[behnamoh]

My partner suffers from this. She tried many solutions but to no vail. But it seems having an intentional period of wind down before bed (e.g., 1 hour on the couch, scrolling social media and listening to podcasts) helps. When she goes to bed after that, she never uses her phone and can sleep much better.

I'm in the same boat except that I only go to bed when I'm absolutely completely drained and exhausted, which is probably not good...

[Aurornis]

> She tried many solutions but to no vail. But it seems having an intentional period of wind down before bed (e.g., 1 hour on the couch, scrolling social media and listening to podcasts) helps. When she goes to bed after that, she never uses her phone and can sleep much better.

It feels so strange to read posts where people rediscover the importance of basic sleep hygiene. Having some time to wind down and not using phones in bed are two of the most basic sleep hygiene practices around.

I'm curious what "many solutions" she tried before getting back to the basics, because the exact sleep hygiene practices you described are at the front of the list for things that doctors explore first with patients.

Unfortunately, some doctors and/or internet advice places skip straight to medications, supplements, and an assumption that the problem can only be addressed by chemical means. The number of people who jump straight to melatonin or even prescription sedatives without making any attempts to alter their daily practices is worrisome.

[makestuff]

A similar thing works for me. I don’t use my phone in the bed at night anymore and wait until I am tired before going to bed. After doing this for a few months I began to get tired around the same time every night (midnight for me). I wake up around 8:30am and I am rarely tired in the morning.

One thing I would like to improve on is staying asleep throughout the night which I think would allow me to wake up earlier. I have tried Benadryl which works well, melatonin works okay, but the thing that works the best for me is THC. However, I am trying to stop that because I have read that you do not get as good of sleep when you use THC before bed.

Another thing that helps is having it freezing cold in the bedroom.

[kbenson]

For me a CPAP machine makes a big difference, but it's not something I would have thought I needed except for my wife telling me I had breathing problems while asleep. Worth getting tested for if you suspect it in any way.

> I have tried Benadryl which works well

There have been some studies linking anticholinergics like Benadryl to dementia when taken later in life, so that might be worth looking into, if you haven't already, and you use it regularly.

[alwayslikethis]

It's not just phones, it's the light. Consider turning lights off as much as possible 1-2 hours before bed.

[voidhorse]

Definitely. I live in an area with a lot of light pollution, so much so that even when it's supposed to be full dark, there's enough ambient light outside that it's more like "late evening" at best. I find that any time I'm away from home, I actually sleep better because there's no extreme light pollution keeping me up.

[Mawr]

Put up black-out curtains on your windows.