

[badminton1]

Melatonin has a strong influence on the circadian rhythm regulation and is nowhere to be found in the article.

If you suffer insomnia this is where you should be starting with.

PS: I suffered insomnia, spent a lot of time working through it, and got medical advice.

Prefer residences and offices with natural light, or take a walk outside around noon (wear sunscreen). There you go...

Then, amount of papers doesn't necessarily translate into scientific rigor. Since research universities adopted a "publish or perish" policy there's a deluge of junk science.

update: corrected typo

[csmajorfive]

Thanks for the feedback. I'll add that to the "common wisdom" invariants to clarify that's an assumed prerequisite.

FWIW, I live in California and spent four months on the beach prior to undergoing this regimen.

[disinterred]

This algorithmic method is a useful addition to the insomniac's toolkit. Please don't berate methodologies based on logic and then describe anecdotes with poor english (wtf is "singlest"?).

[badminton1]

Or placebo effect, we don't know. It's self experimentation, there's no control group, no accompanying data, etc.

The perceived improvement could be due to other reasons rather than the therapy itself.

Usually you establish a relationship between the therapy and results through something like statistical significance but this was not the case.

Then, it is important to be responsible when offering health related advice to people. If you are not a healthcare professional, start saying:

1) Follow this advice at your own risk

2) I am not a healthcare professional this is a casual exploration of my sleep cycle.

I think this is more responsible than implying this followed some sort of scientific approach.

PS: rather than the ad-hominem try to add value to the discussion staying on topic.

[riwsky]

Definitely agree that people should be responsible when offering health advice - but if you’re striking down advice that:

1) ultimately came from a professional 2) was linked to a program with a bunch of literature

You risk your “Pseudoscience!” claim becoming unfalsifiable. What would it take to be, in your eyes, Not Pseudoscience? A direct link to a paper on this exact algorithm?

[vinceguidry]

Placebo effect working for sleep disorders? Kind of reminds me of trying to rigorously test psychoactive drugs.