I [26M] permanently messed up my sleep during University. How do I undo this mess?

I used to sleep really well when I was in high school. But in uni, I averaged 4 hours a day and survived with loads of coffee because of my obsession with being the best or something smh. Its been 5 years and I still can’t go back to sleeping like my teens

I average just under 6 hours of sleep nowadays and I always feel like shit. The only time I sleep well, around 8 hours, is when I take high THC cannabis. It is evident by the fact that the only time I get a sleep score above 70 on my Garmin is when I smoked. I don’t really want to be dependent on substances though so I take it when I’m desperate.

My doc wants me to do a sleep study but I am on a 2 year waitlist in the world class Canadian healthcare system.

Any advice?

Try a bunch of different things and see what works. There are a lot of great sleep methods out there that work for some people but not others. I notice if I drink coffee, even in the morning, I sleep worse at night. Any alcohol hurts me. Cold plunge & sauna are great for my sleep. And supplements like Magnesium & l-theanine. I track it all for free on the OptiSelf Sleep app - gives scores for each method so you can see what works for you. Good luck!

@Zion
You use magnesium and l-theanine together? What’s your routine like? Do you add ashwagandha do it?

Nyx said:
@Zion
You use magnesium and l-theanine together? What’s your routine like? Do you add ashwagandha do it?

Yup I take both together. I’ve tried ashwagandha but didn’t do a whole lot for me.

I’ve found, through running trials on OptiSelf Sleep, my ideal routine is: no coffee, cold plunge & sun exposure in the morning, vigorous workout at some point during the day & sauna after, try to be outside to see the sun go down, no alcohol, then an hour before bed take magnesium (taurate specifically bc it helps keep my blood pressure down), l-theanine, and I meditate. Can’t do all that every day, but do what I can. And I try not to stress about it all

you sound like you have high levels of cortisol in your system. You can especially tell because with high cortisol levels you will just wake up and not be able to get back to sleep. This is a mechanism of being under threat and primes the body in a lot of ways that aren’t great for the long term. There are a number of ways to help get your cortisol down - Meditation has been shown to be very effective here. Regular exercise is also good for this. Your THC trick should not be used therapeutically it will have diminishing effects pretty rapidly. You get less REM on cannabis.

do you have a job? do you exercise?

Lyric said:
do you have a job? do you exercise?

Yes and yes. I work in tech, not a big fan of sitting on screens though. Gives me a headache. I do endurance sports. Hiking, triathlons etc

@Macon
I am quite similar to you and your history. I spent a decade using my propensity for early morning productivity as my superpower at work. After about a decade it turned off quite suddenly and now my body needs 8-9 hours of sleep per night.

Maybe it wasn’t healthy, but I helped my career for a decade and now I’m in a position to take it easy. Either way, I am now listening to my body and trying to be healthy including my sleep habits.

@Macon
oh okay that’s really strange.… maybe try cutting out caffeine

Lyric said:
@Macon
oh okay that’s really strange.… maybe try cutting out caffeine

Nowadays I drink one cup in the morning and that’s it. I guess I could try that

How much coffee do you drink

River said:
How much coffee do you drink

Nowadays only one or two cups a day. During uni, it was litres

Macon said:

River said:
How much coffee do you drink

Nowadays only one or two cups a day. During uni, it was litres

Yeah… maybe try only doing one once a day.

Try taking naps during day time, it may help. Of course, no longer than 30 minutes.