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Comment by squidbeak | Hacker News Reader

Fancy, but I'm much more inclined to believe the causes are simpler. Steadily increasing aches and pains, worry about mortality, worry about younger relatives, multiplication of regrets, or this side of retirement, the sheer stress of modern life, which seems to wear more heavily when there's less time to bounce back, substance abuse maybe.

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Yeah, the burdens of adulthood, a more complex life with more responsibilities, and so on

I like the say the worst part of getting older isn’t your body breaking down, it’s the accumulation of things you can’t unsee that keep you up at night.

Perhaps but I think like the rest of the body the brain experiences dysfunction as well, which almost certainly impacts sleep as a fundamental function of the brain.

Good summary.

Oh, to be young again and when you can fall asleep without a busy mind keeping you awake.

Jeez, at what age was this true for you? Before puberty, surely. I think folks are mythologizing their past a tad bit here.

Can’t speak for others, by my teenage years were pretty worry-free. That may not have been the norm though because I spent most of my free time on my computer, pouring many hours into Photoshop, WoW, and tinkering with code rather than worrying about classmate drama or getting into trouble.

Back then, I was practically always dead asleep within minutes of my head hitting the pillow and a snooze was always within easy reach no matter when I tried (wasn’t uncommon to have a 1-2 hour nap after coming home from school). Flash forward 16 years to today and getting to sleep isn’t too much of a problem but it’s much more common to have trouble with getting my head stopped long enough to drift off, especially nights when I don’t make a point of doing almost nothing for 2-3 hours prior to wind down.

I find the best way for me to fall asleep is to put on a podcast, my current go to is "Now there's your problem" and just focus on the words being spoken, pushes everything out of my mind.

But also, as I get older I worry less about my own mortality - me, you, everyone we both know - all going to die, and worrying about it isn't going to change that.

Funny that it looks like you’re being downvoted for what seems like an honest reply. I have anxiety about lots of things, mortality among the top of them, and the advice not to worry about things you can’t change is near universal (though very hard to apply; things I can’t change are almost exclusively what I worry about because why would I worry about the things I can?).

Podcasts do sometimes work for me and I have some sleep meditation (yoga nidra) stuff I listen to as well. Combined with the odd supplement or medication, I can usually get some sleep but I’ve yet to find a silver bullet.

True. I'm Catholic so I even look forward to my death lol

For me, pain is definitely part of it. I fall asleep alright, then i wake up with my arms both asleep and my ribs aching where i'm lying on them, and it's quite hard to fall asleep again. To be honest, i might just need a new mattress.

..and exercise, core strength helps things not hurt, muscles hold things in place

Yeah, it sounds like you're a side or stomach sleeper on a firm mattress.

For me personally I know that what you mention is the problem. My life has become very stressful in existential ways that it wasn't before. I can link my sleep problems to discrete events, which, if they were resolved, would probably resolve some of my sleep problems. Stress is all the explanation that's needed.

Most of those things have got easier for me as I have aged.

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