[ics]

I recommend F.lux as well, but I've noticed a very unfortunate effect over the last few months... because of how soft it is on the eyes at night, I've learned that with it enabled I can continuously work 16-26 hour sessions without even realizing that I missed a sleep cycle. Obviously, this isn't a problem with F.lux itself, and I've tried very hard to tweak my settings so that this doesn't happen (it is auto-on/off, have experimented with different temp. levels too). In fact, I've gotten so used to it that when I know I need to go to bed soon I disable it entirely– once the blue light starts irritating me, I switch to a lamp and paper until I'm ready to get some shut-eye.

Notes: I don't drink coffee, green tea once in a while, and minimal late-night stimuli (lights mostly off, no music, ...).

[brittohalloran]

Really? You worked for 26 hours and didn't realize it because your screen was the right color?

[ics]

Read it again– I'm not saying F.lux is the source of my sleep issues, just that it's made the exacerbation of said issues occur less noticeably (to me, of course).

Before I started using F.lux there was an obvious taxing period around 1-2am where my eyes might have started to get blurry or headache would set in, assuming I had woken up and started working by ~8am. From there I would either go to bed or brute force the next few hours, despite being aware of the time in general. Now, I don't get that feeling until much later– either at 22hrs when the sun has come up and F.lux begins fading out, or a little later if I'm not paying attention until after the sun has come up and the screen's been blue for a while. (At that point, I either notice the sun through the trees or get a splitting headache).

To further describe where I work: shaded area, floor to ceiling books, no clock, no phones. I do graphic work during the day and by early evening I'm in the command line until whenever. I can usually get out during the day, but sometimes I just don't. I think the proper advice here would be to stop working at home while living in the city, but that's enough OT– I was simply pointing out my experience using F.lux!

[ankitml]

this is funny, because of how soft it is on the eyes at night... blame it on your stamina, work being interesting or your superior motivation and lack of distracting beings around. Dont blame it on a software man.

[reeses]

Go to bed!

[ics]

By far the fastest way to make myself fall asleep is to enumerate all possible excuses for not going to sleep yet. Either way I "win"...